NEW HAMPSHIRE, a North Atlantic state of the United
States, one of the New England group, and one of the Original
Thirteen, lying between latitudes 42° 40′ and 45° 18′ 23″ N., and
between longitudes 70° 37′ and 72° 37′ W. It is bounded N. by the Canadian province of Quebec; E. by Maine, by the Salmon Falls river, which separates it in part from Maine, and by the Atlantic Ocean; S.E. and S. by Massachusetts; W. and N.W. by Vermont (from which it is separated by the Connecticut river—low water mark on the W. bank of the Connecticut is New Hampshire’s W. boundary), and by Halls Stream which separates it from Quebec. The state has an area of 9341 sq. m., of which 310 sq. m. are water surface.
Physical Features.—The delightful scenery of mountains, lakes, streams and woodlands gives to the greater part of New Hampshire, which is in the New England physiographic province, the appearance of a vast and beautiful park; and the state is a favourite summer resort. In the N. central portion, the White Mountains, a continuation of the Appalachian system, rise very abruptly in several short ranges and in outlying mountain masses from a base level of 700–1500 ft. to generally rounded summits, the heights of several of which are nowhere exceeded in the eastern part of the United States except in the Black and the Unaka mountains of North Carolina; seventy-four rise more than 3000 ft. above the sea, twelve more than 5000 ft., and the highest, Mount Washington, attains an elevation of 6293 ft.
The principal ranges, the Presidential, the Franconia and the
Carter-Moriah, have a north-eastern and south-western trend. The Presidential, in the north-eastern part of the region, is separated from the Franconia on the south-west by the Crawford, or White Mountain Notch, about 2000 ft. in depth, in which the Ammonoosuc and Saco rivers find a passage, and from the Carter-Moriah, parallel to it on the east, by the Glen-Ellis and Peabody rivers, the former noted for its beautiful falls. On the Presidential range, which is about 20 m. in length, are Mount Washington and nine other peaks exceeding 5000 ft. in height: Mount Adams, 5805 ft.; Mount Jefferson, 5725 ft.; Mount Sam Adams, 5585 ft.; Mount Clay, 5554 ft.; Boot Spur, 5520 ft.; Mount Monroe, 5390 ft.; J. Q. Adams Peak, 5384 ft.; Mount Madison, 5380 ft.; and Mount Franklin, 5028 ft. On the Franconia, a much shorter range, are Mount Lafayette, 5269 ft.; Mount Lincoln, 5098 ft.; and four others exceeding 4000 ft. The highest peak on the Carter-Moriah range is Carter Dome, 4860 ft., but seven others exceed 4000 ft. Loftiest of the isolated mountains is Moosilanke noted for its magnificent view-point 4810 ft. above the sea. Separating Franconia and Pemigewasset ranges is the romantic Franconia Notch, overlooking
which from the upper cliffs of Profile Mountain is a remarkable
human profile, The Great Stone Face, immortalized by Nathaniel
Hawthorne; here, too, is the Franconia Flume, a narrow upright
fissure, 60 ft. in height, with beautiful waterfalls.
The whole White Mountain region abounds in deep narrow
valleys, romantic glens, ravines, flumes, waterfalls, brooks and lakes. The part of the state which lies N. of the White Mountains is occupied by ridges and wide rolling valleys, the ridges rising occasionally to heights of 2000 ft. or more. South of the mountains a plateau-like surface—a part of the New England Uplands—broken by residual mountains, or “monadnocks” (a term derived from Mount Monadnock, 3186 ft. high, near the S.W. corner of the state) and lenticular hills, or drumlins, but having a general S.E. slope toward the sea, extends from the intervales of the Connecticut river to the E. border of the Merrimac Valley. Between the Merrimac Valley and the sea is the only low surface in the state; a considerable portion of this region is less than 500 ft. above the sea, but even here are numerous ridges 1000 ft. in height or more, and small drumlins. The seashore, about 18 m. in length, is for the most part a low sandy beach; here and there, however, especially to the northward, it is somewhat rocky, and to the southward are two bluffs. The only harbour is at Portsmouth near the mouth of the Piscataqua. About 9 m. from the shore are the bleak and nearly barren Isles of Shoals, nine in number, a part of which belong to New Hampshire and a part to Maine.