New Hampshire State Map

Regions of New Hampshire

New Hampshire is much longer from north to south than it is wide, and it narrows toward the Canadian border. Population is concentrated in the south, within commuting range of Boston; the north is mostly forest and mountains.

• Merrimack Valley: Nashua, Manchester and Concord along the Merrimack River, the state’s urban and political core.
• Seacoast: Portsmouth, Dover, Rochester, Hampton Beach and the Isles of Shoals. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any coastal state, and the Piscataqua River forms the border with Maine at Portsmouth.
• Lakes Region: Laconia, Meredith and Wolfeboro around Lake Winnipesaukee, the largest lake in the state, plus Squam Lake and Newfound Lake.
• White Mountains: the Presidential Range, Franconia Notch, Crawford Notch and Pinkham Notch, mostly within the White Mountain National Forest.
• Dartmouth–Lake Sunapee: Hanover (home of Dartmouth College), Lebanon and Claremont along the Connecticut River.
• Monadnock Region: Keene and the southwest corner, dominated by Mount Monadnock.
• Great North Woods: Berlin, Colebrook and the lakes of Pittsburg in Coos County, up to the Canadian border.

Mount Washington and the rivers

Mount Washington, at 6,288 ft the highest peak in the Northeast, is known for severe weather; observers on the summit recorded a wind gust of 231 mph on April 12, 1934. The summit can be reached by the Mount Washington Auto Road or the Cog Railway. The Connecticut River, which begins in the Connecticut Lakes near the Quebec line, forms the entire western border with Vermont; the boundary follows the Vermont bank, so the river itself belongs to New Hampshire. The Merrimack River flows south from Franklin through Concord, Manchester and Nashua into Massachusetts.

New Hampshire counties

The 10 counties and their seats: Belknap (Laconia), Carroll (Ossipee), Cheshire (Keene), Coos (Lancaster), Grafton (North Haverhill), Hillsborough (Manchester and Nashua), Merrimack (Concord), Rockingham (Brentwood), Strafford (Dover) and Sullivan (Newport). Hillsborough and Rockingham, in the south, hold more than half of the state’s people. Below the counties, the state is divided into cities and towns that cover nearly all of its land; a few areas in the north are unincorporated townships, grants and locations.

Major highways

• I-93: the main north–south route, from the Massachusetts line at Salem through Manchester and Concord, then through Franconia Notch to Littleton and Vermont.
• I-89: from Concord northwest to Lebanon and across the Connecticut River toward Burlington, Vermont.
• I-95: a short coastal stretch from Seabrook to Portsmouth, crossing the Piscataqua River into Maine.
• Everett Turnpike (US 3): Nashua to Manchester and Concord.
• NH 101: east–west from Keene through Manchester to Hampton and the coast.
• Spaulding Turnpike and NH 16: Portsmouth to Dover and Rochester, continuing north through Conway and Pinkham Notch to Berlin.
• Kancamagus Highway (NH 112): a scenic route across the White Mountains from Lincoln to Conway.