Happy Birthday, New Hampshire: 14 Fun Facts About the Granite State

A "happy birthday" is in order, and for none other than a place we hold near and dear to our hearts: New Hampshire.

Today, June 21, 2023, the Granite State celebrates its 235th birthday. It became the 9th state on this day back in 1788, just four years after the Revolutionary War.

Of course, that's nowhere near the beginning of New Hampshire's history.

According to the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources, it was Native Americans who first journeyed to the area over 12,000 years ago. These people spent time "variously fishing, hunting, gathering wild nuts and berries, and planting crops," and lived on the land we now know as Keene, according to History.com. They are known as the Abenaki, as they "spoke related dialects of the Abenaki language."

In 1623, the first European settlement was established in New Hampshire. NHDHR explains that these people made a living "through a combination of fishing, farming, cutting and sawing timber, shipbuilding, and coastal trade." It was at this time when a handful of Seacoast towns, including Dover and Portsmouth, came to be. Unfortunately, it was also when diseases carried over from Europe wiped out a considerable amount of the Native American population, according to History.com.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, wars between England, France, and Native American tribes (who had sided with the French, according to NHDHR), ravaged the frontier, and soon reached New Hampshire. The conflict led to settlers moving around and starting more towns inland, like Barrington and Rochester. The area was "a divided province" when the Revolutionary War began, but officially became a state just a few years after the conflict ended in 1783.

Over 230 years have passed since these events, and a lot has changed in New Hampshire and the country as a whole. Today, over 1.3 million people call the Granite State home, according to History.com.

Whew, how was that history lesson? Now, let's have some fun. In celebration of New Hampshire's 235th birthday, we compiled this list of Granite State fun facts from History.com, Nomadsunveiled.com, and yours truly. How many do you know?