Consistently ranked one of the best places to live in America, New Hampshire is an economically strong region with a low cost of living, including no state sales or income tax, outstanding schools, and safe and vibrant communities to raise a family.
Located just over the MA border, our main facilities are less than one hour from Boston, the seacoast and White Mountains. The area is not only known for the premier medical and clinical excellence available, but vast recreational opportunities for every lifestyle. Extensive cultural, recreational and social offerings are available locally, including the vibrancy of Boston’s culture, fashion, music, arts and entertainment scenes. New Hampshire is also the perfect place for outdoor enthusiasts, home to the White Mountains and many national forests, lakes and beaches, ideal for camping, fishing, hiking, skiing, biking, horseback riding, golfing, sightseeing and more.
Quechee Gorge
Some 13,000 years ago, during the Ice Age, Quechee, like the majority of our continent, was covered by a glacier. As the glacier receded from the ocean waters, the melting waters slowly and steadily cut away the bedrock ridge that has become Vermont’s most spectacular natural wonder, Quechee Gorge. Enjoy beautiful vistas 168 feet above the Ottaquechee River, have a picnic overlooking the waterfalls or get something to eat at the snack bar. Enjoy hiking or walking the trails along the mile-long chasm. Go shopping at Quechee Gorge gift shop. The Quality Inn, Shephard’s Pie Restaurant and State Park are located within walking distance of the Gorge. Visit the Quechee Gorge Visitors Center, built in 2005. It offers ample bus parking and public restrooms. This two-story building with an elevator houses the Chamber of Commerce and Information Center. Walking trails abound; shopping and restaurants are across the street. It’s also known as Vermont’s Little Grand Canyon.
Mt. Washington
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288 ft (1,917 m) and the most prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River. It is famous for dangerously erratic weather. For 76 years, until 2010, a weather observatory on the summit held the record for the highest wind gust directly measured at the Earth’s surface, 231 mph (372 km/h or 103 m/s), on the afternoon of April 12, 1934. The mountain is located in the Presidential Range of the White Mountains, in the township of Sargent’s Purchase, Coos County, New Hampshire. While nearly the whole mountain is in the White Mountain National Forest, an area of 59 acres (24 ha) surrounding and including the summit is occupied by Mount Washington State Park.
Lake Winnipesaukee
Visit Website: http://www.lakewinnipesaukee.net/
Lake Winnipesaukee /ˌwɪnɪpəˈsɔːki/ is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It is approximately 21 miles (34 km) long (northwest-southeast) and from 1 to 9 miles (1.6 to 14.5 km) wide (northeast-southwest), covering 69 square miles (179 km2)—71 square miles (184 km2) when Paugus Bay is included[2]—with a maximum depth of 212 feet (65 m).
Lake Winnipesaukee has been a tourist destination for more than a century, especially for residents seeking respite from the summer heat of Boston and New York City. The Native American name Winnipesaukee means either “smile of the Great Spirit” or “beautiful water in a high place.” At the outlet of the Winnipesaukee River, the Winnipesaukee Indians, a subtribe of the Pennacook, lived and fished at a village called Acquadocton. Today, the site is called The Weirs, named for the weirs colonists discovered when first exploring the region.
Winnipesaukee is a glacial lake but an unusual one, since the last glaciation actually reversed the flow of its waters. Draining the central portion of New Hampshire, it once flowed southeast, leaving via what is now Alton Bay toward the Atlantic Ocean. When glacial debris blocked this path, flow was redirected westward through Paugus Bay into the Winnipesaukee River. The latter flows west from the lake and joins the Pemigewasset River in Franklin to form the Merrimack River, which flows south to Massachusetts and into the Atlantic.
The Seacoast
New Hampshire’s slice of Atlantic Ocean waterfront is slight – only 18 miles of shoreline. But that shoreline, and the entire Seacoast region, is a delight. Among the highlights of the region are family-friendly Hampton Beach and the hip little city of Portsmouth.
Hampton Beach is a lavish, old-time family beach with day-and-night activities for everyone from toddlers to the old folks. There is a band shell with free concerts and weekly fireworks; the Casino Ballroom, hosting top national entertainers; and, lining the main street, row after row of lodgings, amusements, restaurants, and shops. Annual events at Hampton Beach include a volleyball tournament, children’s festival, sand-sculpting contest, and Hampton Beach Idol contest. Alongside all this activity is a luxurious sweep of white-sand beach where families can lounge and play in the surf. When kids want to get out of the sun, the Happy Hampton Arcade and Funarama offer video and table games.
The Seacoast also is home to the city of Portsmouth, a historic port city with cobblestoned streets, a pleasant downtown filled with charming shops and restaurants overlooking the harbor, and the beautiful waterfront Prescott Park. A fun and educational day event for adults and kids is a visit to Portsmouth’s Strawbery Banke Museum. This is a living history museum that describes everyday life from the 1600s to the 1950s in this neighborhood, known as Puddle Dock. Visitors may walk through furnished historic houses, join costumed role-players, or relax in period gardens.
Other attractions of the Seacoast region are the Fuller Gardens, a turn-of-the-century estate garden four miles north of Hampton Beach; the Seabrook Greyhound Park; and the Seacoast Science Center at Odiorne Point State Park in Rye. Lodging ranges from sophisticated downtown hotels and beachfront motels to inns and B&Bs nestled along quiet lanes.
Music Venues
Theaters
From cinema to summer stock, community theater, live music and dance, New Hampshire theaters put on quite a show.
Burlington Jazz Festival
To broaden awareness and appreciation of jazz through quality live performances of national and regional scope; present educational activities that illuminate the art form for students of all ages and backgrounds; showcase Vermont and regional jazz artists, including students; and create a vital city-wide community festival that contributes to the national jazz dialogue.
Festival Support Presented by Northfield Savings Bank and produced by the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, in association with Burlington City Arts, the Festival – one of the largest annual events in Vermont – is made possible through the generous support of the business community and private donations. Please visit our sponsor page and support the people who support the Festival!
Fine Art Centers
The Christa McAuliffe Discovery Center
Tribute to Two NH Heroes
Take a personal look at the two space pioneers to whom the Discovery Center is dedicated: America’s first astronaut, Alan Shepard, and NASA’s Teacher-in-Space, Christa McAuliffe.
Mission Statement
To educate, incite and entertain learners of all ages in the sciences and humanities by actively engaging them in the exploration of astronomy, aviation, Earth and space science.
What’s Here
The Discovery Center has an amazing collection of innovative, interactive exhibits to explore. Delve into the worlds of astronomy, aviation, Earth and space sciences and become immersed in this entertaining learning environment.
There are programs at the Discovery Center for all ages! From our state-of-the-art planetarium theater to our high-tech observatory to workshops for Little Explorers and educators alike… there is something for everyone at your Discovery Center.
Squam Lake Science Center
Through spectacular live animal exhibits, natural science education programs, and lake cruises, Squam Lakes Natural Science Center has educated and enlightened visitors for over forty years about our natural world. In September 2006 and again in September 2011, we gained national accreditation from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA); we are the only AZA-accredited institution in northern New England.
The mission of Squam Lakes Natural Science Center is to advance understanding of ecology by exploring New Hampshire’s natural world.
Montshire Science Museum
The Montshire Museum was founded in 1974, and opened to the public two years later in Hanover, N.H. The “new” Montshire opened 15 years later, and has continued to add to its facilities in Norwich, Vermont, including the outdoor water and sound exhibits in Science Park in 2002, and the Hughes Pavilion in 2010.
The Montshire is now one of the busiest museums in northern New England, attracting about 150,000 visitors annually. The Museum’s school programs also reach more than 13,000 schoolchildren in New Hampshire and Vermont.
The Museum has received grants from NASA, the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, as well as science and education foundations. In recent years, the Museum has partnered with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Vermont Center for Ecostudies and ILEAD (Institute for Lifelong Learning at Dartmouth). Dartmouth College and the Museum have created the Dartmouth-Montshire Institute for Science Education.
Vermont Institute of Natural Science
The Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS) is a nonprofit, member-supported, environmental education, research and avian rehabilitation organization headquartered at the VINS Nature Center in Quechee, Vermont. Open year-round, the 47-acre campus, adjacent to Quechee State Park, features 17 state-of-the-art raptor enclosures, 4 exhibit spaces, 2 classrooms, and ¾ miles of interpretive nature trails. VINS places a priority on making high-quality, compelling, and fun environmental education programs and learning opportunities accessible to more people and communities.
VINS’ programs and services engage and instill in people of all backgrounds a desire to care for the wildlife and diverse natural habitats they encounter in their daily lives.
We offer relevant environmental education programs for adults, families, and school children; partner with leading conservation organizations to promote environmental science field research; and operate New England’s premier avian wildlife rehabilitation clinic at the VINS Nature Center.
VINS has been a leader in environmental education and wildlife conservation and care since 1972. We are known nationally for innovative natural science curricula and education programs for learners of all ages.
Each year, they deliver specialized education and training programs in schools and communities and hands-on public education programs at the VINS Nature Center to more than 40,000 people from throughout New England.