Jefferson is a town in Coos County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,006 at the 2000 census. It is home to parts of the White Mountain National Forest in the south and northeast and to two theme parks: Santa's Village and Six Gun City. There are also several private campgrounds, motels and inns.
Jefferson is part of the Berlin, NH–VT Micropolitan Statistical Area.
History
First granted in 1765 by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth, the location was so deep in unexplored territory that few took up their claims. One who did was Colonel Joseph Whipple, who cut trails through the forests to build a manor house. He named the town "Dartmouth" after William Legge, Earl of Dartmouth and patron of Dartmouth College. Brother to William Whipple, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Colonel Whipple renamed the town "Jefferson" four years prior to Thomas Jefferson's election as president. The legislature would grant the town a new charter as "Jefferson" in 1796. Over the years, the boundary with the adjacent township of Kilkenny has been moved significantly several times, divorcing all habitations from Kilkenny jurisdiction.
During the early 1900s, Jefferson was a popular summer resort, boasting one of the five largest "Grand Hotels" in the White Mountains -- the Waumbek, with accommodations for nearly 600 guests, was destroyed by fire on May 9, 1928. The hotel maintained its own rail branch, delivering visitors directly to the hotel without changing trains.
In 1914, Jefferson was serviced by multiple daily trains from Boston and New York City. It had over 30 hotels at its tourism peak, reached by several mainline depots including Riverton, Baileys, Meadows, and Highlands. Many of the original station buildings remain, although most have been moved to nearby locations. The tracks were removed in the 1970s, leaving a basis for a "Rails to Trails" project. A number of historic, architecturally interesting structures remain from the resort era, and the Waumbek Cottages provided a backdrop for the popular White Mountains Festival of the Arts until 1979. In March 2006, the Waumbek Cottages Historic District was named to the National Register.
Cherry Mountain from the Waumbek Hotel c. 1910
In 1885, a landslide on the north side of Cherry Mountain demolished the Stanley farm, mortally wounding a worker. Local hotels immediately arranged daily excursions to view the scene, now marked by a roadside historical marker. See Historical Marker 152.
Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, a local farm boy born in 1832, became a world-famous inventor of aerostats (dirigibles) and other devices. Consulting President Abraham Lincoln, he organized a balloon corps during the Civil War, and went on to invent the ice-making machine, and later the water-gas process which for years ran gas lights in hundreds of cities. His father, Clovis Lowe, had been part owner in 1832 of nearby Low and Burbank's Grant, which contains much of Mount Adams and Mount Madison. See Historical Marker 19.
Jefferson found itself in the national spotlight in 1988-1989 when two local volunteer firefighters were charged in connection with dozens of arson fires that had plagued the area. Both defendants were acquitted at trials.[1] [2] [3] [4]
Geography
Presidential Range c. 1905
Jefferson is located on U.S. Route 2 between Lancaster and Randolph, near the mid-point between the Vermont and Maine borders. Set astride the broad Israel River valley, the town commands remarkable views of the Presidential Range and other White Mountain summits. Mount Starr King, with an elevation of 3,907 feet (1,191 m) above sea level and named for Thomas Starr King, is the highest point in town, near the town's northern border. It is regularly traversed by hikers scaling nearby 4,006-foot (1,221 m) Mount Waumbek, one of the "four-thousand footers" -- the 48 peaks above 4,000 feet (1,200 m) in New Hampshire.[5] Jefferson lies fully within the Connecticut River watershed.[6]
In the past few years, thousands of acres of Jefferson have been sold or donated by lumber and other private concerns to the White Mountain National Forest, the Randolph Town Forest (part of which is within the boundaries of Jefferson), the Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, or the National Audubon Society.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 50.4 square miles (131 km2), of which 50.2 sq mi (130 km2) is land and 0.2 sq mi (0.52 km2) is water, comprising 0.46% of the town.
Demographics
As of the census[7] of 2000, there were 1,006 people, 407 households, and 295 families residing in the town. The population density was 20.1 people per square mile (7.7/km²). There were 582 housing units at an average density of 11.6/sq mi (4.5/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.31% White, 0.10% Native American, 0.10% Asian, 0.10% Pacific Islander, and 1.39% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.10% of the population.
There were 407 households out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.4% were married couples living together, 5.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.5% were non-families. 20.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 2.84.
Pliny Range House in 1911
In the town the population was spread out with 22.0% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 27.2% from 25 to 44, 32.4% from 45 to 64, and 13.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females there were 103.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 105.0 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $41,089, and the median income for a family was $42,067. Males had a median income of $27,130 versus $21,382 for females. The per capita income for the town was $19,556. About 4.7% of families and 8.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.0% of those under age 18 and 9.9% of those age 65 or over.
Sites of interest
- Jefferson Historical Museum, located in an old church, on US Route 2, east of village center.
References
- ^ The Boston Globe, ARSONIST TAUNTS N.H. TOWN WITH 19TH FIRE, August 24, 1988
- ^ The Boston Globe, EX-FIREMAN CHARGED IN N.H. ARSON, October 13, 1988
- ^ The Boston Globe, N.H. MAN CLEARED OF CHARGE RELATED TO FIRE, April 8, 1989
- ^ The Boston Globe, N.H. JURORS ACQUIT MAN OF ARSON WAVE Jul 01, 1989
- ^ Gene Daniell and Jon Burroughs, ed., White Mountain Guide, 26th ed., Boston, Massachusetts, Appalachian Mountain Club, 1998
- ^ Foster, Debra H.; Batorfalvy, Tatianna N.; and Medalie, Laura (1995). Water Use in New Hampshire: An Activities Guide for Teachers. U.S. Department of the Interior and U.S. Geological Survey. http://nh.water.usgs.gov/Publications/nh.intro.html.
- ^ "American FactFinder". United States Census Bureau. http://factfinder.census.gov. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
- Julyan, Robert and Mary (1993). Place Names of the White Mountains (Revised Ed. ed.). Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-638-2.
- Davis, Abner (1972). History of Coos County ((Republished facsimile of original. In Jefferson CD-ROM (2002) from Jefferson Historical Society.) ed.). Somersworth, NH: New Hampshire Publishing Company. pp. 399–425.
- Boston and Maine Railroad (September 21, 1914). Local Time Table, White Mountains Division.
- Tolles, Bryant F. (2000). Summer Cottages in the White Mountains: The Architecture of Leisure and Recreation 1870 to 1930. Hanover: University Press of New England. ISBN 0-87451-953-5.
- Town of Jefferson (1995). Jefferson, New Hampshire: Before 1996. Littleton: Sherwin Dodge.
See also
White Mountain art
External links
