Rolfe Barn

The Contoocook River ( ) is a 71-mile-long (114 km) river in New Hampshire. It flows from Contoocook Lake on the Jaffrey/Rindge border to Penacook (just north of Concord), where it empties into the Merrimack River. It is one of only a few rivers in New Hampshire that flow in a predominantly northward direction. Four covered bridges span the river, one in the town of Henniker, one on the Hancock-Greenfield line, and two in the town of Hopkinton, New Hampshire with one being in the village of Contoocook, and the other in the populated place of West Hopkinton. Residents and tourists have made the Contoocook popular for fishing and whitewater boating. The name Contoocook came from the Pennacook tribe of Native Americans and perhaps means "place of the river near pines". Other variations of the name include the Abenaki meaning "nut trees river" or Natick language meaning "small plantation at the river."The river gives its name to Contoocook, New Hampshire, a census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Hopkinton.

Hannah Duston Memorial State Historic Site is a 35-foot (11 m) statue in Boscawen, New Hampshire, located on a small island at the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimack rivers. Erected in 1874 and the first publicly funded statue in New Hampshire, the memorial commemorates Hannah Duston, who was captured in 1697 in Haverhill, Massachusetts, during King William's War, then killed her captors while they were camped at the site in Boscawen.

Merrimack Valley is a four-year high school located in Penacook, a village in the northern part of Concord, New Hampshire. The school has approximately 900 students and serves the communities of Andover, Boscawen, Loudon, Penacook, Salisbury, and Webster. Two years of construction and remodeling were completed in 2007, resulting in a completely new facility. The school was initially accredited by the New England Association of School and Colleges (NEASC) in 1967. The faculty, staff, students, and community began self-study for reaccreditation in 2009; the next visiting team came in 2011. In 2003, the school was recognized by the New Hampshire Excellence in Education award (EDies) for being the best high school in the state of New Hampshire.

Penacook, originally called "Fisherville", is a village within the city of Concord in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. It lies along Concord's northern border with Boscawen. The name comes from the Pennacook tribe that lived in the area. "Penacook" (Pennycook) was the original name of the plantation incorporated by present-day Concord.Penacook is located along a stretch of the Contoocook River that falls 100 feet (30 m) in slightly over 1 mile (1.6 km), just before joining the Merrimack River. Early hydro-powered industry was attracted to the site, and Penacook grew as a mill town. While dams on the river still generate electricity, most of the 19th- and 20th-century factories, such as Allied Leather, have long since closed.Penacook has its own phone exchange (753), which includes a portion of Boscawen, and its own ZIP Code (03303), shared with Boscawen, Webster, and parts of northern Concord east of the Merrimack River. Most of Penacook is located in the Merrimack Valley School District, though part is in the Concord School District.

The 1638 New Hampshire earthquake struck central New Hampshire on June 1, 1638 (Julian calendar). It was the first major earthquake to strike New England following the start of European colonization. Modern analysis places its epicenter somewhere near what is now central New Hampshire, with an estimated magnitude between 6.0 and 7.0 mbLg. This makes it the largest earthquake on record in New Hampshire and New England, and the second strongest in northeastern North America after the 1663 Charlevoix earthquake.

Contoocook River Amusement Park was a trolley park in Penacook, New Hampshire. The park was developed along the south bank of the Contoocook River. For twenty cents in 1893, and up until 1925, one could ride 7 miles (11 km) on the trolley from downtown Concord to Penacook to enjoy free entertainment, fireworks, swimming, dancing at a large pavilion, boating, roller-skating, bowling, and even a steamboat ride up the Contoocook River. The park closed in 1925. Electric Avenue, a dirt road that is part of the Concord Trail System, now leads through a wooded area where trolley car tracks once ran. Little trace of the park remains.

The Morrill-Lassonde House is a historic house at 150 King Street in Boscawen, New Hampshire. Built about 1769, it is believed to be the oldest surviving house in the town. Historically significant residents include clock mechanism inventor Benjamin Morrill and artist Omer T. Lassonde, a founder of the New Hampshire Art Association. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. Given by Lassonde's widow to the New Hampshire Art Association, it is now in private ownership.

Boscawen is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,998 at the 2020 census.

The Boscawen Academy and Much-I-Do Hose House are a pair of historic civic buildings in Boscawen, New Hampshire. Now owned by the Boscawen Historical Society, these two buildings played a significant role in the civic history of the town for over 150 years, and were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

The Boscawen Public Library is the public library of Boscawen, New Hampshire, United States. It is located at 116 North Main Street. The library's first building, built in 1913 to a Colonial Revival design by Guy Lowell, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1981, and is slowly undergoing rehabilitation.

The First Congregational Church of Boscawen is a historic church at 12 High Street in Boscawen, New Hampshire. Built in 1799, the wood-frame church was significantly altered in 1839, when it acquired its present Greek Revival character. It is one of the few surviving meeting houses in New Hampshire that continues to combine religious and municipal functions; it basement space is used for town meetings and elections. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

Lake Merrimack was a glacial lake that formed during the late Pleistocene epoch. After the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, glacial ice melt accumulated at the terminal moraine and blocked up the Merrimack River, creating the narrow lake. The lake extended from Manchester to Plymouth, New Hampshire. It is unknown when the lake was drained. Lake Hitchcock is an important part of the geology of New Hampshire. It experienced annual layering of sediments, or varves: silt and sand in the summertime (due to glacial meltwater) and clay in the wintertime (as the lake froze).