Concord, New Hampshire
Photograph/Print
Concord, New Hampshire
Lithograph printed by M. and N. Hanhard, London, after a painting by George Harvey
1853
Caption:
Before trains and highways, rivers were an important form of transportation in New Hampshire. People and products moved from place to place on barges or rafts like those shown in this painting. They were made out of logs fastened together, and steered by men using long oars. Several rafts could be linked together to make one long raft. The scene in this painting is the Merrimack River in Concord, New Hampshire.
Image Credit: New Hampshire Historical Society
The American Revolution ended in 1783, and the year after that, New Hampshire adopted its own constitution and created a state government. By then, towns were established throughout southern New Hampshire, and thousands of people lived in the state. But what kind of state would it be?
During these years, the people of New Hampshire began to feel connected to one another in a way they hadn’t been before. They began to look beyond their own towns and understand that New Hampshire was bigger than any region. They developed transportation networks that linked communities together. They bought and sold goods from each other. And they started to build mills and factories that would change the way people earned their living, even though most people were still farmers in these years. The people of New Hampshire also began to understand that they were all linked to one another because they lived in the same state.
