New Durham, NH

New Durham was granted in 1749 as Cochecho Township and settled the following year, almost entirely by families from Durham, New Hampshire, who preferred the name of home. It was incorporated as New Durham on December 7, 1762. Neighboring Alton was originally "New Durham Gore," so the two towns share their colonial roots.

The town's biggest mark on history is religious. In 1778 Benjamin Randall, a preacher turned away by the established churches for his views, settled in New Durham. On June 30, 1780 he organized the first Free Will Baptist church here, signing the articles of faith at Zechariah Boodey's farmhouse on New Durham Ridge. The movement he started spread across the country; its 1819 meetinghouse still stands in town, on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980, and the Boodey farmhouse frame has been saved for re-erection by a local collaborative.

The Cocheco Railroad came through in 1851 on its way from Dover to Alton Bay, tying New Durham's farms and mills to the Seacoast. But the town never industrialized like its neighbors, which is why it kept the thing people now prize: quiet hills, unhurried villages, and clean ponds, from Merrymeeting Lake to the March and Downing ponds.