Hampstead

Hampstead is a quiet, tree-lined residential town near the Massachusetts border that functions as one of southern New Hampshire's most stable commuter communities. Settled as early as 1640 when the area was still part of Haverhill, Massachusetts, it became a New Hampshire town in 1749 after a boundary dispute was resolved, and Governor Benning Wentworth named it for the London neighborhood where his ally William Pitt lived. The original Hampstead Meetinghouse, built between 1749 and 1768, still stands and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Main Street and Stage Road carry Route 121 through town, passing colonial-era homes, stone walls, and not much in the way of commercial sprawl. High school students head to Pinkerton Academy in Derry, one of New Hampshire's oldest schools, founded in 1814 with a $16,000 endowment. The town's three water bodies — Big Island Pond, Sunset Lake, and Angle Pond — account for about 400 acres of surface water and anchor much of the summer recreation, including youth camps that bring a seasonal population bump each year.