| Silver Lake, New Hampshire | |
|---|---|
| Unincorporated community | |
Silver Lake Railroad at center of Silver Lake village | |
  Silver Lake  Silver Lake | |
| Coordinates: 43°53′17″N71°10′31″W / 43.88806°N 71.17528°W Coordinates: 43°53′17″N71°10′31″W / 43.88806°N 71.17528°W | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New Hampshire |
| County | Carroll |
| Town | Madison |
| Elevation | 486 ft (148 m) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 03875 |
| Area code(s) | 603 |
| GNIS feature ID | 872665 [1] |
Silver Lake is an unincorporated community located at the north end of Silver Lake in the town of Madison, New Hampshire, in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. Joy Farm, summer home of E. E. Cummings, is a National Historic Landmark located north of the village. [2]
In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not governed by a local municipal corporation; similarly an unincorporated community is a settlement that is not governed by its own local municipal corporation, but rather is administered as part of larger administrative divisions, such as a township, parish, borough, county, city, canton, state, province or country. Occasionally, municipalities dissolve or disincorporate, which may happen if they become fiscally insolvent, and services become the responsibility of a higher administration. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. In most other countries of the world, there are either no unincorporated areas at all, or these are very rare; typically remote, outlying, sparsely populated or uninhabited areas.
Silver Lake is a 969-acre (3.92 km2) water body located in Carroll County in eastern New Hampshire, United States, in the town of Madison. The village of Silver Lake within Madison lies at the north end of the lake. Water from Silver Lake flows via the West Branch, through the Ossipee Pine Barrens to Ossipee Lake and ultimately to the Saco River in Maine.
The New England town, generally referred to simply as a town in New England, is the basic unit of local government and local division of state authority in each of the six New England states and without a direct counterpart in most other U.S. states. New England towns overlay the entire area of a state, similar to civil townships in other states where they exist, but they are fully functioning municipal corporations, possessing powers similar to cities in other states. New Jersey's system of equally powerful townships, boroughs, towns, and cities is the system which is most similar to that of New England. New England towns are often governed by a town meeting legislative body. The great majority of municipal corporations in New England are based on the town model; statutory forms based on the concept of a compact populated place are uncommon, though they are prevalent elsewhere in the U.S. County government in New England states is typically weak at best, and in some states nonexistent. Connecticut, for example, has no county governments, nor does Rhode Island. Both of those states retain counties only as geographic subdivisions with no governmental authority, while Massachusetts has abolished eight of fourteen county governments so far. With few exceptions, counties serve mostly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems.
Silver Lake has a different ZIP code (03875) from the rest of the town of Madison.
