Gilmanton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,945 at the 2020 census. Gilmanton includes the villages of Gilmanton Corners and Gilmanton Ironworks. The town became well known in the 1950s after it was rumored that the popular novel Peyton Place, written by resident Grace Metalious, was based on the town.
Newfields is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,769 at the 2020 census. The primary village in town, where 378 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Newfields census-designated place (CDP) and is located along New Hampshire Route 85 and the Squamscott River. It is a quaint village of handsome old houses.
Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. Its population was 16,049 at the 2020 census, up from 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood. Home to Phillips Exeter Academy, a private university-preparatory school, Exeter is situated where the Exeter River becomes the tidal Squamscott River.
Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,214 at the 2020 census. On the Atlantic coast, Hampton is home to Hampton Beach, a summer tourist destination.
John Taylor Gilman was a farmer, shipbuilder and statesman from Exeter, New Hampshire. He represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress in 1782–1783 and was the fifth governor of New Hampshire for 14 years, from 1794 to 1805, and from 1813 to 1816.
Kimball Union Academy is a private boarding school located in New Hampshire. Founded in 1813, it is the 22nd oldest boarding school in the United States. It is located in the upper Connecticut River Valley village of Meriden, New Hampshire.
Charles Henry Bell was an American lawyer and Republican politician from Exeter, New Hampshire. Bell served New Hampshire in both the New Hampshire House of Representatives and the New Hampshire Senate, as a U.S. Senator, and as the 38th governor of New Hampshire.
Reuel Williams was an American lawyer and politician who served one term as a U.S. Senator from Maine from 1837 to 1843.
Dudley Leavitt was an American publisher. He was an early graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy in his native town of Exeter, New Hampshire, and later moved to Gilmanton where he first edited a newspaper and taught school. Within a few years, Leavitt relocated to Meredith, where in addition to teaching school and farming, he began publishing in 1797 Leavitt's Farmers Almanack, one of the nation's earliest farmers' almanacs. A polymath, Leavitt poured his knowledge of disparate fields including mathematics, language and astronomy into the wildly popular almanacs, which outlived their creator, being published until 1896. The inaugural issue of 1797 carried the title of The New England Calendar: Or, Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1797. On the cover was the disclaimer that the new publication was "Calculated for the Meridian of Concord, Latitude 43° 14' N. Longitude 72° 45' W.: And with But Little Variation Will Answer for Any of the New England States."
Hart Day Leavitt (1909–2008) was a longtime English teacher at Phillips Andover Academy, amateur jazz musician, the author of a bestselling book on grammar and writing, and the professor of many notable Andover graduates, including Jack Lemmon, H. G. Bissinger and President George H. W. Bush.
Moses Leavitt (1650–1730) was an early settler of Exeter, New Hampshire, in what is now the United States, where he worked as a surveyor. Later he became a large landowner, and served as selectman, and as a Deputy and later Moderator of the New Hampshire General Court from Exeter. He was the ancestor of several notable Leavitt descendants, including the well-known Meredith, New Hampshire, teacher and almanac maker Dudley Leavitt.
The Samuel Tenney House is an historic house at 65 High Street in Exeter, New Hampshire. This mansion was built circa 1800 as the primary residence of Samuel Tenney, a noted scholar, scientist, physician, American Revolutionary War surgeon, patriot, judge, and member of Congress, and his wife Tabitha Gilman Tenney, the noted early American author.
