New Hampshire . . . State 9
The official state flag of New Hampshire was adopted in 1909 but its design has been in use since 1784. The flag pictures the state seal on a deep blue field. The state seal has the ship "Raleigh" sailing near a large gray granite rock, in front of a yellow sun rising over blue water. The Raleigh was built to fight the British during the Revolutionary War. The scene is surrounded by the words, "SEAL OF THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE 1776," and yellow laurel leaves interspersed with nine yellow stars as since New Hampshire was the ninth state in the US.
New Hampshire became a state on June 21, 1788 as the 9th state. New Hampshire was one of the original 13 colonies and is named for the English county of Hampshire. It was the ninth state to ratify the Constitution of the United States. New Hampshire is one of the six New England states and is the sixth smallest state in the nation. It is bordered on the north by the Canadian province of Québec, on the east by Maine and the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by Massachusetts, and on the west by Vermont. Concord is the capital city and Manchester is the largest city.
New Hampshire is known as the Granite State because of its extensive granite formations and deposits and granite is the bedrock that underlies most of its surface. The state was once covered by glaciers more than 10,000 years ago. The glaciers greatly affected the landscape by rounding the mountains and creating hundreds of streams and lakes. Much of New Hampshire is covered with rocks, boulders, and clays that were deposited by the glaciers. 85 percent of the state is forest covered and fall is beautiful with colorful foliage.
New Hampshire has a humid continental climate and enjoys the four distinct seasons. The summers are short, pleasant and mild and winters are long, snowy and cold. Some of the longest and severest winters in the eastern United States occur in the Presidential Range of north central New Hampshire. The statewide average high temperature in July is 70 degrees and in January high temps are usually near 15 degrees. New Hampshire rainfall approaches 45 inches per year, with much higher amounts in the mountains. In the White Mountains, yearly snowfall amounts are on average 200 inches.
The growing season in New Hampshire is only on average of 110 days and the soils are rocky and not very fertile. Farm income is mainly agriculture such as dairy products, nursery stock, cattle, eggs, chickens, cattle and calves, and turkeys. The chief crops are christmas trees and apples.
New Hampshire Major Industries - textiles, lumber, machinery, tourism, electronic equipment, software and tourism
New Hampshire has 10
counties:
Belknap -
Carroll - Cheshire - Coos
- Grafton - Hillsborough
- Merrimack - Rockingham
- Strafford - Sullivan
