Concord

Walking the tightly compressed downtown of New Hampshire’s [1] capital, you might be tempted to ask where the city is. With only 30,000 people, Concord is dwarfed by its more prosperous neighbors on the Merrimack. In fact, even though it is located on the river, it never made its fortune as a mill town. Instead, Concord began its life as a trading center and railroad depot named Rumford, back when the state capital was on the Seacoast [2]. As the Merrimack River gained importance to the region, a compromise was reached to move the capital here, hence the name of the city.

Today, Concord is a pleasant enough collection of government buildings, many made of granite from nearby quarries, surrounded by green parks and a ring of high-tech and health-care companies along the highway. All things considered, its central location makes a good base for exploring both southern New Hampshire [3] and the Lakes Region [4].