Canterbury, New Hampshire
Encyclopedia
Canterbury is a town in Merrimack County
Merrimack County, New Hampshire
-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 136,225 people, 51,843 households, and 35,460 families residing in the county. The population density was 146 people per square mile . There were 56,244 housing units at an average density of 60 per square mile...

, New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 2,352 at the 2010 census. Canterbury is home to Ayers State Forest and Shaker State Forest. On the last Saturday in July, the town hosts the annual Canterbury Fair.

History

First granted by Lieutenant Governor John Wentworth
John Wentworth (Lieutenant-Governor)
John Wentworth served as Lieutenant Governor for the Province of New Hampshire from 1717 to 1730.-Biography:...

 in 1727, the town was named for William Wake
William Wake
William Wake was a priest in the Church of England and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1716 until his death in 1737.-Life:...

, Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...

. It was originally a militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...

 timber fort and trading post
Trading post
A trading post was a place or establishment in historic Northern America where the trading of goods took place. The preferred travel route to a trading post or between trading posts, was known as a trade route....

 of Capt. Jeremiah Clough located on a hill near Canterbury Center, where the Pennacook
Pennacook
The Pennacook, also known by the names Merrimack and Pawtucket, were a North American people that primarily inhabited the Merrimack River valley of present-day New Hampshire and Massachusetts, as well as portions of southern Maine...

 Indians
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...

 came to trade. The town would be incorporated in 1741. There were several garrison houses
Garrison
Garrison is the collective term for a body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it, but now often simply using it as a home base....

 or stockade
Stockade
A stockade is an enclosure of palisades and tall walls made of logs placed side by side vertically with the tops sharpened to provide security.-Stockade as a security fence:...

s in the area as late as 1758.

The biggest attraction in Canterbury is the Shaker Village
Canterbury shaker village
Canterbury Shaker Village, is a historic site and museum in Canterbury, New Hampshire. It was one of a number of Shaker communities founded in the 19th century....

, established in 1792. At its peak in the 1850s, over 300 people lived, worked and worshiped in 100 buildings on 4000 acres (16.2 km²). They made their living by farming, selling seeds, herbs and herbal medicines; and by manufacturing textiles, pails, brooms and other products. The last resident, Sister Ethel Hudson, died in 1992, and the site is now a museum, founded in 1969, to preserve the heritage of the utopia
Utopia
Utopia is an ideal community or society possessing a perfect socio-politico-legal system. The word was imported from Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean. The term has been used to describe both intentional communities that attempt...

n sect
Sect
A sect is a group with distinctive religious, political or philosophical beliefs. Although in past it was mostly used to refer to religious groups, it has since expanded and in modern culture can refer to any organization that breaks away from a larger one to follow a different set of rules and...

. Canterbury Shaker Village
Canterbury shaker village
Canterbury Shaker Village, is a historic site and museum in Canterbury, New Hampshire. It was one of a number of Shaker communities founded in the 19th century....

 is an internationally known, non-profit historic site with 25 original Shaker buildings, 4 reconstructed Shaker buildings and 694 acres (2.8 km²) of forest, fields, gardens and mill ponds under permanent conservation easement
Conservation easement
In the United States, a conservation easement is an encumbrance — sometimes including a transfer of usage rights — which creates a legally enforceable land preservation agreement between a landowner and a government agency or a qualified land...

. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...

 for its architectural integrity and significance.

Canterbury has an active Historical Society hosting events throughout the year and maintaining the Elizabeth Houser Museum in the old Center Schoolhouse (original one-room school house) as well as an archive of Canterbury-related materials dating to the early 18th-century. Among notable works in the archive are the Lunther Cody collection of glass negatives documenting classic life in New England.

Notable inhabitants

  • Abiel Foster
    Abiel Foster
    Abiel Foster was an American clergyman and statesman from Canterbury, New Hampshire. He represented New Hampshire in the Continental Congress and the U.S. Congress....

     (1735–1806), Continental Congress
    Continental Congress
    The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies that became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution....

     and United States Congress
    United States Congress
    The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....

  • Stephen Symonds Foster
    Stephen Symonds Foster
    Stephen Symonds Foster was a radical American abolitionist known for his dramatic and aggressive style of public speaking, and for his stance against those in the church who failed to fight slavery. His marriage to Abby Kelley Foster brought his energetic activism to bear on women's rights...

     (1809–1881), abolitionist
  • Kenneth MacKenna
    Kenneth MacKenna
    Kenneth MacKenna was an American actor and film director, born Leo Mielziner, Jr. in Canterbury, New Hampshire.-Family:Parents were portrait artist Leo Mielziner, Sr.,...

     (1899–1962), actor and film director
  • Colby James West
    Colby James West
    Colby James West is an American freestyle skier from Canterbury, New Hampshire. A late starter in skiing, Colby took up freestyle skiing when he was 13 years old and broke into the competitive scene with a podium finish in slope style at Winter X Games XII...

    , pro freestyle skier

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the town has a total area of 44.4 square miles (115 km²), of which 43.6 square miles (112.9 km²) is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km²) is water, comprising 1.82% of the town. The town's highest point is an unnamed summit near Forest Pond and the town's northern border, where the elevation reaches approximately 1390 feet (423.7 m) above sea level
Sea level
Mean sea level is a measure of the average height of the ocean's surface ; used as a standard in reckoning land elevation...

. Bounded by the Merrimack River
Merrimack River
The Merrimack River is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport...

 on the west, Canterbury is drained on the east by the Soucook River
Soucook River
The Soucook River is a river located in central New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, which flows to the Gulf of Maine....

. Canterbury lies fully within the Merrimack River watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 1,979 people, 749 households, and 590 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 45.1 people per square mile (17.4/km²). There were 838 housing units at an average density of 19.1 per square mile (7.4/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 98.59% White, 0.25% African American, 0.25% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.10% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.76% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.51% of the population.

There were 749 households out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 67.0% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 21.2% were non-families. 15.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 2.91.

In the town the population was spread out with 24.5% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 25.6% from 25 to 44, 34.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females there were 93.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $58,026, and the median income for a family was $62,583. Males had a median income of $41,302 versus $32,313 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the town was $27,374. About 2.0% of families and 2.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.7% of those under age 18 and 2.0% of those age 65 or over.

External links

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