8 Most Eccentric Towns in New Hampshire
It may be the fifth-smallest state by area and tenth-smallest by population, but New Hampshire hides a world of weirdness. We mean that in the best possible way. Clinging to the far corners of NH's spacious but sparsely populated towns are sites that should surprise you, ranging from a North Pole-themed village in Jefferson to a chicken-themed love note in Newbury to a Stonehenge-themed megalith in Salem. Don't those sound cooler than a Manchester mall or a Nashua casino? Skip conventional attractions for eccentric landmarks in these eight New Hampshire towns.
Jefferson
New Hampshire is thousands of miles from the North Pole, which makes Santa's Village quite the anomaly. Established in 1953, Santa's Village is a ~15-acre Christmas theme park carved in the small White Mountains town of Jefferson. If you want to maximize Christmas gaudiness, yule love Santa’s Home, Elf University, North Pole Workshop, Sugar n’ Spice Bake Shop, and Reindeer Rendezvous with its real-life reindeer. Believe it or not, Santa's Village is not the only colorful park in NH's White Mountains. Story Land sits on the south side of the White Mountain National Forest and comprises 20-some storybook-inspired rides. Unlike Santa's Village, Story Land is not open in winter.
Chesterfield
An eccentric designer left a stairway to nowhere in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire. Tourists can find this relic within the borders of Chesterfield on Wantastiquet Mountain's eastern slope, which is now called the Madame Sherri Forest. A stone staircase is the weirdest remnant of Sherri's 1930s-built castle, where she held lavish parties for her Manhattan thespian friends. Sherri fell into financial ruin in the 1950s and her castle fell into actual ruin after a fire struck several years later.The remains of Madame Sherri were torn down. Upon her death, the property was owned by another artist, who eventually donated it to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests. Today, it's an eerily beautiful public preserve.
After hunting for ghosts of dead eccentrics, see living eccentrics at the Actors Theatre Playhouse, a uniquely intimate theater in a remote area north of Sherri's. Make your encore a sweet treat at the nearby Village Creamery.
Newbury
Despite shimmering with spectacular sights like Lake Sunapee, Mount Sunapee State Park, and the John Hay Estate at The Fells, Newbury's most iconic attraction is a roadside piece of graffiti. "Chicken Farmer I Still Love You" is painted on a rock off New Hampshire Route 103. It allegedly dates to the 1970s when the rock read "Chicken Farmer I Love You." After many more years, "Still" was added. However, upon receiving a complaint in 1997, New Hampshire's government painted over the message. Furious locals petitioned the state to make no further erasures. They agreed and the message reappeared. Though theories differ, it is best explained as a love note to a chicken-farming husband from a wife who, ironically, was a state official.
Lincoln
Aliens and castles and bears, oh my! That's the most wholesome possible reaction to Lincoln's strangest sights. Keep it G-rated as you explore this White Mountains town, stopping at Route 3's Betty and Barney Hill Incident Marker, which marks the 1961 site of New England's most famous alleged alien abduction. If you escape the Hills' fate, drive on south to Clark's Bears if you can stomach seeing the bears' fate as circus performers. Clark's isn't all about bears, though. Its wildest attraction is a human called the Wolfman, who chases Clark's scenic train and tries to scare passengers away from his unobtanium claim. Thankfully, the Wolfman is an act, as are the Ice Castles further south. Technically built in the adjacent town of Woodstock, the Ice Castles comprise a cavern of hand-placed, LED-lit icicles. Other Ice Castles occupy Minnesota, Colorado, and Utah.
Exeter
New Hampshire is no New Mexico regarding alien lore, but in the 1960s, NH was ET-central. Four years after the Betty and Barney Hill Incident, the Exeter Incident occurred near the NH town of Exeter. A UFO sighting was so credible that it was corroborated by police and investigated by the Pentagon. The incident received nationwide attention and continues to this day. The Exeter UFO Festival began roughly 15 years ago to accommodate alien sightseers. Join that celebration of crypto-history, or else celebrate Exeter's mainstream heritage at the Gilman Garrison House or the American Independence Museum.
Canterbury
Shake up your NH vacation with a trip to the Canterbury Shaker Village. Spanning 694 acres, 25 original restored buildings, and four reconstructed buildings, this site preserves a radical Christian colony that began in 1792 and sustained 200 years of separatist living. The village became an open-air museum even before the last Shaker died in 1992. In addition to tours of centuries-old buildings, including the 1793-built Dwelling House (the last Shaker's residence), the museum offers Shaker lifestyle demonstrations and Shaker-inspired gifts. Shaker-esque baked goods can be sampled at the Canterbury Country Store in central Canterbury.
Cornish
New Hampshire has long been a haven for eccentrics. Canterbury had Shakers; Chesterfield had thespians; and Cornish had a sculptor and author. Augustus Saint-Gaudens sculpted on the Connecticut River side of town from circa 1885 to 1907, and J.D. Salinger wrote on a nearby hill from circa 1953 to 2010. Today, Saint-Gaudens' retreat is preserved as the Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park, which covers hundreds of acres of gardens and structures, namely a 12-foot sculpture of Abraham Lincoln and the main house/hub of the defunct Cornish Art Colony. Salinger's refuge is privately owned but can be caught (if you look through trees rather than rye) along Lang Road. Other eccentric relics can be found at the American Precision Museum, which sits across the Connecticut River in Windsor, Vermont. It exhibits machines instead of artworks.
Salem
Is it any wonder that Salem is arguably the most eccentric town in New Hampshire? It may not have alleged witches like Massachusetts' Salem, but it does have America's Stonehenge, which was allegedly built by Druid-like Americans 4,000 years ago. That is one of many origin stories for this massive, mysterious rock formation. The most prosaic explanation is that it's a modern-day hoax. Regardless, America's Stonehenge draws thrill seekers who visit Canobie Lake Park with its antique rides and Salem Town Forest with its Hitty-Titty Brook.
As a longtime magnet for eccentrics, New Hampshire preserves hundreds—if not thousands—of years of strange but spectacular activity. Small towns provided cover for such pursuits, which ranged from the building of Santa's village in Jefferson to the painting of a roadside stone in Newbury to the founding of a UFO festival in Exeter. Not all activities should be in the past tense, though. Some are ongoing, and you can watch from NH's most eccentric towns in awe.
