Quaint is probably the best way to describe New Hampshire. This northeastern state is small in area and population but full of winsome woods and picturesque towns. Those towns, though quaint on the outside, are vibrant on the inside since they contain such splendid businesses as a giant independent bookstore, a 112-foot-long candy counter, a decades-old family-owned restaurant, and a brewpub in an 18th-century gristmill. See where to find the most thriving local businesses and other commercial attractions in the Granite State.
Exeter
Odd Fellows Hall, Exeter, New Hampshire. Image credit Wangkun Jia via Shutterstock.com
Having gone from about 12,000 residents in 1990 to more than 16,000 in 2020, Exeter is a boom town and its businesses reflect that status. The Front Row Pizzeria has been serving scrumptious Italian food to Exeterites for 20-plus years; The Chocolatier has been handcrafting chocolates since 1978; Whirlygigs Toy Shop has been peddling puzzles, games, crafts, and plush toys in a family-owned establishment since 1986; and the Water Street Bookstore has been dealing paperbacks and hardcovers since 1991 and is considered the largest independent bookstore in New Hampshire’s seacoast region.
Beyond such seacoast staples, Exeter has a bevy of newer attractions like Alchemy & Herbs, OBA Noodle Bar, Sawbelly Brewing, Top Drawer, and Vino e Vivo. A tourist can mix old with new in this bustling community that began way back in 1638.
Littleton
The River Walk Covered Bridge with the Grist mill on the Ammnosuoc River in Littleton, New Hampshire.
A little town with a lot of color, Littleton claims roughly 6,000 residents and dozens of amazing businesses—some of which have been operating for over 100 years. Chutters opened in the late 1800s as a grocery store and became, according to a USA Today poll from 2023, the third-best candy shop in America. Even more impressive, Chutters boasts the world’s longest candy counter, which stretches 112 feet and supports around 600 jars of esoteric sweets. Another legendary Littleton locale is Schilling Beer Co., a brewpub that, although founded in 2013, operates in a gristmill from circa 1797.
After eating bottle caps at Chutters and popping bottle caps at Schilling, you can tour other downtown haunts like the Little Village Toy & Book Shop and The Coffee Pot Restaurant before venturing into the White Mountains with its campgrounds, lodges, and ski resorts. Littleton is colorful inside and out.
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Hanover
The Baker-Berry Library on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Image credit Jay Yuan via Shutterstock.com
Hanover is perhaps best known for Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university established in 1769. Although Dartmouth is an attraction in its own right (the Webster Cottage, Geisel School of Medicine, and Hanover Inn have been on-campus sentinels since the 1700s), its surrounding businesses are the best spots to stop for R&R. Serving thousands of students, residents, and tourists are Lou’s Restaurant & Bakery, which is a Main Street mainstay that opened in 1947; Molly’s Restaurant & Bar, another Main Street hang with a magnificent menu; and Murphy’s, yet another Main Street eatery that, having opened in 1992, is considered the “longest standing original family-owned business in Hanover.”
In addition to those Dartmouth and Dartmouth-adjacent digs, Hanover harbors many more relaxing retreats, including Jesse’s Steaks, Nugget Theaters, Base Camp Cafe, Dunk’s Sports Grill, Red Kite Candy, Nathan’s Garden, and Still North Books & Bar. Hanover is a great place for a hangover.
Amherst
Salzburg Square in Amherst, New Hampshire. Image credit: NNECAPA PhotoL library via Flickr.com.
A sizeable town of nearly 12,000, Amherst is also a sprawling oasis filled with several nature preserves. Chief among them are the Hodgman State Forest, Peabody Mill Environmental Center and Joe English Conservation Land, and Ponemah Bog Wildlife Sanctuary, the last of which spans 75ish acres of water, sphagnum moss, and oak-pine woods. Some of the town’s commercial attractions even have nature-inspired names, such as the Black Forest Cafe & Bakery and the Robin’s Egg eclectic décor and antique store.
Other lively businesses to patronize in Amherst include Smokehaus Barbecue, The Bistro at LaBelle Winery, Moulton’s Kitchen & Market, Earth and Tree Dollhouse and Miniature Shop, Monarquia Authentic Mexican Restaurant, ThaiLicious Asian Fusion, Bentley’s Roast Beef, The Flying Butcher, and Naji’s Pizza.
Conway
Downtown North Conway, New Hampshire. Image credit Theresa Lauria via Shutterstock
Located way out in northeastern New Hampshire, Conway has almost 10,000 residents and straddles roughly 800,000 acres of the White Mountain National Forest. After hiking, biking, horseback riding, train riding, rock climbing, off-roading, fishing, kayaking, boating, and even moose viewing in the forest, adventurers can unwind in Conway proper at various establishments. Tuckerman Brewing Company, which sits on Hobbs Street, sells food and beer and brews about 8,000 barrels of the latter each year. Tours are offered on Fridays at 5 PM and Saturdays at 12 PM. Just a short drive away is Sweet Maple Café, which sweetens mornings with pancakes and waffles.
Moreover, tourists can visit more touristy North Conway for forays into Zeb’s General Store, Delaney’s Hole In the Wall, the Lobster Trap Restaurant, and the Muddy Moose Restaurant & Pub. Lastly, Center Conway can bring you back to basics for the Sherman Farm Market, a scenic showcase of local produce, meat, milk, and many other products.
Hancock
Aerial view of Hancock, New Hampshire, in winter.
If Amherst is an oasis, Hancock is pure paradise. This town sits around 20 miles northwest of Amherst and has one-seventh the population. Instead of people, Hancock has an abundance of plants and animals that inhabit Norway Pond, Thumb Mountain, Nubanusit Lake, Skatutakee Mountain, the Welch Family Farm and Forest, and the Harris Center for Conservation Education. The few people who enter Hancock are treated with coffee at Fiddleheads Cafe, beer at Hornburg Brewing Company, produce at Hancock Market, and rest at The Hancock Inn (which closed for renovations and is expected to reopen in 2024).
New Hampshire is a quaint and picturesque state that is energetic and under-the-radar. Inside its tiny towns are lively businesses that have been operating for decades—and in some cases centuries. Check out Exeter, Littleton, Hanover, Amherst, Conway, and Hancock for their vibrant and historic steakhouses, pizzerias, bars, grocers, bakeries, bookstores, inns, cafes, breweries, antique stores, gift shops, candy shops, and toy stores.
New Hampshire Democrats are putting the finishing touches on the case they plan to make to the Democratic National Committee’s Rules and Bylaws Committee as they try to restore the state’s traditional first-in-the-nation primary spot on the party’s calendar.
HAMPTON — When Army veteran Kyle Saltonstall stepped to the podium at Hampton’s American Legion Post 35 Memorial Day ceremonies on May 25, the crowd met a speaker whose path to service has been anything but ordinary.
Saltonstall, 44, spent years with the Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment — the “Night Stalkers” — but that’s only one chapter in a life marked by adventure, reinvention and a steady pull toward service.
“He’s quite an interesting guy,” said Berk Bennett, commander of Post 35. “And a great speaker.”
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Raised on a Marine Corps air station in southern Arizona, Saltonstall developed an early appreciation for military life.
After losing his father at 17, he spent a decade crisscrossing the country — from Florida to Alaska to Oregon — collecting experiences that ranged from managing a pedicab company to performing as a clown in a small Texas circus.
“I was the mechanic and manager of a pedicab (bike taxi) company in Portland (Oregon),” Saltonstall said. “I met a clown there who was heading down to Texas, and I went with him. Being a clown was so much fun. It’s an art form. The role of the jester in the court was unique historically. He was the only one allowed to challenge the king.”
Saltonstall spent two years in the circus when, in 2010, he saw a Craigslist ad seeking volunteers to help rebuild homes in Haiti after a devastating earthquake.
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Initially skeptical, he answered the ad and soon found himself working alongside U.S. service members providing humanitarian aid.
“These were men who spoke like my father,” Saltonstall said. “They were confident, disciplined in their language, competent and calm.”
Inspired, he walked into a Marine Corps recruiting office when he returned home — only to be told by arecruiter that while his life thus far had been “interesting,” the Marines weren’t looking for “interesting.”Undeterred, he stepped next door to the Army recruiter, where he found his place for the next five-plus years.
More: Ginny Bridle-Russell named Hampton’s 2026 Citizen of the Year
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Serving as a Night Stalker medic
Saltonstall completed the combat medic’s course at the Joint Special Operations Airborne School and deployed to Afghanistan as an Advanced Tactical Paramedic with the 4th Battalion, 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment.
The Night Stalkers are the unit that delivers special operations teams — Navy SEALs, Army Rangers, Green Berets — on high‑risk night missions. Their pilots are trained to fly low and fast under enemy radar.
Although he wasn’t involved, such military enterprises include the May 2011 mission to capture Osama Bin Laden, Saltonstall said, or more recently, the one that retrieved the pilot shot down in unfriendly territory during the current Iran War.
“We flew the big Chinook helicopters,” he said. “We’d have at least one medic assigned to each mission. I usually tried to make myself as small as possible and sit in the back out of the way of the (combatants).”
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His job was threefold, he said. First, he tended to the daily well-being of the people in his unit. His second role was medical contingency planning when deployed to make sure that any injured combatants brought back to the helicopter would survive until they got to land-based medical facilities.
The last of his roles was going on missions and providing the care needed. This service, he said, was in his nature. Throughout his life, Saltonstall said, blood never bothered him; he’d always been interested in medicine and found it natural to help those injured.
His awards include the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and the Parachutist Badge.
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A new life in New Hampshire
After leaving the service in 2016, Saltonstall planned to pursue medicine through an Army program at Wesleyan University. That’s where he met his future wife, Sophie, an Emmy‑nominated filmmaker whose family owns Stratham’s historic Saltonstall Farm.
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“My goal was to become a doctor and make enough money to retire and buy a farm,” he said. “When Sophie learned of it, she said, ‘Do you want a shortcut?’ When he returned from World War II, in 1947, my wife’s grandfather, Dr. Saltonstall, founded her family farm.”
The couple moved to Stratham, married, and took Sophie’s mother’s maiden name as their own. Saltonstall transferred to UNH, switched from pre‑med to agriculture, and never looked back.
Today, the father of three young children helps run the family’s organic farm, where strawberry season runs from early June through the Fourth of July, followed by raspberries and an indoor strawberry crop that produces into November.
“I really believe we have the best organic strawberries on the Seacoast,” he said. “And we hope to bring in blueberries soon.”
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One thing was missing when he returned to New Hampshire: the adrenaline of emergency response. He found it with the Stratham Fire Department, where he has volunteered for seven years. He has earned EMT certification and recently completed Firefighter I and II training.
“I enjoy the variety,” he said. “I’m glad to be where I am.”
The election for the NH Electric Cooperative (NHEC) Board of Directors is happening now. I urge readers to watch for the ballots coming in the mail or go on to their NHEC SmartHub account and vote there.
The NHEC Board is made up of only 11 members. There are two incumbents up for re-election and four new candidates to choose from. You can vote for three new board members this year and bring about significant change at NHEC.
The board decides where our electricity comes from, what member-side programs NHEC offers and how proactive the New Hampshire Electric Co-op is for supporting local renewable energy. As co-founder of the Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative, a co-op member and someone who pays close attention to how NHEC is governed, I believe the NHEC Board would benefit from new voices, experiences and leadership styles. The NHEC as a utility has the potential to be an even stronger leader when it comes to doing what is right for the environment and keeping rates affordable.
If you get your electricity from the co-op, then you have a say in how it is run. I urge you to vote for three genuine, thoughtful and technology forward-thinking leaders: Brad Harkavy of Campton, Laurel Boivin of Lee and Tom Randell of Moultonborough. They will make an excellent addition to the Board.
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Be sure to mail your ballot back so it arrives by June 10 or jump on your SmartHub account and vote right now.
