It all started millions of years ago during the Ice Age. That’s when the granite in New Hampshire started to form through compressions deep below the earth’s surface.
In the 1800’s people in New Hampshire began to quarry granite because it was so abundant in the region.
According to cowhampshireblog.com, the state was known to have granite fields across the state, but in 1825, while General Lafayette was enjoying a public dinner in Dover, one Colonel Philip Carrigain, an attorney, decided to sing a song he wrote.
The poem talks about “the Granite State to see”, penned by Colonel Carrigain. Carrigain mentions “the Granite State” again in his personal letters. The Concord Register published the lyrics to the song, and also the New Hampshire Patriot & State Gazette.
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Months later the Haverhill Gazette & Patriot reported the term “granite state”, coined by Carrigain and so it caught on with the public as well. It all started with a song.
While most Granite Staters don’t know Carrigain’s name, he does have some prominent landmarks and waters named after him in the White Mountains.
If you study New Hampshire history you will know the Colonel’s name because he was not only a prominent attorney, but also Secretary of State for New Hampshire, and he was asked to publish a map of New Hampshire, which he did in 1816 or thereabouts.
Gray Granite via Canva.comGray Granite via Canva.com
According to swensongranite.com, the state’s largest company to quarry “Concord Gray” granite, it’s the only granite company to survive the Great Depression. Quarrying granite was popular in the 1800’s, but with global competition, quarrying in New Hampshire is not as popular today.
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In fact, if you see that light gray granite curbing, it’s likely to have come from Concord’s Swenson Granite.
We Love These Veteran Owned and Operated Businesses in New Hampshire
In New Hampshire, we live free and are proud of it! Just take a look at our license plates. However, we are only able to live free because of the brave. We are thankful to the brave men and women who are currently fighting/have fought for our country. Many of them own thriving businesses in New Hampshire today. If you get a chance to support one, do it! These hard working people exemplify what living in New Hampshire is all about.
Gallery Credit: Kira
New Hampshire Plane Crash – Mt. Success 1954
Below are images of the plane that crashed into Mt. Success, in New Hampshire, in 1954. The plane remains at the crash site and is still in the woods. If you visit, please leave things the way they are and respect those who went through such a tragic event.
WILTON, N.H. (WHDH) – A woman died in a Wilton, New Hampshire, house fire Wednesday morning, according to the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office.
At 9:08 a.m., Wilton firefighters responded to Burns Hill Road after a caller said their home was filling up with smoke. When they arrived, a single-family home was on fire and they found out two people were still inside on the second floor.
A man and a woman were both taken out of the house by firefighters and taken to Elliott Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead and the man is in serious condition.
Officials have not released the name of the victim at this time.
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At this time, investigators are looking into the cause of the fire and are trying to determine if a power outage in the area played a factor. The fire is not currently considered suspicious.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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Diane Durgin, 67, is accused of shooting at a Black man who inadvertently drove to her property after a prearranged truck part sale, prosecutors said.
A New Hampshire woman is accused of violating the state’s Civil Rights Act four times after she allegedly shot at a man because he was Black, prosecutors said.
Diane Durgin, 67, of Weare, N.H. could face up to a $5,000 fine for each violation she is found to have committed, the office of New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said in a press release Tuesday.
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Durgin is also charged with criminal threatening against a person with a deadly weapon and attempted first degree assault with a deadly weapon, Michael Garrity, a media representative for the New Hampshire Attorney General, said in an emailed statement to Boston.com.
Durgin had a final pre-trial conference last week, Garrity said.
In a civil complaint filed Tuesday, Durgin is accused of threatening physical force against the victim, the AG said. Prosecutors asked the court to issue a preliminary injunction barring Durgin from repeating her alleged behavior and from contacting the victim and his family.
During the morning hours of Oct. 20, 2024, the victim claims, he “mistakenly” drove to Durgin’s home after a prearranged purchase of a truck part with a seller online, prosecutors wrote as part of their request for an injunction.
When the man — whom prosecutors identified in court documents as X.G. — arrived, Durgin allegedly stepped out of her home and approached his car with a gun “holstered by her waist,” prosecutors wrote.
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Upon noticing that X.G. was Black, Durgin allegedly “removed her gun and pointed it at X.G.,” prosecutors said in the injunction request.
While X.G. explained that he was lost, Durgin called the victim a “Black mother[expletive],” and threatened to “kill him,” prosecutors allege.
As the victim attempted to drive away, Durgin allegedly took her gun and fired two shots at the fleeing man’s car, missing both times, the AG’s office said.
While on the phone with a dispatcher, Durgin allegedly said she shot the man’s car because the victim is Black, the AG said.
“The guy is Black. And he, he…he says he’s meeting someone here and I think he’s coming here to steal,” Durgin allegedly said.
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Police located X.G. and brought him to the Weare Police Department, stopping along the way at the correct seller’s home to complete the truck part purchase, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
To prove a violation of the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, the AG must show that Durgin “interfered or attempted to interfere with the rights of the victim to engage in lawful activities by threatening to engage in or actually engage in physical force or violence, when such actual or threatening conduct was motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability,” prosecutors said.
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