Hinsdale

History

Located in the southwestern corner of the state, Hinsdale was chartered in 1753. It was named for Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale, member of a prominent Deerfield, Massachusetts, family, whose mother had been taken captive in the famed Raid on Deerfield of 1704. Graduated from Harvard, Hinsdale was ordained to become a missionary for Indians of the Connecticut River Valley. Instead, he would serve as chaplain at Fort Dummer, an important trading post on the Connecticut River, later enlisting as an officer in the army. Then, in 1742, he established Fort Hinsdale, including a trading post and gristmill, reportedly at his own expense. The town's earliest history recounts Indian assaults, raids and captivities. Located beside the Connecticut River and connected to Brattleboro, Vermont, by bridge, Hinsdale contains excellent farmland, but has been a significant center of industry as well, especially in the manufacture of paper. Tobacco was grown in Hinsdale through the 19th century. In a machine shop here, George A. Long built a self-propelled steam vehicle in 1875, the Long steam tricycle, for which he received one of the nation's earliest automobile patents. The Hinsdale post office, located on Main Street, is the oldest continually-operating in the same building post office in the United States. From 1959 to 2008, the town was home to the Hinsdale Greyhound Park. In 2023, Geoffrey Holt, a caretaker of a mobile home park, left the town $3.8 million to be used for education, health, recreation, and culture.

Geography

Hinsdale is in the southwestern corner of New Hampshire, bordered to the west across the Connecticut River by Vermont and to the south by Massachusetts. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 9.42% of the town. Hinsdale is served by state routes 63 and 119. * Chesterfield (north) * Winchester (east) * Northfield, Massachusetts (south) * Vernon, Vermont (southwest) * Brattleboro, Vermont (northwest)

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  12,803
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,092
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  10,189
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  9,558
• Tufted Titmouse

  Baeolophus bicolor (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  9,505
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  9,250
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  8,830
• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  8,666

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2023-12-23
  5 km SW of Chichester, New Hampshire
• M 2.8 — 2016-03-21
  4 km ESE of Warner, New Hampshire
• M 2.61 — 2013-10-11
  New Hampshire
• M 3.15 — 2010-09-26
  2 km SW of Canterbury, New Hampshire
• M 2.5 — 2007-10-19
  2 km WSW of Littleton Common, Massachusetts
• M 2.8 — 2002-09-28
  2 km N of Wilton, New Hampshire