New Hampshire Magazine
February 18, 2021
Photo by Stillman Rogers
For those not used to the “you can’t get there from here” ways of New England, one town that’s actually made up of three distinct villages probably seems confusing and it kind of is. Even as a native, for a long time I was confused about Contoocook, with its shops and restaurants, and the village of Hopkinton, with the town hall and churches. But it’s not that unusual in New Hampshire.
All these split towns began in the same way with individual village centers where clusters of early settlers built their homes and farmed their land. As the populations grew, common needs made these tiny villages impractical, and they eventually incorporated into a single town. That’s why there are three Hopkintons, one named Contoocook.