Grafton County

The county in brief

A traveler's read on Grafton County

Interstate 93 narrows from four lanes to two through Franconia Notch State Park — the only place in the United States Interstate Highway System where the federal four-lane standard is formally waived. The exception was negotiated through the 1980s by NHDOT and the Federal Highway Administration to protect the Old Man of the Mountain rock formation, the iconic granite profile on Cannon Mountain's east face that the state legislature adopted as the official New Hampshire emblem in 1945 (and which collapsed unexpectedly May 3, 2003 despite the design accommodation; the Old Man Memorial Plaza at Profile Lake now interprets the loss). The Notch's Flume Gorge granite canyon (800 ft long, 70-90 ft deep, with vertical walls 20 ft apart) and the Cannon Mountain aerial tramway (the first aerial passenger tramway in North America, opened 1938) anchor the year-round tourism economy.

Grafton County covers 1,714 sq mi from the Vermont line east to the White Mountain NF and includes Franconia Notch, the Lakes Region's northern shores at Squam Lake (filming location for the 1981 'On Golden Pond' starring Henry Fonda and Katharine Hepburn), and the Dartmouth College town of Hanover. The Connecticut River forms the entire western county boundary — the largest river in New England by discharge volume per USGS gauges. Haverhill is the historical county seat, but Woodsville and Lebanon carry most of the county's commerce — Lebanon (population 14,282) is the only city in Grafton, anchoring the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center health-system payroll. Lafayette Campground inside Franconia Notch SP accepts rigs to 35 ft on first-come basis (97 sites, no electric); reservations are not accepted for any night Memorial Day through Columbus Day and the campground typically fills by 9am Friday in July and August. Hancock Campground on the Kancamagus Highway in adjacent Coos County is the alternative WMNF base accepting rigs to 35 ft.