Rockingham County 

Rockingham County was first settled in 1623 when colonists landed at what was then called “Strawbery Banke” and changed to Portsmouth in 1653.  Rockingham was the first County created in New Hampshire and held all of the land records for the entire state until the other counties were created.  The County has a land area of 699 square miles spread over 37 towns.  It has a total population of almost 300,000 people and represents 25% of the population of the State of New Hampshire.

 

The County is bordered on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, the west by Hillsborough County, the south by Massachusetts and the north by Strafford County and the State of Maine.

 

In one of the first hostile acts of the revolutionary war, local patriots broke into the British armory at Fort William and Mary in New Castle and stole barrels of gunpowder from the British, which was hidden in various towns in the seacoast, including Exeter.  The gunpowder was eventually taken to Boston and used by the colonists in the defense of Bunker Hill.

 

Exeter was declared to be the revolutionary capital of New Hampshire before it was moved to Concord where it remains.  The United States Declaration of Independence was signed by Josiah Bartlett from Kingston, Matthew Thornton of Londonderry and William Whipple of Portsmouth, representing New Hampshire.  All three signers were from Rockingham County.  Josiah Bartlett was the first person to sign the Declaration immediately after John Hancock.

 

New Hampshire patriots dissolved the royal government in 1776 and created a Legislature and Executive Council.  The New Hampshire State Constitution was drafted in 1783 prior to the U. S. Constitution.