NHNew Hampshire State Symbols

Live free or die is the shortest and bluntest motto any state uses, and it was not written for a government. General John Stark, the New Hampshire commander who beat a British detachment at Bennington in 1777, was too ill to attend a veterans' reunion in 1809 and sent a written toast instead: "Live free or die; death is not the worst of evils." The legislature adopted the first four words as the state motto in 1945, and in 1971 put them on every licence plate.

Official state symbols

What is on the New Hampshire state flag

A deep blue field carries the state seal at its centre, and the seal is encircled by a wreath of laurel leaves with nine stars set among them. The stars are a specific claim, not decoration: New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution, on 21 June 1788, and the ninth ratification was the one that brought the Constitution into force. The flag was adopted in 1909 and adjusted in 1931 when the seal itself was standardised.

The seal and the frigate Raleigh

The ship on the New Hampshire seal is a real vessel. The Raleigh was one of the first thirteen warships authorised for the Continental Navy in 1775 and was built at Portsmouth, launched in 1776. The seal shows her on the stocks with a granite boulder in the foreground and a rising sun behind, and the date 1776 below.

For most of the nineteenth century engravers varied the design freely, adding or removing figures on the shore. The 1931 legislature ended that by writing the seal into statute: the ship is the Raleigh, the boulder is granite for the Granite State, and no other elements are permitted. New Hampshire also names granite three separate times in its symbol list, as the state rock, in the nickname, and on the seal.

Symbols that surprise people

• The state emblem no longer exists. The Old Man of the Mountain, a granite profile on Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch, became the official state emblem in 1945 and collapsed on 3 May 2003. It still appears on the New Hampshire state quarter, on highway signs and on licence plates.
• The state dog is a sled dog bred in New Hampshire. The Chinook was developed at Wonalancet by Arthur Walden for polar work. It became the state dog in 2009 after a campaign by middle school students, and it is the only breed created in the state.
• The state sport is skiing. Adopted in 1998, it reflects a ski industry that dates to the 1930s in the White Mountains.
• The state fruit is the pumpkin. Named in 2006, largely on the strength of Keene's pumpkin festival.
• Three rock and mineral symbols. In 1985 the legislature named granite the state rock, smoky quartz the state gem and beryl the state mineral, all in the same year.
• One official song and a stack of honorary ones. "Old New Hampshire" has been the state song since 1949, but the legislature has since designated several additional honorary state songs rather than choosing between them.

Nearby state symbols

More about New Hampshire