Hanover is a town located in Western New Hampshire in the Dartmouth/Sunapee region of the state. It is situated in the Western part of Grafton County and encompasses a total area of 50.3 square miles, 1.3 of which is water. As of the 2010 United States Census, Hanover was home to 11,260 people.
The land that comprises Hanover was first granted and incorporated as a town by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1761. Settlement of the area began in 1765, with most of the town?s early settlers hailing from Connecticut. In its early years, Hanover was primarily an agricultural community. For a short period in the 1780s, part of Hanover separated and joined the Republic of Vermont. The area later returned to New Hampshire at the insistence of George Washington.
Less than 3 percent of Hanover’s total area is made up of water. The town is home to parts of the Connecticut River, and its highest point lies at Moose Mountain, where elevation reaches 2,313 feet above sea level. It is served by New Hampshire Routes 10, 10A and 120, and neighboring towns include Lyme, Canaan, Enfield and Norwich, Vermont. Hanover is also home to Dartmouth College, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory and parts of the Appalachian Trail.
Hanover is governed by an elected Board of Selectmen. The town boasts a full-time police department, a municipal fire department and municipal emergency medical services. Top employers in the area include Dartmouth College, Hypertherm, Dartmouth Printing Co., Dimatix, Trumbull Nelson Construction Co., Hanover Inn, Town of Hanover and Creare. Children in the area attend Bernice A. Ray Elementary School for grades kindergarten through fifth. For sixth through 12th grades, they attend schools in the Dresden School District, which also serves the nearby town of Norwich, Vermont. It is one of the few interstate school districts in the country.
For recreation and entertainment, Hanover offers residents various parks, golf courses, swimming pools, tennis courts, museums, movie theatres, performing arts facilities, campgrounds, fishing and hunting areas, youth sports and organizations, boating marinas, skiing and more.