Groveton, NH

Groveton is the primary village and census-designated place in the town of Northumberland, at the meeting of U.S. 3 and New Hampshire 110 in northern Coös County. The village sits on the Upper Ammonoosuc River about a mile from its mouth at the Connecticut River. The 2020 census counted 1,068 residents. A colonial fort stood downstream in 1755, and the arrival of the railroad in 1872 turned the river settlement into a North Country industrial center.

Groveton grew around leather, clapboard, shingle, and paper mills. The Odell mill opened in 1891, later becoming Groveton Papers and producing paper products for much of the twentieth century; the mill closed in 2008. The former industrial site, historic downtown, 1799 meetinghouse and museum, Northumberland Public Library, and Groveton High School keep the village's institutional map in view. Riverside Speedway adds a different kind of local tradition. The river, the old rail corridor, and the roads toward Lancaster and the Connecticut Valley still gather the wider Northumberland community around Groveton.