Hillsborough, NH

Hillsborough is the main village of the town of Hillsborough, New Hampshire, with 2,156 residents in the 2020 census. The census-designated place follows the Contoocook River in the town's southeastern valley, with Route 149 through the center and the US 202/9 bypass along the northern edge. Hillsborough Bridge Village is the downtown; the town's Center, Upper, and Lower villages sit beyond it. That four-village layout matters when you're picturing the place: the named CDP is the riverfront commercial and civic core, not the whole town. The river also carries the town's working and community history.

Mills once used the Contoocook's power, and today's riverfront includes Kemp Park, a Riverwalk, and trails toward the confluence with the North Branch. Five stone arch bridges remain, and the Franklin Pierce Homestead and Hillsborough Historical Society museum keep the town's presidential and local stories close to Main Street. With shops, restaurants, events, and nearby Fox State Forest, Hillsborough's daily map moves between a compact village center and a much larger network of water, woods, and old mill roads.