Lincoln, NH

Lincoln covers an enormous piece of the White Mountains for a town counted at 1,631 residents in 2020. It is New Hampshire's second-largest town by area, with large portions in White Mountain National Forest. Franconia Notch reaches into the town, the Pemigewasset River and its East Branch run through the valleys, and the Appalachian Trail crosses the wider mountain country. The result is a place organized by passes, rivers, and forest roads as much as by its village center.

Logging built the town before recreation did. Lincoln was established in 1782, and rivers powered early sawmills. In 1892, James E. Henry bought thousands of acres of virgin timber and built a company town around a sawmill, store, school, hospital, and paper operation. His East Branch and Lincoln Railroad eventually covered about seventy-two miles, carrying logs out of the woods until the last train left in 1948. That history still matters because the town's modern map follows the same mountain landscape once organized around timber: Loon Mountain, the national forest, and the notch.

Present-day Lincoln has a year-round recreation economy layered onto the old mill town. Loon Mountain hosts skiing and warm-weather events, and the annual New Hampshire Highland Games bring Scottish athletics, music, food, and clans to the resort each September. The nine-mile Franconia Notch State Park Bike Path gives the valley a local route, while the Kancamagus Highway leads east from Lincoln Woods into the White Mountain National Forest. Franconia Notch State Park's bike path follows the valley at bicycle speed, while the Kancamagus Highway climbs east into the forest; both routes make the mountain geography part of an ordinary town day. Lin-Wood Public School serves the town's children. Lincoln's memorable split is practical: a small town center at the foot of major mountain destinations, with logging railroads under the resort roads.