Place:Jaffrey, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States

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NameJaffrey
Alt namesEast Jaffreysource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS33003504
Factory Villagesource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS33003504
Jaffrey CDPsource: Wikipedia
Jaffrey Centersource: Getty Vocabulary Program
Jaffrey Centresource: USGS, GNIS Digital Gazetteer (1994) GNIS33003505
Tyng's Townshipsource: Family History Library Catalog
TypeTown
Coordinates42.817°N 72.05°W
Located inCheshire, New Hampshire, United States
Contained Places
Cemetery
Conant Cemetery
Phillips-Heil Cemetery
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog

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the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Jaffrey is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 5,320 at the 2020 census.[1]

The main village in town, where 3,058 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as the Jaffrey census-designated place (CDP) and is located along the Contoocook River at the junction of U.S. Route 202 and New Hampshire routes 124 and 137.

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History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

First granted by the Massachusetts General Court in 1736 to soldiers from Rowley, Massachusetts, returning from the war in Canada, the town was known as "Rowley-Canada". In 1749, the town was re-chartered by the Mason proprietors as "Monadnock No. 2", sometimes called "Middle Monadnock" or "Middletown". It was one of the first towns established following the Masonian proprietors' purchase of undivided lands under the claim.

Settled about 1758, the town was regranted in 1767. It was incorporated in 1773 by Governor John Wentworth and named for George Jaffrey, member of a wealthy Portsmouth family.[2] Jaffrey's son was a life trustee of Dartmouth College and designer of the official college seal. The Contoocook River provided water power for mills. Village prosperity would be expressed in fine early architecture, including the Town Meetinghouse, built in 1775.

Beginning in the 1840s, the area's scenic beauty attracted tourists, and several summer hotels were built at the base of Mount Monadnock, enduringly popular with hikers. Some who scaled the summit were Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Rudyard Kipling. The experience inspired Emerson in 1845 to write the poem, Monadnoc.

Jaffrey was the setting for a 1950 biography by Elizabeth Yates entitled Amos Fortune, Free Man, winner of the 1951 Newbery Medal. Amos Fortune was an African-born slave who purchased his freedom and that of his wife, and established a tannery in the village. He is buried in the local cemetery, as are bandbox craftswoman Hannah Davis and author and summer resident Willa Cather.

Jaffrey was the inspiration for a chapter in Parliament of Whores by P. J. O'Rourke, who was a resident for several years.

Old Baker Home, which was the oldest house in Jaffrey in 1905
Town Hall in 1905
Main Street in 1907
Old schoolhouse
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