The commercial and governmental heart of NH for 300 years. Industry grew on the rapids of the Merrimack River where Victorian brick mill buildings still line the banks, now housing a mix of high tech and craftsmen. In Manchester, performing and fine arts balance commerce: the Currier Museum of Art and Frank Lloyd Wright Zimmerman House complement the fastest growing airport in the US. In Concord the state legislature meets in the oldest continuously-operating State House in the country while the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium celebrates the NH schoolteacher who became the first civilian astronaut.

Highlights: Canterbury Shaker Village one of the longest-lasting active Shaker communities. Poet Robert Frost's farm in Derry. New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, the only NASCAR Nextel Cup venue in the Northeast.