Plaistow is a town located in the Southeastern corner of New Hampshire in the Seacoast region of the state. The town is situated in the Southern portion of Rockingham County and encompasses a total area of 10.6 square miles, only .1 of which is water. As of the 2010 United States Census, the town of Plaistow was home to 7,609 residents.
The town of Plaistow was officially incorporated as a town in 1749, after the boundary line was established between Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In 1776, the Western part of the town split off, forming a separate town of its own called Atkinson. The original Plaistow town hall, which was built in 1895, still stands today and is the hub of “Old Home Day,” an annual event in the town that boasts fireworks, a parade and a carnival.
The Plaistow area only includes .1 square miles of water, or approximately .09 percent of the town?s total area. Its highest point is located at a unnamed summit in the town’s Northern region, where elevation reaches 384 feet about sea level. The town’s main thoroughfares include New Hampshire Route 125 and Interstate 495. The Pan Am Railways line from Boston to Portland also runs through Plaistow. Neighboring towns include Atkinson, Sandown, Danville, Kingston, Epping, Rochester, Exeter and Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Plaistow is governed by an elected Board of Selectmen. The town boasts: a full- and part-time police department; a full-time, part-time and volunteer fire department; and full-time, part-time and volunteer emergency medical services. The biggest employers in the area of Timberland Regional School District, Market Basket, Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Shaw’s Supermarket, Scandia Plastics, TJ Maxx, Rite Aid and CVS.
Children in the area attend school attend schools in the Timberland Regional School District. Pollard Elementary School, which serves only Plaistow children, serves grades kindergarten through five. Timberlane Middle School and Timberlane High School serves grades six through 12 for children in Plaistow, Atkinson, Danville and Sandown.