Rockingham County, New Hampshire | |
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Rockingham County Courthouse
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Location in the U.S. state of New Hampshire |
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New Hampshire's location in the U.S. |
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Founded | 1769 |
Named for | Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham |
Seat | Brentwood |
Largest town | Derry |
Area | |
• Total | 795 sq mi (2,059 km2) |
• Land | 695 sq mi (1,800 km2) |
• Water | 100 sq mi (259 km2), 13% |
Population (est.) | |
• (2015) | 301,777 |
• Density | 425/sq mi (164/km²) |
Congressional districts | 1st, 2nd |
Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 |
Website | co |
Rockingham County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2010 census, the population was 295,223, making it the second-most populous county in New Hampshire. The county seat is Brentwood.
Rockingham County is included in the Boston-Cambridge-Newton, MA-NH Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The area that today is Rockingham County was first settled by Europeans moving north from the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts as early as 1623. The government was linked tightly with Massachusetts until New Hampshire became a separate colony in 1679, but counties were not introduced until 1769.
Rockingham was identified in 1769 as one of five original counties for the colony. It is named for Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, who had been Prime Minister in 1765-1766. The county was organized in 1771, with its county seat at Exeter. In 1844 its area was reduced by the formation of Belknap County to the northwest. In 1997 the county court facilities were moved to Brentwood, a rural town adjacent to Exeter.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 795 square miles (2,060 km2), of which 695 square miles (1,800 km2) is land and 100 square miles (260 km2) (13%) is water. The highest point in Rockingham County is Nottingham Mountain, at 1,340 feet (410 m), in the town of Deerfield. The county contains the entirety of New Hampshire's Atlantic coast, which, at approximately 18 miles (29 km), is the shortest ocean coastline of any state in the nation.