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Settled in 1623, Dover was the first permanent settlement in New Hampshire and the seventh oldest in the United States.
History
Settlement
The first known European to explore the region was Martin Pring from Bristol, England, in 1603. In 1623, William and Edward Hilton settled Cochecho Plantation, adopting its Abenaki name, making Dover the oldest permanent settlement in New Hampshire, and seventh in the United States.[4] One of the colony's four original townships, it then included Durham, Madbury, Newington, Lee, Somersworth and Rollinsford.
The Hiltons' name survives at Hilton Park on Dover Point (which was originally known as Hilton Point), where the brothers settled near the confluence of the Bellamy and Piscataqua rivers. They were fishmongers sent from London by The Company of Laconia to establish a colony and fishery on the Piscataqua. In 1631, however, it contained only three houses. William Hilton built a salt works on the property (salt-making was the principal industry in his hometown of Northwich, England). He also served as Deputy to the General Court (the colonial legislature).[5][6][7]
In 1633, Cochecho Plantation was bought by a group of English Puritans who planned to settle in New England, including Viscount Saye and Sele, Baron Brooke and John Pym. They promoted colonization in America, and that year Hilton's Point received numerous immigrants, many from Bristol. They renamed the settlement Bristol. Atop the nearby hill they built a meetinghouse surrounded by an entrenchment, with a jail nearby.[8]
Incorporation
The town was called Dover in 1637 by the new governor, Reverend George Burdett. It was possibly named after Robert Dover, an English lawyer who resisted Puritanism.[9] With the 1639 arrival of Thomas Larkham, however, it was renamed after Northam in Devon, where he had been preacher. But Lord Saye and Sele's group lost interest in their settlements, both here and at Saybrook, Connecticut, when their plan to establish a hereditary aristocracy in the colonies met disfavor in New England. Consequently, the plantation was sold in 1641 to Massachusetts and again named Dover.
Settlers built fortified log houses called garrisons, inspiring Dover's nickname "The Garrison City." The population and business center shifted upriver from Dover Point to Cochecho Falls, its drop of 34 feet (10 m) providing water power for industry (Cochecho means "the rapid foaming water.")[10]
Cochecho Massacre
On June 28, 1689, Dover suffered a devastating attack by Native Americans. It was revenge for an incident on September 7, 1676, when 400 Native Americans were duped by Major Richard Waldron into performing a "mock battle" near Cochecho Falls. After discharging their weapons, the Native American warriors were captured. Half were sent to Massachusetts for predations committed during King Philip's War, then either hanged or sold into slavery. Local Native Americans deemed innocent were released, but considered the deception a dishonorable breach of hospitality. Thirteen years passed. When colonists thought the episode forgotten, they struck. Fifty-two colonists, a quarter of the population, were either captured or slain.
During Father Rale's War, in August and September 1723, there were Indian raids on Saco, Maine and Dover, New Hampshire.[11] The following year Dover was raided again and Elizabeth Hanson wrote her captivity narrative.