Concord is the capital of New Hampshire — a compact, unhurried city of about 45,000 people on the Merrimack River. It earns its keep as a state capital rather than a tourist destination, but visitors find genuine rewards here: a striking golden-domed State House, a world-class collection of Shaker furniture, and easy access to the lakes and hills that make New Hampshire worth exploring.
The New Hampshire State House, built in 1819, is the oldest state capitol in the United States where the legislature still meets in its original chambers. You can walk in freely on weekdays and wander the halls, which are hung with portraits of New Hampshire's governors and military heroes. The dome, gilded and visible from miles around, was modeled on the US Capitol.
The Museum of New Hampshire History, run by the New Hampshire Historical Society, is unexpectedly excellent. Its collection spans three centuries of state history, from Abenaki culture through the industrial era, with a particular strength in decorative arts and Concord coaches — the stagecoaches built here that carried mail and passengers across the American West in the 19th century. The society's museum also displays the famously inscrutable Lake Winnipesaukee Mystery Stone. Beyond downtown, the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center honours the New Hampshire-born astronauts Christa McAuliffe and Alan Shepard with a planetarium and a full-scale Redstone rocket replica on the lawn.
Canterbury Shaker Village, about 25 kilometres north of the city, is one of the best-preserved Shaker communities in the country. The Shakers, a utopian religious sect, were remarkable craftspeople — their furniture is still copied worldwide — and the village, with its spare white buildings on a wooded hillside, gives an honest picture of how they lived and worked.
Concord makes a practical base for New Hampshire as a whole. The White Mountains are two hours north, Lake Winnipesaukee is 45 minutes east, and the rest of the Merrimack Valley is on your doorstep.