The crown jewel of the Upper Connecticut River Valley, Hanover has been called by Money magazine the No. 1 town in the East (No. 2 in the entire country) among “smaller places that offer the best combination of economic opportunity, good schools, safe streets, things to do and a real sense of community.”
CNN has ranked Hanover as No. 6 in the Top 100 of “America’s Best Small Towns.” National Geographic Traveler has counted Hanover among its Top 50 Adventure Towns on its list of “Best Places to Live + Play.” And, Forbes Traveler features Hanover on its slideshow of “America’s Prettiest Towns.” Hanover is the fourth location, joining well-known areas like Charleston, South Carolina, Savannah, Georgia, and California’s Napa Valley, in a Business Week list of “places that appeal to the pre-retirement crowd.”
Along with the charming Vermont town of Norwich – with which it shares a well-regarded high school (recognized in 2009 by Business Week as having the “Best Overall Academic Performance” in New Hampshire, with a GreatSchools rating of 10/10 and in 2014 ranked No. 1 School in New Hampshire by Niche.com ) – and northern neighbor Lyme, Hanover and its villages of Etna and Hanover Center offer many of the advantages of big-city living with the benefits of small-town life. ’
Life in the Upper Valley is about exploring nature at your doorstep one day and visiting one of a great variety of well-regarded museums, galleries and attractions the next. It’s about shopkeepers who know your name and your children’s names, and it’s about having the convenience of chain stores a short drive away. It’s about restaurants offering international cuisine, but it’s also about stopping by the farmers market to pick up locally grown organic produce on the 10-minute bike ride home from the office.
It’s about nationally recognized financial institutions, as well as locally owned banks and insurance companies run by your neighbors and friends. It’s about high-tech companies and telecommuters who have found a home here, and the loggers and laborers who have welcomed them. It’s about interstate highways offering easy access to Boston, New York and Montreal, but it’s also about bumpy dirt roads leading to gorgeous views on the other side of the mountain.
It’s about having one of the nation’s most respected colleges attracting the best and the brightest from around the nation and the world, and it’s about those same students helping tutor local children in public school systems that rank among the finest in New Hampshire and Vermont. It’s about being home to the leading medical center in northern New England, and it’s about the cardiologist down the road helping to jump-start your car on a winter morning.
To paraphrase Daniel Webster, the Upper Valley area is a small place, and many love it. Give it a look. You may just agree.