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Real events too strange to have made the textbook.
Nashua, NH
A large mural commemorates the 1946 Nashua Dodgers and players Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe. Their season in Nashua was an important early step in the integration of twentieth-century professional baseball before both men reached the major leagues. The artwork turns that history into an easily accessible downtown stop.
Bartlett, NH
Several aging rail cars and a locomotive have long sat near the old Mountain Division rail corridor in Bartlett, creating the appearance of a forgotten train left in the woods. Their condition and exact access can change as rail and property work evolves. Follow current signage and lawful local access, stay off any active tracks, and do not climb into or damage the equipment.
Portsmouth, NH
Construction work in 2003 uncovered human remains beneath Chestnut Street, revealing a forgotten eighteenth-century African burial ground. Archaeological work identified multiple individuals of African descent, and the city later created a public memorial park over the site. It is a solemn burial and remembrance space and should be treated accordingly.
Hudson, NH
Benson's Wild Animal Farm once drew crowds with elephants, lions, gorillas and other animals before closing in 1987. The land is now a public park, but several structures from the attraction remain, including the distinctive former gorilla cage that visitors can walk into. It is an unusually intact fragment of a vanished roadside zoo.
Washington, NH
After Captain Samuel Jones lost a leg to amputation in 1804, the severed limb reportedly received its own funeral and burial while Jones himself lived for years afterward. A marker preserves the bizarre story in Washington's cemetery landscape. It is one of the state's clearest examples of a literal grave for only part of a person.
Milford, NH
Caroline Cutter's gravestone carries an exceptionally long inscription placed there by her husband, who used the monument to accuse Baptist ministers and churches of contributing to her death. The result reads less like a conventional epitaph and more like a permanent public grievance carved into stone. It is located in Milford Cemetery.
Keene, NH
Teacher Charlotte Gemmell's granite grave marker is carved as a school desk complete with books and an apple. The personalized monument looks startlingly literal among conventional cemetery stones. The coordinate routes to Monadnock View Cemetery; follow the cemetery's posted hours and directions to locate the individual grave.
Chester, NH
Chester Village Cemetery contains a striking group of eighteenth-century gravestones carved with unusually expressive human faces. Several are attributed to local stonecarvers Stephen and Abel Webster, whose work ranges from smiling heads to grim or almost cartoonish expressions. The stones are historical funerary art, so visitors should look without touching or rubbing them.
Moultonborough, NH
Actor Claude Rains, remembered for films including "The Invisible Man" and "Casablanca," is buried in Red Hill Cemetery. His grave and his wife's are marked by distinctive polished black stones with an almost futuristic shape. The secluded New Hampshire burial site makes an unexpected film-history stop.
Colebrook, NH
This memorial honors four people killed during Carl Drega's 1997 shooting rampage in Colebrook: two New Hampshire state troopers, a judge and a newspaper editor. The monument gives visitors a concrete place to understand a violent event that deeply affected the North Country community. OddWay should present it strictly as a respectful memorial.
Dixville, NH
Dixville Notch became nationally famous for casting presidential-primary and general-election ballots just after midnight, traditionally inside The Balsams resort. The tiny community's first-results ritual became one of New Hampshire's strangest political traditions. The historic hotel has been closed while redevelopment plans continue, so this is an exterior and historical-routing stop only unless public access is officially announced.
New London, NH
An above-ground stone tomb in Old Main Street Cemetery looks uncannily like an enormous loaf of bread. Roadside lore has sometimes claimed Hanslin was a baker, but he was actually involved in real estate—the resemblance appears to be coincidental. That lack of an elaborate legend arguably makes the oversized stone form stranger.
Laconia, NH
Protected beneath a small stone shelter is a boulder inscribed in 1652 during an early attempt to establish the northern boundary of Massachusetts. The marks are often described as among the oldest surviving public inscriptions or monuments of colonial government in New England. The state historic site is generally open for outdoor visitation unless otherwise posted.
New Castle, NH
Concrete batteries and defensive structures overlook Portsmouth Harbor at this former coastal fort. The site combines abandoned-looking military architecture with a dramatic oceanfront setting, while interpretive material explains its role in the harbor defense system. Grounds and interior access can vary by season and restoration status.
Concord, NH
Concord teacher Christa McAuliffe was selected for NASA's Teacher in Space Project and died with the crew of Space Shuttle Challenger in 1986. Her grave remains in Concord and is part of the city's enduring connection to her life and legacy. Visit respectfully during cemetery hours; the grave is in Block M, Lot 51L.
New Boston, NH
Seventeen-year-old Sevilla Jones was murdered by Henry Sargent in 1854 while walking to school. Her unusually blunt gravestone names Sargent as her killer and describes the shooting, turning the marker into a permanent public accusation. Sargent is buried only a short distance away in the same cemetery.
Portsmouth, NH
Matching gravestones in South Cemetery mark Karen Christensen and Anethe Christensen, two women murdered on Smuttynose Island in 1873. A third woman escaped and accused Louis Wagner, who was later executed for the killings, though debate over the case persisted. The graves provide a mainland stop tied directly to one of the Isles of Shoals' darkest stories.
Dixville, NH
A tiny burial site near Dixville Notch preserves the story of early settler Betsey Whittemore, who died in December 1815. Winter conditions were so severe that her body reportedly could not be transported out of the notch and had to remain until burial became possible. The graves are near the public waterfall parking area but should be treated as a cemetery, not a roadside prop.
Andover, NH
Richard Potter, born in 1783, became one of the first American-born professional magicians and a prominent Black entertainer in the early United States. He and his wife Sally are buried near Potter Place, the village that eventually took his name. The graves are behind the historic railroad-station area and are accessible for respectful visits.
Boscawen, NH
A 35-foot monument commemorates Hannah Duston, who was taken captive during King William's War in 1697 and later killed ten Abenaki people at a camp before escaping. The nineteenth-century monument presents one version of a violent colonial story whose interpretation has become increasingly contested. The state historic site is currently listed as always open for recreation.
Milford, NH
A bronze memorial honors Harriet E. Wilson, author of the 1859 novel "Our Nig," a landmark work in African American literary history. Wilson was born in Milford and endured poverty and indentured servitude before becoming an author, lecturer and spiritualist. The statue stands in public Bicentennial Park.
Suncook, NH
A tall monument commemorates Josie Langmaid, a 17-year-old murdered in 1875 in a case that shocked New Hampshire. The inscription records unusually direct details of her death, making the memorial far more explicit than most nineteenth-century grave markers. Treat the site as a memorial to a victim rather than a novelty.
Livermore, NH
Livermore grew as a White Mountain logging company town in the late nineteenth century before fires, floods and changing timber economics helped empty it. Foundations, cellar holes and traces of the settlement remain along Sawyer River Road. The road is seasonal and may be gated, but the former village can be explored on foot without trespassing on the nearby private camp. Secondary source: https://ournewenglandlegends.com/podcast-439-the-ghost-town-of-livermore/
Jackson, NH
A stone memorial near the summit of Mount Washington marks where 23-year-old Lizzie Bourne died from exposure during a storm in September 1855. She was only a short distance from shelter when she died, and the location became a lasting warning about the mountain's rapidly changing weather. There is no clear safe public footpath to the monument; the safest way to view it is from the Mount Washington Cog Railway as it passes nearby.
