Incorporated: 1773
Population: 5,434
County Name: Cheshire
(county map)
Town Contact:
Town of Jaffrey
10 Goodnow Street
Jaffrey, NH 03452
Phone: 603-532-7880
Fax: 603-532-7862
Website: town.jaffrey.nh.us

Origin:
First granted in 1736 to soldiers from Rowley, Massachusetts, returning from the war in Canada, the town was known as Rowley-Canada. In 1749, the town was re-chartered as Monadnock Number 2, sometimes called Middle Monadnock or Middletown. It was one of the first towns established under the New Hampshire proprietors' purchase of undivided lands under the Masonian claim. The town was regranted in 1767, and incorporated in 1773 as Jaffrey, in honor of George Jaffrey, member of a prominent Portsmouth family. George Jaffrey's son was a life trustee of Dartmouth College, and designer of the official college seal.

More about Jaffrey:
Jaffrey is home to Mount Monadnock, which is considered, along with Mount Fuji in Japan to be the most climbed mountain in the world.

The oldest part of town contains many beautiful houses and the historic 1775 Town House. Nearby, in the cemetery looking toward Mount Monadnock, is the grave of Amos Fortune, an African-born slave who purchased his freedom and that of his wife, and established a tannery in the village. Also buried there are bandbox craftswoman Hannah Davis and author Willa Cather, who summered in the town.