Editing Walpole, New Hampshire (section)

== History ==

The town was first granted in 1736 by [[British North America|colonial]] Governor [[Jonathan Belcher]] of [[Massachusetts]] as "Number 3", third in a line of [[Connecticut River]] fort towns. It was settled as early as 1736, and called "Great Falls" or "Lunenburg". Colonel Benjamin Bellows, for whom [[Bellows Falls, Vermont]], is named, built a large fort here for defense against [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native]] attack. After the border between Massachusetts and [[New Hampshire]] was fixed (with Number 3 on the New Hampshire side of the line), the town was regranted by Governor [[Benning Wentworth]] as "Bellowstown", after its founder. It was incorporated in 1756. The grant was renewed in 1761, when the town was renamed Walpole, in honor of [[Robert Walpole|Sir Robert Walpole]], 1st [[Earl of Orford]] and first [[Prime Minister of Great Britain]].<ref name=Coolidge>{{Cite book| last = Coolidge| first = Austin J.| author2=John B. Mansfield| title = A History and Description of New England| publisher = A.J. Coolidge| year = 1859| location = Boston, Massachusetts| pages = [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ/page/n711 668]–671| url = https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_OcoMAAAAYAAJ| quote = coolidge mansfield history description new england 1859.}}</ref>

The first bridge across the Connecticut River, an engineering feat in its day, was built at Walpole in 1785, and is regarded as one of the most famous early spans in the United States. The town contains many architecturally significant old houses, including several associated with Colonel Bellows and members of his family. [[Walpole Academy]], built in 1831 and attributed to master-builder Aaron Prentiss Howland, is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]]. The abundant [[lilac]]s in the town inspired [[Louisa May Alcott]] to write the 1878 book ''Under the Lilacs''.

The Alcott family moved to Walpole temporarily beginning in the summer of 1855 after Benjamin Willis, brother-in-law of matriarch [[Abby May|Abby May Alcott]], offered the family rent-free use of his home. Louisa was the first to move there and called the town "a lovely place, high among the hills". Her father [[Amos Bronson Alcott]] was initially happy with his hardworking neighbors there and wrote, "'Tis refreshing to yoke one's idealism with this team of tug-along-the-rut of realism, and so get practical wisdom out of it, and sanity." Louisa eventually moved to Boston for the summer, and her sister [[Anna Alcott Pratt|Anna]] took a teaching job in [[Syracuse, New York]]. With his family split, Bronson came to dislike his experience in Walpole and found it difficult, as he wrote, "to make the most of myself and them in this little river town and its quiet population." Abby had been working with one of the town's poorest families, and from them the Alcotts contracted [[smallpox]]. In the fall of 1857, the family moved to [[Concord, Massachusetts]], to live in the home they named [[Orchard House]].<ref>Matteson, John. ''Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father''. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007: 221–231. {{ISBN|978-0-393-33359-6}}</ref>

<gallery>
Image:Westminster Street, Walpole, NH.jpg|Westminster St. in 1906
Image:Public Library, Walpole, NH.jpg|Town library in 1906
Image:Old Unitarian Church, Walpole, NH.jpg|Old church {{circa|1905}}
Image:Town House, Walpole, NH.jpg|Town Hall in 1906
</gallery>