Sandwich is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 1,286 at the 2000 census. Sandwich includes the villages of Center Sandwich and North Sandwich. Part of the White Mountain National Forest is in the north. Part of Squam Lake is in the southwestern corner of the town. The town of Sandwich is in the Sandwich Range, with seventeen listed peaks, including Sandwich Dome.
HISTORY:
Chartered in 1763 by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth, the land was considered so inaccessible that the grant was enlarged, making Sandwich one of the largest towns in the state. When this 1763 charter was surveyed, the land was considered so full of inaccessible mountains and shelves of rock that the grantees requested an additional grant of land to the southeast. The petition was granted in 1764, with the additional parcel called Sandwich Addition. It was named in honor of John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich. The earl is said to be the inventor of the sandwich, requesting from his servant a thin slab of meat placed between two slices of bread, which he consumed while intent upon the gaming table.
The earliest European settlers arrived in 1767. By 1830 Sandwich had grown to a population of 2700, which is higher than the current population. At this time the town contained farms, stores, mills, churches, schools, carpenters, blacksmiths, and wheelwrights.
By the end of the 1800s much of the population had left Sandwich to live in cities to the west. Sandwich began to be an attraction for visitors, summer residents, and artists which continues to this day.[1]
The New Hampshire League of Arts & Crafts began in Sandwich in 1920, and continues today. Each fall the town hosts the Sandwich Fair. There is a covered bridge in the east.
More about Sandwich: http://www.nh.gov/nhes/elmi/htmlprofiles/sandwich.html
