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County Wicklow Contae Chill Mhantáin
Coat of arms
Nickname:  The Garden of Ireland
Motto(s):  Meanma Saor  (Irish) "Free Spirits"
Country	Ireland
Province	Leinster
Dáil Éireann	Wicklow
EU Parliament	South
Established	1606
County town Largest town	Wicklow Bray
Government
• Type	County Council
Area
• Total	2,027 km2 (783 sq mi)
• Rank	17th
Highest elevation (Lugnaquilla)	925 m (3,035 ft)
Population  (2016)
• Total	142,425
• Rank	16th
• Density	70/km2 (180/sq mi)
Demonym	Wicklovian
Time zone	UTC±0 (WET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (IST)
Eircode routing keys	A63, A67, A98 (primarily)
Telephone area codes	01, 0402, 0404 (primarily)
Vehicle index mark code	WW
Website	www.wicklow.ie

County Wicklow (/ˈwɪkloʊ/ WIK-loh; Irish: Contae Chill Mhantáin [ˈkɔn̪ˠt̪ˠeː ˌçiːl̠ʲ ˈwan̪ˠt̪ˠaːnʲ]) is a county on the east coast of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is part of the Mid-East Region and is bordered by Wexford to the south, Kildare and Carlow to the west, Dublin to the north and the Irish sea to the east. Wicklow is the 17th largest of Ireland's 32 counties by area, and the 16th most populous, with just over 140,000 residents. The town of Wicklow is the county's administrative capital, while Bray is its largest settlement. The county is governed by Wicklow County Council.

Wicklow's motto, "Free Spirits", is drawn from a line in an ancient Irish poem associated with the area, which reads "Meanma Saor as réim gach achrann". This loosely translates as "The spirit still free through all conflict". The county has long been referred to as "The Garden of Ireland", which is a reference to both its rugged natural scenery and the manicured gardens of its grand estates, such as Powerscourt. The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland, published in 1841, claimed of Wicklow that "nowhere else is to be found assembled such a variety of natural beauties, heightened and improved by the hand of art".

The earliest mention of the region was by the Greek cartographer and historian Ptolemy in 130 AD. According to Ptolemy's map, the area was inhabited by a Celtic tribe called the Cauci/Canci, and the settlement of Manapia is thought to be the site of Wicklow town. The area was controlled for many centuries by the O'Byrnes in the north and the O'Tooles in the south. Despite successive waves of invasion by Viking, Norman and English conquerors, the mountainous interior of the county remained under the control of Gaelic clans until the 17th century. The area was finally shired in 1606, becoming the last of the traditional 32 counties to be established. The recently captured Gaelic territories were too sparsely populated to sustain a shire, so the new county incorporated large tracts of southern Dublin and eastern Carlow to include coastal settlements such as Bray and Arklow.

The shire was named after the town of Wicklow, located in the middle of the county's east coast. The name is an anglicisation of the Old Norse Víkingaló, which means "Vikings' Meadow". The origin of the county's Irish name Cill Mhantáin bears no relation to the name Wicklow. It refers to the "Church of Manntach". Manntach, meaning "toothless one", was an early follower of Saint Patrick.

The county is best known for its mountainous landscape and the monastic site at Glendalough. The Wicklow Mountains are Ireland's most expansive continuous upland area and occupy the whole centre of the county. The Wicklow Mountains National Park, located in the middle of the range, extends to over 220 square kilometres (54,363 acres), making it the largest national park in Ireland. Rising to 925 metres (3,035 ft), Lugnaquilla is the county's highest peak, and is also the highest mountain in Ireland outside of County Kerry. The remote glacial valley of Glendalough is home to a sixth century monastic settlement founded by Saint Kevin which is today Wicklow's most popular tourist attraction.

History

6th century Saint Kevin's monastery at Glendalough.

The region that is today the State of Colorado has been inhabited by Native Americans and their Paleoamerican ancestors for at least 13,500 years and possibly more than 37,000 years. The eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains was a major migration route that was important to the spread of early peoples throughout the Americas. The Lindenmeier site in Larimer County contains artifacts dating from approximately 8720 BCE. The Ancient Pueblo peoples lived in the valleys and mesas of the Colorado Plateau. The Ute Nation inhabited the mountain valleys of the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Western Rocky Mountains, even as far east as the Front Range of the present day. The Apache and the Comanche also inhabited Eastern and Southeastern parts of the state. In the 17th century, the Arapaho and Cheyenne moved west from the Great Lakes region to hunt across the High Plains of Colorado and Wyoming.

The Spanish discovering the Colorado River, namesake of the state, in 1540, by Augusto Ferrer-Dalmau. García López de Cárdenas can be seen overlooking the Grand Canyon.

The Spanish Empire claimed Colorado as part of its New Mexico province before U.S. involvement in the region. The U.S. acquired a territorial claim to the eastern Rocky Mountains with the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803. This U.S. claim conflicted with the claim by Spain to the upper Arkansas River Basin as the exclusive trading zone of its colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. In 1806, Zebulon Pike led a U.S. Army reconnaissance expedition into the disputed region. Colonel Pike and his men were arrested by Spanish cavalrymen in the San Luis Valley the following February, taken to Chihuahua, and expelled from Mexico the following July.

The U.S. relinquished its claim to all land south and west of the Arkansas River and south of 42nd parallel north and west of the 100th meridian west as part of its purchase of Florida from Spain with the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819. The treaty took effect on February 22, 1821. Having settled its border with Spain, the U.S. admitted the southeastern portion of the Territory of Missouri to the Union as the state of Missouri on August 10, 1821. The remainder of Missouri Territory, including what would become northeastern Colorado, became an unorganized territory and remained so for 33 years over the question of slavery. After 11 years of war, Spain finally recognized the independence of Mexico with the Treaty of Córdoba signed on August 24, 1821. Mexico eventually ratified the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1831. The Texian Revolt of 1835–36 fomented a dispute between the U.S. and Mexico which eventually erupted into the Mexican–American War in 1846. Mexico surrendered its northern territory to the U.S. with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo after the war in 1848.

Map of the Mexican Cession, with the white representing the territory the United States received from Mexico (plus land ceded to the Republic of Texas) after the Mexican–American War. Well over half of Colorado was received during this treaty.

Most American settlers traveling overland west to the Oregon Country, the new goldfields of California, or the new Mormon settlements of the State of Deseret in the Salt Lake Valley, avoided the rugged Southern Rocky Mountains, and instead followed the North Platte River and Sweetwater River to South Pass (Wyoming), the lowest crossing of the Continental Divide between the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Central Rocky Mountains. In 1849, the Mormons of the Salt Lake Valley organized the extralegal State of Deseret, claiming the entire Great Basin and all lands drained by the rivers Green, Grand, and Colorado. The federal government of the U.S. flatly refused to recognize the new Mormon government, because it was theocratic and sanctioned plural marriage. Instead, the Compromise of 1850 divided the Mexican Cession and the northwestern claims of Texas into a new state and two new territories, the state of California, the Territory of New Mexico, and the Territory of Utah. On April 9, 1851, Mexican American settlers from the area of Taos settled the village of San Luis, then in the New Mexico Territory, later to become Colorado's first permanent Euro-American settlement.

The 1st Viscount Powerscourt was granted a vast estate at Enniskerry in 1609

In 1854, Senator Stephen A. Douglas persuaded the U.S. Congress to divide the unorganized territory east of the Continental Divide into two new organized territories, the Territory of Kansas and the Territory of Nebraska, and an unorganized southern region known as the Indian territory. Each new territory was to decide the fate of slavery within its boundaries, but this compromise merely served to fuel animosity between free soil and pro-slavery factions.

The gold seekers organized the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jefferson on August 24, 1859, but this new territory failed to secure approval from the Congress of the United States embroiled in the debate over slavery. The election of Abraham Lincoln for the President of the United States on November 6, 1860, led to the secession of nine southern slave states and the threat of civil war among the states. Seeking to augment the political power of the Union states, the Republican Party-dominated Congress quickly admitted the eastern portion of the Territory of Kansas into the Union as the free State of Kansas on January 29, 1861, leaving the western portion of the Kansas Territory, and its gold-mining areas, as unorganized territory.

Early Modern Period

Thirty days later on February 28, 1861, outgoing U.S. President James Buchanan signed an Act of Congress organizing the free Territory of Colorado. The original boundaries of Colorado remain unchanged except for government survey amendments. The name Colorado was chosen because it was commonly believed that the Colorado River originated in the territory. In 1776, Spanish priest Silvestre Vélez de Escalante recorded that Native Americans in the area knew the river as el Rio Colorado for the red-brown silt that the river carried from the mountains. In 1859, a U.S. Army topographic expedition led by Captain John Macomb located the confluence of the Green River with the Grand River in what is now Canyonlands National Park in Utah. The Macomb party designated the confluence as the source of the Colorado River.

On April 12, 1861, South Carolina artillery opened fire on Fort Sumter to start the American Civil War. While many gold seekers held sympathies for the Confederacy, the vast majority remained fiercely loyal to the Union cause.

In 1862, a force of Texas cavalry invaded the Territory of New Mexico and captured Santa Fe on March 10. The object of this Western Campaign was to seize or disrupt the gold fields of Colorado and California and to seize ports on the Pacific Ocean for the Confederacy. A hastily organized force of Colorado volunteers force-marched from Denver City, Colorado Territory, to Glorieta Pass, New Mexico Territory, in an attempt to block the Texans. On March 28, the Coloradans and local New Mexico volunteers stopped the Texans at the Battle of Glorieta Pass, destroyed their cannon and supply wagons, and dispersed 500 of their horses and mules. The Texans were forced to retreat to Santa Fe. Having lost the supplies for their campaign and finding little support in New Mexico, the Texans abandoned Santa Fe and returned to San Antonio in defeat. The Confederacy made no further attempts to seize the Southwestern United States.

The British Army constructing the Military Road through the Wicklow Mountains (c. 1804)

In 1864, Territorial Governor John Evans appointed the Reverend John Chivington as Colonel of the Colorado Volunteers with orders to protect white settlers from Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors who were accused of stealing cattle. Colonel Chivington ordered his men to attack a band of Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped along Sand Creek. Chivington reported that his troops killed more than 500 warriors. The militia returned to Denver City in triumph, but several officers reported that the so-called battle was a blatant massacre of Indians at peace, that most of the dead were women and children, and that bodies of the dead had been hideously mutilated and desecrated. Three U.S. Army inquiries condemned the action, and incoming President Andrew Johnson asked Governor Evans for his resignation, but none of the perpetrators was ever punished. This event is now known as the Sand Creek massacre.

In the midst and aftermath of the Civil War, many discouraged prospectors returned to their homes, but a few stayed and developed mines, mills, farms, ranches, roads, and towns in Colorado Territory. On September 14, 1864, James Huff discovered silver near Argentine Pass, the first of many silver strikes. In 1867, the Union Pacific Railroad laid its tracks west to Weir, now Julesburg, in the northeast corner of the Territory. The Union Pacific linked up with the Central Pacific Railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869, to form the First Transcontinental Railroad. The Denver Pacific Railway reached Denver in June the following year, and the Kansas Pacific arrived two months later to forge the second line across the continent. In 1872, rich veins of silver were discovered in the San Juan Mountains on the Ute Indian reservation in southwestern Colorado. The Ute people were removed from the San Juans the following year.

18th and 19th centuries

[[File:|left|thumb|190px|Charles Stewart Parnell is widely regarded as one of the most formidable figures in parliamentary history]]

Victorian era print of Bray seafront

The United States Congress passed an enabling act on March 3, 1875, specifying the requirements for the Territory of Colorado to become a state. On August 1, 1876 (four weeks after the Centennial of the United States), U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant signed a proclamation admitting Colorado to the Union as the 38th state and earning it the moniker "Centennial State".

The discovery of a major silver lode near Leadville in 1878 triggered the Colorado Silver Boom. The Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 invigorated silver mining, and Colorado's last, but greatest, gold strike at Cripple Creek a few months later lured a new generation of gold seekers. Colorado women were granted the right to vote on November 7, 1893, making Colorado the second state to grant universal suffrage and the first one by a popular vote (of Colorado men). The repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 led to a staggering collapse of the mining and agricultural economy of Colorado, but the state slowly and steadily recovered. Between the 1880s and 1930s, Denver's floriculture industry developed into a major industry in Colorado. This period became known locally as the Carnation Gold Rush.

Poor labor conditions and discontent among miners resulted in several major clashes between strikers and the Colorado National Guard, including the 1903–1904 Western Federation of Miners Strike and Colorado Coalfield War, the latter of which included the Ludlow massacre that killed a dozen women and children. Both the 1913–1914 Coalfield War and the Denver streetcar strike of 1920 resulted in federal troops intervening to end the violence. In 1927, the Columbine Mine massacre resulted in six dead strikers following a confrontation with Colorado Rangers. More than 5,000 Colorado miners—many immigrants—are estimated to have died in accidents since records were first formally collected following an 1884 accident in Crested Butte that killed 59.

In 1924, the Ku Klux Klan Colorado Realm achieved dominance in Colorado politics. With peak membership levels, the Second Klan levied significant control over both the local and state Democrat and Republican parties, particularly in the governor's office and city governments of Denver, Cañon City, and Durango. A particularly strong element of the Klan controlled the Denver Police. Cross burnings became semi-regular occurrences in cities such as Florence and Pueblo. The Klan targeted African-Americans, Catholics, Eastern European immigrants, and other non-White Protestant groups. Efforts by non-Klan lawmen and lawyers including Philip Van Cise lead to a rapid decline in the organization's power, with membership waning significantly by the end of the 1920s.

Colorado became the first western state to host a major political convention when the Democratic Party met in Denver in 1908. By the U.S. census in 1930, the population of Colorado first exceeded one million residents. Colorado suffered greatly through the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, but a major wave of immigration following World War II boosted Colorado's fortune. Tourism became a mainstay of the state economy, and high technology became an important economic engine. The United States Census Bureau estimated that the population of Colorado exceeded five million in 2009.

On September 11, 1957, a plutonium fire occurred at the Rocky Flats Plant, which resulted in the significant plutonium contamination of surrounding populated areas.

From the 1940s and 1970s, many protest movements gained momentum in Colorado, predominantly in Denver. This included the Chicano Movement, a civil rights and social movement of Mexican Americans emphasizing a Chicano identity that is widely considered to have begun in Denver. The National Chicano Liberation Youth Conference was held in Colorado in March 1969.

Later and contemporary history

The German war cemetery in Glencree

In 1967, Colorado was the first state to loosen restrictions on abortion when governor John Love signed a law allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest, or threats to the woman's mental or physical health. Many states followed Colorado's lead in loosening abortion laws in the 1960s and 1970s.

Since the late 1990s, Colorado has been the site of multiple major mass shootings, including the infamous Columbine High School massacre in 1999 which made international news, where Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher, before committing suicide. The incident has since spawned many copycat incidents. On July 20, 2012, a gunman killed 12 people in a movie theater in Aurora. The state responded with tighter restrictions on firearms, including introducing a limit on magazine capacity. On March 22, 2021, a gunman killed 10 people, including a police officer, in a King Soopers supermarket in Boulder.

Four warships of the U.S. Navy have been named the USS Colorado. The first USS Colorado was named for the Colorado River and served in the Civil War and later the Asiatic Squadron, where it was attacked during the 1871 Korean Expedition. The later three ships were named in honor of the state, the including an armored cruiser and the battleship USS Colorado, the latter of which was the lead ship of her class and served in World War II in the Pacific beginning in 1941. At the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the battleship USS Colorado was located at the naval base in San Diego, California, and thus went unscathed. The most recent vessel to bear the name USS Colorado is Virginia-class submarine USS Colorado (SSN-788), which was commissioned in 2018.

Economy

Military warning sign close to the Glen of Imaal artillery range

The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates that New Hampshire's total state product in 2018 was $86 billion, ranking 40th in the United States. Median household income in 2017 was $74,801, the fourth highest in the country (including Washington, DC). Its agricultural outputs are dairy products, nursery stock, cattle, apples and eggs. Its industrial outputs are machinery, electric equipment, rubber and plastic products, and tourism is a major component of the economy.

New Hampshire experienced a major shift in its economic base during the 20th century. Historically, the base was composed of traditional New England textiles, shoe making, and small machine shops, drawing upon low-wage labor from nearby small farms and from parts of Quebec. Today, of the state's total manufacturing dollar value, these sectors contribute only two percent for textiles, two percent for leather goods, and nine percent for machining. They experienced a sharp decline due to obsolete plants and the lure of cheaper wages in the Southern United States.

New Hampshire today has a broad-based and growing economy, with a state GDP growth rate of 2.2% in 2018. The state's largest economic sectors in 2018, based on contribution to GDP, are: 15% real estate and rental and leasing; 13% professional business services; 12% manufacturing; 10% government and government services; and 9% health care and social services.

The state's budget in FY2018 was $5.97 billion, including $1.79 billion in federal funds. The issue of taxation is controversial in New Hampshire, which has a property tax (subject to municipal control) but no broad sales tax or income tax. The state does have narrower taxes on meals, lodging, vehicles, business and investment income, and tolls on state roads.

According to the Energy Information Administration, New Hampshire's energy consumption and per capita energy consumption are among the lowest in the country. The Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant, near Portsmouth, is the largest nuclear reactor in New England and provided 57% of New Hampshire's electricity generation and 27% of its electricity consumption in 2017. In 2016 and 2017, New Hampshire obtained more of its electricity generation from wind power than coal-fired power plants. Approximately 32% of New Hampshire's electricity consumption came from renewable resources (including nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and other renewable resources). New Hampshire was a net exporter of electricity, exporting 63 trillion British thermal units (18 TWh).

New Hampshire's residential electricity use is low compared with the national average, in part because demand for air conditioning is low during the generally mild summer months and because few households use electricity as their primary energy source for home heating. Nearly half of New Hampshire households use fuel oil for winter heating, which is one of the largest shares in the United States. New Hampshire has potential for renewable energies like wind power, hydroelectricity, and wood fuel.

The state has no general sales tax and no personal state income tax (the state does tax, at a five percent rate, income from dividends and interest), and the legislature has exercised fiscal restraint.

New Hampshire's lack of a broad-based tax system has resulted in the state's local jurisdictions having the 8th-highest property taxes as of a 2019 ranking by the Tax Foundation. However, the state's overall tax burden is relatively low; in 2010 New Hampshire ranked 8th-lowest among states in combined average state and local tax burden.

As of February 2010, the state's unemployment rate was 7.1%. By October 2010, the unemployment rate had dropped to 5.4%. The (preliminary) seasonally unemployment rate in April 2019 was 2.4% based on a 767,500 person civilian workforce with 749,000 people in employment. New Hampshire's workforce is 90% in nonfarm employment, with 18% employed in trade, transportation, and utilities; 17% in education and health care; 12% in government; 11% in professional and business services; and 10% in leisure and hospitality.

According to a 2013 study by Phoenix Marketing International, New Hampshire had the 8th-highest percentage of millionaire households in the United States, at 6.48% of all households. In 2013, New Hampshire also had the lowest poverty rate nationwide at just 8.7% of all residents, according to the Census Bureau.

Government and politics

Local government

Main article: Wicklow County Council

New Hampshire has 10 counties and 234 cities and towns.

New Hampshire is a "Dillon Rule" state, meaning the state retains all powers not specifically granted to municipalities. Even so, the legislature strongly favors local control, particularly with regard to land use regulations. New Hampshire municipalities are classified as towns or cities, which differ primarily by the form of government. Most towns generally operate on the town meeting form of government, where the registered voters in the town act as the town legislature, and a board of selectmen acts as the executive of the town. Larger towns and the state's thirteen cities operate either on a council–manager or council–mayor form of government. There is no difference, from the state government's point of view, between towns and cities besides the form of government. All state-level statutes treat all municipalities identically.

New Hampshire has a small number of unincorporated areas that are titled as grants, locations, purchases, or townships. These locations have limited to no self-government, and services are generally provided for them by neighboring towns or the county or state where needed. As of the 2000 census, there were 25 of these left in New Hampshire, accounting for a total population of 173 people (as of 2000); several were entirely depopulated. All but two of these unincorporated areas are in Coos County.

The local government authority is Wicklow County Council which returns 32 councillors from five municipal districts (Arklow, Baltinglass, Bray, Greystones, Wicklow). All of the previous Town Councils (Arklow, Bray, Greystones, Wicklow) were abolished under a new Local Government Act at the 2014 Local Elections. For elections to Dáil Éireann, the entire county is included in the Wicklow constituency along with some eastern parts of County Carlow. The constituency returns five TDs to the Dáil.

Party		Seats	±	FPv%	% change FPv
	Fine Gael	9	1	26.18	6.28
	Fianna Fáil	7		22.06	2.16
	Sinn Féin	2	4	7.81	8.89
	Green	2	1	4.99	2.59
	Labour	2	2	4.63	1.53
	Social Democrats	1	1	5.29	New
	Independent	9	1	26.41	9.29

National elections

For elections to Dáil Éireann, Donegal is represented by the Donegal constituency which returns 5 TDs. The present form of the constituency was created for the 2016 general election. It encompasses the entire county, except for a small area in southern Donegal around Bundoran and Ballyshannon, which is part of the Sligo–Leitrim constituency.

Historically, the county was represented in the Parliament of Ireland through the Donegal Borough constituency, which lasted from 1613 to 1800, when the Irish Parliament was abolished. Following the Act of Union, the county was represented in Westminster through the Donegal constituency until 1885. Following this, the county was broken up into four separate constituencies - North Donegal, South Donegal, East Donegal and West Donegal - which persisted until independence. The Government of Ireland Act 1920 reformed the four constituencies into a single entity covering "the administrative county of Donegal". This was broken up into Donegal East and Donegal West from 1937 to 1977, and into Donegal North-East and Donegal South-West from 1981 to 2016.

• Wicklow's current representatives (2020 General Election)
• 
  John Brady,
  Sinn Féin
  
• 
  Jennifer Whitmore,
  Social Democrats
  
• 
  Simon Harris,
  Fine Gael
  
• 
  Stephen Donnelly,
  Fianna Fáil
  
• 
  Steven Matthews,
  Green Party
  

Politics

The governor of New Hampshire, since January 5, 2017, is Chris Sununu (Republican). New Hampshire's two U.S. senators are Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan (both Democrats), both of whom are former governors. New Hampshire's two U.S. representatives as of January 2019 are Chris Pappas and Ann McLane Kuster (both Democrats).

New Hampshire is an alcoholic beverage control state, and through the State Liquor Commission takes in $100 million from the sale and distribution of liquor.

New Hampshire is the only state in the U.S. that does not require adults to wear seat belts in their vehicles. It is one of three states that have no mandatory helmet law.

Transportation

Air

For a more comprehensive list, see List of airports in New Hampshire.

New Hampshire has 25 public-use airports, three with some scheduled commercial passenger service. The busiest airport by number of passengers handled is Manchester-Boston Regional Airport in Manchester and Londonderry, which serves the Greater Boston metropolitan area.

Public transportation

DART line from Bray to Greystones

Long-distance intercity passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak's Vermonter and Downeaster lines.

Greyhound, Concord Coach, Vermont Translines and Dartmouth Coach all provide intercity bus connections to and from points in New Hampshire and to long-distance points beyond and in between.

As of 2013, Boston-centered MBTA Commuter Rail services reach only as far as northern Massachusetts. The New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority is working to extend "Capital Corridor" service from Lowell, Massachusetts, to Nashua, Concord, and Manchester, including Manchester-Boston Regional Airport; and "Coastal Corridor" service from Haverhill, Massachusetts, to Plaistow, New Hampshire. Legislation in 2007 created the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority (NHRTA) with the goal of overseeing the development of commuter rail in the state of New Hampshire. In 2011, Governor John Lynch vetoed HB 218, a bill passed by Republican lawmakers, which would have drastically curtailed the powers and responsibilities of NHRTA. The I-93 Corridor transit study suggested a rail alternative along the Manchester and Lawrence branch line which could provide freight and passenger service. This rail corridor would also have access to Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.

Eleven public transit authorities operate local and regional bus services around the state, and eight private carriers operate express bus services which link with the national intercity bus network. The New Hampshire Department of Transportation operates a statewide ride-sharing match service, in addition to independent ride matching and guaranteed ride home programs.

Tourist railroads include the Conway Scenic Railroad, Hobo-Winnipesaukee Railroad, and the Mount Washington Cog Railway.

Education

Dartmouth College's Baker Library

Thompson Hall, at UNH, was built in 1892.

High schools

For a more comprehensive list, see List of high schools in New Hampshire.

The first public high schools in the state were the Boys' High School and the Girls' High School of Portsmouth, established either in 1827 or 1830 depending on the source.

New Hampshire has more than 80 public high schools, many of which serve more than one town. The largest is Pinkerton Academy in Derry, which is owned by a private non-profit organization and serves as the public high school of a number of neighboring towns. There are at least 30 private high schools in the state.

New Hampshire is also the home of several prestigious university-preparatory schools, such as Phillips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School, Proctor Academy, Brewster Academy, and Kimball Union Academy.

In 2008 the state tied with Massachusetts as having the highest scores on the SAT and ACT standardized tests given to high school students.

Colleges and universities

For a more comprehensive list, see List of colleges and universities in New Hampshire.

• Antioch University New England
• Colby-Sawyer College
• Community College System of New Hampshire:
  • Great Bay Community College
  • Lakes Region Community College
  • Manchester Community College
  • Nashua Community College
  • NHTI, Concord's Community College
  • River Valley Community College
  • White Mountains Community College
• Dartmouth College
  • Tuck School of Business
  • Geisel School of Medicine
  • Thayer School of Engineering
• Franklin Pierce University
• Hellenic American University
• Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
• MCPHS University
• New England College
• New Hampshire Institute of Art
• Rivier University
• Saint Anselm College
• Southern New Hampshire University
• Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
• University System of New Hampshire:
  • University of New Hampshire
    • University of New Hampshire School of Law
    • University of New Hampshire at Manchester
  • Granite State College
  • Keene State College
  • Plymouth State University

Media

Daily newspapers

For a more comprehensive list, see List of newspapers in New Hampshire.

• Berlin Daily Sun
• Concord Monitor
• Conway Daily Sun
• The Dartmouth of Dartmouth College/Hanover
• Eagle Times of Claremont
• Eagle Tribune (Lawrence, Massachusetts area, including parts of southern New Hampshire)
• Foster's Daily Democrat of Dover
• Keene Sentinel
• Laconia Citizen
• Laconia Daily Sun
• New Hampshire Union Leader of Manchester, formerly known as the Manchester Union-Leader
• The Portsmouth Herald
• The Telegraph of Nashua
• The Sun (Lowell, Massachusetts area, including parts of southern New Hampshire)
• Valley News of Lebanon

Other publications

• Area News Group
• Business New Hampshire Magazine
• The Cabinet Press
  • Milford Cabinet
  • Bedford Journal
  • Hollis/Brookline Journal
  • Merrimack Journal
• Carriage Towne News (covering Kingston and surrounding towns)
• The Exeter News-Letter
• The Hampton Union
• Hippo Press (covering Manchester, Nashua and Concord)
• Manchester Express
• Manchester Ink Link
• The New Hampshire (University of New Hampshire student newspaper)
• New Hampshire Business Review
• New Hampshire Free Press
• The New Hampshire Gazette (Portsmouth alternative biweekly)
• NH Living Magazine
• NH Rocks
• Salmon Press Newspapers (family of weekly newspapers covering Lakes Region & North Country)

Radio stations

For a more comprehensive list, see List of radio stations in New Hampshire.

Television stations

For a more comprehensive list, see List of television stations in New Hampshire.

• ABC affiliate WMUR, Channel 9, Manchester
• PBS affiliate Channel 11, Durham (New Hampshire Public Television); repeater stations in Keene and Littleton
• True Crime Network affiliate WWJE, Channel 50, Derry/Manchester
• Ion Television station WPXG, Channel 21, Concord (satellite of WBPX in Boston)

Sports

The following sports teams are based in New Hampshire:

Club	Sport	Venue	League	Level	notes
Amoskeag Rugby Club	Rugby Union	Northeast Athletic Club, Pembroke	New England Rugby Football Union	Amateur
Nashua Silver Knights	Baseball	Holman Stadium, Nashua	Futures Collegiate Baseball League	Collegiate summer baseball
New Hampshire Fisher Cats	Baseball	Northeast Delta Dental Stadium, Manchester	Eastern League	Professional	Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays
New Hampshire Wild	Baseball	Memorial Stadium, Concord	Empire Professional Baseball League	Professional	Independent minor league
Seacoast United Phantoms	Soccer	Amesbury Sports Park	USL League Two	Semi-professional	Based in Portsmouth, plays home games in nearby Amesbury, Massachusetts

The New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon is an oval track and road course which has been visited by national motorsport championship series such as the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, American Canadian Tour (ACT), the Champ Car and the IndyCar Series. Other motor racing venues include Star Speedway and New England Dragway in Epping, Lee Speedway in Lee, Twin State Speedway in Claremont, Monadnock Speedway in Winchester and Canaan Fair Speedway in Canaan.

New Hampshire has two universities competing at the NCAA Division I in all collegiate sports: the Dartmouth Big Green (Ivy League) and the New Hampshire Wildcats (America East Conference), as well as three NCAA Division II teams: Franklin Pierce Ravens, Saint Anselm Hawks and Southern New Hampshire Penmen (Northeast-10 Conference). Most other schools compete in NCAA Division III or the NAIA.

Annually since 2002, high-school statewide all-stars compete against Vermont in ten sports during "Twin State" playoffs.

Culture

Mermaid, County Wicklow Arts Centre is based in Bray. Mermaid is the county's hub of artistic activity and creation, offering a programme in many art forms: visual arts, theatre productions, opera, dance performances, arthouse cinema, comedy and a music programme. Two of the county's festivals take place in Arklow, the Arklow Music Festival and the Arklow Seabreeze Festival.

The county is a popular film-making location in Ireland. Bray is home to Ardmore Studios, where many of Ireland's best known feature films, including Rawhead Rex John Boorman's Excalibur and Zardoz, Jim Sheridan's Oscar-winning In the Name of the Father, and several Neil Jordan films, have been shot. The BBC series Ballykissangel was also filmed in County Wicklow. Scenes from the movie P.S. I Love You were shot in the Wicklow Mountains National Park while several scenes from other movies, from Barry Lyndon to Haywire, have been filmed in the county.

Landmarks

In the spring, New Hampshire's many sap houses hold sugaring-off open houses. In summer and early autumn, New Hampshire is home to many county fairs, the largest being the Hopkinton State Fair, in Contoocook. New Hampshire's Lakes Region is home to many summer camps, especially around Lake Winnipesaukee, and is a popular tourist destination. The Peterborough Players have performed every summer in Peterborough since 1933. The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, founded in 1931, is one of the longest-running professional summer theaters in the United States.

In September, New Hampshire is host to the New Hampshire Highland Games. New Hampshire has also registered an official tartan with the proper authorities in Scotland, used to make kilts worn by the Lincoln Police Department while its officers serve during the games. The fall foliage peaks in mid-October. In the winter, New Hampshire's ski areas and snowmobile trails attract visitors from a wide area. After the lakes freeze over they become dotted with ice fishing ice houses, known locally as bobhouses.

Funspot, the world's largest video arcade (now termed a museum), is in Laconia.

In fiction

Theater

• The fictional New Hampshire town of Grover's Corners serves as the setting of the Thornton Wilder play Our Town. Grover's Corners is based, in part, on the real town of Peterborough. Several local landmarks and nearby towns are mentioned in the text of the play, and Wilder himself spent some time in Peterborough at the MacDowell Colony, writing at least some of the play while in residence there.

Comics

• Al Capp, creator of the comic strip Li'l Abner, used to joke that Dogpatch, the setting for the strip, was based on Seabrook, where he would vacation with his wife.

Television

• In the AMC drama Breaking Bad ("Granite State") series lead Walter White escapes to a cabin in a fictional county in northern New Hampshire.

Notable people

For a more comprehensive list, see Category:People from County Wicklow.

Prominent individuals from Wicklow, or who are associated with the county, include Irish Parliamentary Party founder Charles Stewart Parnell, author and revolutionary Erskine Childers, mathematician Oliver Byrne, sportsperson Paul McNaughton, boxer and Olympic gold medallist Katie Taylor, professional wrestlers Finn Bálor and Jordan Devlin, musicians Hozier, Róisín Murphy and Chris de Burgh, author Claire Keegan, actor Daniel Day-Lewis, actresses Katie McGrath and Geraldine Fitzgerald, model Rosanna Davison, businessman Eddie Jordan, comedian Dara Ó Briain, television presenter Laura Whitmore, performer John Morrison, and Irish President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh.

References

Ethnicity and migration

As of the 2022 census, the population of County Louth was 85.9% white. Those who identified as White Irish constituted 76.7% of the county's population, and Irish Travellers comprised a further 0.7%. Caucasians who did not identify as ethnically Irish accounted for 8.5% of the population.

The second largest ethnic group in Louth in 2022 was black, accounting for 3.3% of the population. Of this group, virtually the entire population lived in the two largest towns, with 56.5% of Louth's black residents living in Dundalk and 36.2% living in Drogheda.

Those of Asian and Mixed Race backgrounds accounted for 2.7% (3,808 people) and 1.7% (2,333 people) of the population respectively, with the majority of these groups residing in either Drogheda or Dundalk. Around 9,000 people or 6.4% of the population did not state their ethnicity in 2022, a significant increase from 2.5% in the 2016 census.

Louth ethnic composition of population

Racial Composition	2022 Census	Percentage	2016 Census	Percentage
White	119,101	85.9%	116,813	91.5%
Black	4,547	3.3%	3,567	2.8%
Asian	3,808	2.7%	2,399	1.9%
Others including mixed	2,333	1.7%	1,756	1.4%
Not stated	8,918	6.4%	3,176	2.5%

In contrast to the other counties in the Mid-East Region, which are characterised by widespread migration from Dublin, Louth has one of the highest proportions of native residents in Ireland. Around two-thirds (64.5%) of Louth's residents were born within the county, making it the 7th most indigenous county in the State. People from elsewhere in the Republic of Ireland accounted for just 13.9% of Louth's population in 2022, compared with 49.2% in neighbouring Meath to the south. A total of 30,145 people (21.7%) were born outside of the country, up from 24,509 people (19.2%) in 2016.

The largest foreign national groups by citizenship in Louth are: British (1.69%), Polish (1.50 percent), Lithuanian (1.40 percent), Nigerian (0.97 percent), Latvian (0.89 percent) and Romanian (0.57 percent).

Irish language

The Cooley Peninsula was the last Gaeltacht outpost in Leinster. Speakers of Irish existed around Omeath and into southern Armagh up until the middle of the 20th century. The area had its own local dialect, songs, poetry and traditional customs. The dialect, known as Gaeilge Oriel, is now extinct, as the last native speaker, Anne O'Hanlon, died in 1960 at the age of 89. However, extensive recordings of the dialect were made by German linguist Wilhelm Doegen for the Royal Irish Academy in 1928. An Irish language college, Coláiste Bhríde, was originally established in Omeath in 1912, but later moved to Ranafast, County Donegal. In 2012, Coláiste Bhríde celebrated its 100th anniversary in Omeath, and locals were taught phrases in Gaeilge Oriel.

Uniquely, the Cooley Peninsula had a sizable population of Presbyterian Gaeilgeoirí in the late 18th and 19th centuries, owing to its proximity to Ulster. In 1808, Reverend William Neilson published "An introduction to the Irish language" to distribute to Presbyterian ministers in the area, as many in their congregations could not speak English.

Despite its historic Gaeltacht, Louth has the lowest percentage of Irish speakers of any county in the State. Just 31.8% of the population stated that they could speak any level of Irish in the 2022 census.

Religion

St. Mochta's House, a 1,000-year-old oratory in Louth village

Religion in Louth (2022)
religion			percent
Catholic			72.1%
No religion			11.9%
Other Christian			6.4%
Islam			1.6%
Other faith			0.9%
Not Stated			6.9%

According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the Catholic Church is by far the largest religious institution in County Louth, with 100,077 members. Orthodox Christianity was the second largest religious denomination, with 2,598 adherents. This was followed by Islam in third, with 2,281 adherents, and Anglican denominations including the Church of Ireland, England and Episcopalian in fourth, with 2,195.

The county is located within the archdiocese of Armagh in the Roman Catholic Church, and the Archbishop of Armagh has been recognised by the Vatican as the "Primate of All Ireland" since 1353. This was replicated in the Church of Ireland following the Reformation, and the Protestant Diocese of Armagh covers the same territorial extent as the Catholic diocese. Further, the Archbishop of Armagh also has the title of Primate of All Ireland within the Church of Ireland.

As was the case in much of Ireland, there was a significant increase in the number of people stating that they were either non-religious or atheist in the 2022 Census. This demographic has increased by 202% in a little over a decade (2011 to 2022), from 5,485 to 16,556. People with no religion now account for 11.9% of the county's population, up from 8% in 2016.

The fastest growing religions in the county between 2016 and 2022 were Hinduism (107%), Orthodox Christianity (80%) and Pantheism (78%), while the most rapidly declining religions were Lutheran (−23%), Evangelicalism (−19%), Buddhism (−13%) and Apostolic or Pentecostal (−11%). Although Catholicism only recorded a 4.3% decrease, the share of County Louth's residents who identified as Catholic fell sharply, from 81.8% in 2016 to 72.1% in 2022.