Humans have been around for a long, long time. I find it especially fascinating to learn and wonder about what took place at a certain location in the past, or when a certain group of people settled in a certain spot. History brings up so many questions that connect to how we live today. The Granite State has been inhabited for thousands of years. Many signs of these civilizations have been lost to time, but the town of Jefferson has been the site of significant discoveries in the history of New Hampshire.
The town of Jefferson was a much different place 12,000 years ago. It was then the site of a glacial lake with the harsh and frigid climate found in northern Canada.
Paleo-Indians were the first people to inhabit the current Jefferson area during the late Pleistocene period.
Stone tools were common to this era. In 1995 and again in 2010, two significant archaeological sites along the Israel River were found. Crude spear points and other tools made from rhyolite were discovered.
The Israel River's headwaters take shape at the base of Mt. Adams and flow 23 miles westward to the Connecticut River.
The Israel River has long been a vital lifeline for inhabitants of the area. The Abenaki settled along the river long before the English arrived in the 18th century.
Research of the tools finds that the area's people were likely hunting caribou in an effort to survive in an extraordinarily cold environment.
For more information on this fascinating era in the history of New Hampshire, visit New Hampshire Magazine and New Hampshire Public Radio.
Other small towns also have also played their parts in history. Here are eight things about the Granite State that you may now know along with six more weird and strange events that have happened here.
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