Welcome to the Town of Dunbarton, New Hampshire

Dunbarton, New Hampshire, incorporated in 1765, is a small town situated in the south-central portion of the state.  Dunbarton is part of Merrimack County. Dunbarton is rural, yet in close proximity to Concord, the capital, and Manchester, the largest city in New Hampshire.

Lots of Heart but Only One Center

But where does the true center of New England lie? Surely in this age of MapQuest and Google Earth someone could come up with an accurate and impartial answer.

The Boston Globe reported on February 24, 2008, that Suchi Gopal, professor of Boston University Department of Geography and Environment, and Center for remote Sensing used the center of gravity, or "centroid" method of calculation to determine that the center of New England was in Dunbarton, NH.

"A mathematical calculation that uses a digital representation of the six New England states is the most accurate because it's based on a math algorithm that the computer uses to calculate the center based on the boundaries," Gopal said. Her calculation, she added, also took into account the irregular coastline of Maine and the islands off the coast of Massachusetts.

And the answer? A place located at 43.117199 degrees latitude and -71.593498 degrees longitude, only a few miles from the intersection of Interstates 93 and 89: Dunbarton, N.H.