In March 1697, Hannah Duston and her nurse, Mary Neff, were captured by Abenaki Indians and taken to a temporary village on an island at the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimack rivers, at the site of what is now Boscawen.

In late April, Duston and two other captives killed ten of the Abenaki family members holding them hostage, including six children, and escaped by canoe to Haverhill, Massachusetts.

A garrison offered protection, but raiding parties during the French and Indian Wars left some dead or carried into captivity.

[4] On April 22, 1760, Contoocook Plantation was incorporated as a town by Governor Benning Wentworth, who named it for Edward Boscawen, the British admiral who distinguished himself at the 1758 Siege of Louisbourg.

With a generally level surface, the town provided good farmland, and became noted for its apple, pear and cherry orchards.

The stamps were an adaptation of a postmark, simply reading PAID / 5 / CENTS, typeset in blue on a yellowish paper.

[1] The highest point in Boscawen is an unnamed summit at Raleigh Farm near the town's northern border, where the elevation reaches approximately 930 feet (280 m) above sea level.