[2] New Ipswich, situated on the Massachusetts border, includes the villages of Bank, Davis, Gibson Four Corners, Highbridge, New Ipswich Center, Smithville, and Wilder, though these village designations no longer hold the importance they did in the past.

Settlement began in 1738, when Abijah Foster arrived with his wife and infant daughter.

The town's affluence would be expressed in fine architecture, an example of which is the Barrett House, used as a setting for the 1979 Merchant Ivory film The Europeans, based on the novel by Henry James.

In 1836, four families from New Ipswich moved to the Wisconsin Territory to start a mission to the Native Americans, founding the town of Denmark, Iowa.

In 1969, construction of Mascenic Regional High School was completed, rendering high school teaching in Appleton no more, although the building was still used to teach elementary schoolers and middle schoolers.

[citation needed] In the past half century, a notable influx of peoples of Finnish descent, particularly of the Apostolic Lutheran Church of America, have settled in New Ipswich.

Additionally, migrants from neighboring Massachusetts make up a large percentage of new residents.

New Ipswich Mountain, part of the Wapack Range, is the highest point in the town, with an elevation of 1,881 feet (573 m) above sea level.

Secondary growth forests have reclaimed the vast majority of the pasture lands that dominated New Ipswich and much of New England at the beginning of the 20th century.