Ossipee, New Hampshire

Ossipee is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States.

[3] Ossipee, which includes several villages, is a resort area and home to part of Pine River State Forest.

Originally known as "Wigwam Village", and then "New Garden", the town was named for the Ossipee Indians, one of the twelve Algonquian tribes.

It was once the site of an Indian stockade fort, designed to protect the tribe from the Mohawks in the west.

[4] Although the surface of the town is "rough and uneven, and in some parts rocky and mountainous," farmers found it suitable for pasturage, as well as for cultivating wheat and potatoes.

The trains brought commerce and tourists, helping the town develop as a summer resort.

Ossipee is a major source of sand and gravel, transported by railroad to Boston.

In 1917, Virgil D. White set up to create a patent for his conversion kit that changed the Ford Model T into a "snowmobile".

Other villages include West Ossipee, at the northern junction of routes 16 and 25 near the border with Tamworth; Moultonville, directly west of Center Ossipee; and Water Village, along Route 171 near the border with Tuftonboro.

[11] The largest employers are Carroll County Government, Hannaford, Affinity, and Ossipee Aggregates.

Center Ossipee c. 1915
The Carroll County Courthouse in 1921. Built in 1916, it is now the Ossipee Historical Society Museum.
Street scene c. 1910
Map of New Hampshire highlighting Carroll County