Hart's Location is a town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The town is one of the first places to declare its results for the New Hampshire Presidential primary and U.S. Presidential elections.

The population was 37 at the 2000 census. It was a location until its incorporation in 2001. Hart's Location receives services from the nearby town of Bartlett, but otherwise has its own government, selectmen, and post office.

History

Hart's Location takes its name from Colonel John Hart of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1772 it was regranted to Thomas Chadbourne, also of Portsmouth.

In 1826, a rock slide known as Willey's Slide killed Samuel Willey and his family. They had fled their home and taken refuge in a prepared shelter; the shelter was destroyed while the house they fled was unscathed. Their story formed the basis for the story "The Ambitious Guest" by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Mount Willey is named in their memory.

Abel Crawford, for whom Crawford Notch is named, is buried in Hart's Location.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , all of it land.

The shape of Hart's Location is strikingly unusual: about long and wide, with crooked boundaries that echo the paths of the upper Saco River and U.S. Route 302 (near the centerline of the town), pinched from both sides between steep mountains and in some areas sheer cliffs above. This anomaly is heightened on maps that show county lines: Coos County lies immediately to the east and Grafton County to the west, but Hart's Location is part of Carroll County, though barely connected to it. Visually, Carroll County suggests the outline of a teapot, with Hart's Location functioning as the teapot's narrow, crooked spout.

The highest point in Hart's Location is above sea level along the town's western boundary, beneath the summit of Mount Willey. Arethusa Falls, New Hampshire's highest waterfall, located in the neighboring township of Livermore, is a popular hiking destination with access from U.S. Route 302 in Hart's Location. The town lies fully within the Saco River watershed.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 37 people, 15 households, and 10 families residing in the location. The population density was 2.0 people per square mile (0.8/km²). There were 50 housing units at an average density of 2.7/sq mi (1.0/km²). The racial makeup of the location was 97.30% (36 people) White, with 2.70% (one person) citing themselves as from two or more races.

There were 15 households out of which 33.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, and 33.3% were non-families. 26.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.10.

In the location the population was spread out with 24.3% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 35.1% from 25 to 44, 8.1% from 45 to 64, and 27.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 94.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.0 males.

The median income for a household in the location was $41,250, and the median income for a family was $70,833. Males had a median income of $26,250 versus $28,750 for females. The per capita income for the town was $19,609. None of the population and none of the families were below the poverty line.

Politics

Federal elections

New Hampshire law allows towns with fewer than 100 residents to open the polls at midnight and close them as soon as all registered voters have cast their ballots. Hart's Location is, along with Dixville Notch, one of two New Hampshire communities where the first votes are cast in the Democratic and Republican New Hampshire primaries, the first presidential primaries in the United States during each presidential election year. The Hart's Location midnight voting tradition, which began in 1948, actually predates the more widely-known Dixville Notch practice; however, Dixville Notch generally receives greater publicity because Hart's Location discontinued the practice in 1964, only to reinstate it in 1996.

The community's voting tradition received a nod in the 2002 third season episode of US television program The West Wing, in an episode entitled "Hartsfield's Landing", named after a town clearly modeled on either Hart's Location, or its companion, Dixville Notch.

Election results

Boldfaced names indicate the ultimate nationwide winner of each contest:

1996

Dem. primary: (12 votes)	Rep. primary: (19 votes)	General Election: (31 votes)
Bill Clinton - 12	Lamar Alexander - 8	Bob Dole - 13
	Bob Dole - 3	Bill Clinton - 12
	Pat Buchanan - 3	Ross Perot - 4
	Steve Forbes - 3	Harry Browne - 2
	Phil Gramm - 1
	Colin Powell - 1, write-in

2000

Dem primary: (12 votes)	Rep primary: (14 votes)	General Election: (30 votes)
Bill Bradley - 9	John McCain - 9	George W. Bush - 17
Al Gore - 3	George W. Bush - 5	Al Gore - 13

2004

Dem. primary: (16 votes)	Rep. primary: (13 votes)	General Election: (31 votes)
Wesley Clark - 6	George W. Bush - 13	George W. Bush - 16
John Kerry - 5		John Kerry - 14
Howard Dean - 3		Ralph Nader - 1
John Edwards - 2

2008

Dem. primary: (13 votes)	Rep. primary: (16 votes)	General Election: (29 votes)
Barack Obama - 9	John McCain - 6	Barack Obama - 17
Hillary Clinton - 3	Mike Huckabee - 5	John McCain - 10
John Edwards - 1	Ron Paul - 4	Ron Paul - 2, write-in
	Mitt Romney - 1

Emergency Services

Police Services are provided by the Carroll County Sheriff's Office or NH State Police Troop E depending on staffing for the time of day.

See also

• Dixville Notch, New Hampshire

References

1. http://www.hartslocation.com/ Retrieved Nov 4, 2008

External links

• Hart's Location, NH Official Website
• New Hampshire Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Profile