The Town That Trees Built
On Berlin (the one in New Hampshire)
If you’ve spent time wandering the back roads of northern New England, then you’ve probably noticed one of the peculiarities of the region—the number of country towns that are named after cities and nations beyond the U.S. Maine is the mother lode, with municipalities such as New Sweden, Maine (named for its Swedish immigrants) and Mexico, Maine (named in solidarity with the revolutionaries who fought in the Mexican War of Independence). But of these unlikely sister cities, one of the most intriguing is tucked deep in the wooded hills that connect New Hampshire’s White Mountains with the Great North Woods. It’s the northernmost city in the Granite State, with a history of logging and paper production so robust that it’s known as “The Town That Trees Built.”
This week, we’re going to Berlin: the New Hampshire version, which is pronounced “BURR-lin” and not “Ber-lin.”
