Granted as Upper Coos in 1763 by Colonial Governor Benning Wentworth to Captain David Page of Petersham, Massachusetts, the town was settled in 1764 by his son, David Page, Jr. and Emmons Stockwell. It was the first settlement north of Haverhill, New HampshireHaverhill, 50 miles to the south, and originally included land in what is now Vermont. Situated on the northern Connecticut River, the community endured many Indigenous peoples of the AmericasIndian hostilities. It would be named for Lancaster, Massachusetts, hometown of an early inhabitant. Reverend Joshua Weeks, a grantee of the town, was among the group of explorers who named the mountains of the Presidential Range. Other grantees were Timothy Nash and Benjamin Sawyer, who discovered Crawford Notch in 1771, making a shorter route to Portland, Maine possible. Many water powerwater-powered mills have come and gone, including sawmills, several potato starch mills, one of the largest gristmills in the state, and carriage factories. A granite quarry operated in the Kilkenny Mountain rangeRange. With fertile meadows beside the Connecticut River, Lancaster was in 1874 the twelfth most productive agricultural town in the state. An extension of the Boston, Concord & Montreal Railroad shipped products to market, and brought tourists to the grand hotels in the area. Just south of the village center is Mount Prospect, summer home to Senator John W. Weeks, who sponsored congressional legislation creating White Mountain National Forest. In 1910, he purchased several farms to assemble the 420-acre estate. It is now Weeks State Park, which features a fire lookout and his mansion, open for tours during the summer. A skiingski run sometimes operates on the slope. Many of the White Mountains (New Hampshire)White Mountains and Green Mountains can be seen from the stone observation tower built in 1912 atop the 2,059 feet (unit of length)foot (628 meters) summit. The Presidential Range is to the southeast, with the Franconia Range to the south. Mount Weeks, elevation 3,900 feet (1189 meters), is in the Kilkenny Range to the northeast. It is named for the senator, as is the Weeks Medical Center. Weeks Memorial Library, a Beaux-Arts architectureBeaux Arts landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000, was given by John W. Weeks in memory of his father, William Dennis Weeks. Image:Lancaster House in Lancaster, NH.jpgLancaster House in 1908 Image:Main Street in Lancaster, NH.jpgMain Street in c. 1910 Image:Weeks Memorial Library, Lancaster, NH.jpgWeeks Library in c. 1912 Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster%2C_New_Hampshire