Native American inhabitants The land in and around Rindge was originally inhabited by ancestors of the
Abenaki tribe of
Native Americans.
Archeological evidence from nearby
Swanzey indicates that the region was inhabited as much as 11,000 years ago (coinciding with the end of the
last glacial period). As much as half of the Western Abenakis were victims of a wave of
epidemics that coincided with the arrival of Europeans in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Later, many of the Western Abenaki present in southwestern
New Hampshire chose to relocate to
Canada during Colonial times, primarily due to their allegiance with the
French during the
French and Indian Wars.
Settlement by European colonists In the eighteenth century,
Massachusetts granted unappropriated land to veterans of
Sir William Phipps'
1690 expedition against
French-held Canada as compensation for services. Whole townships were granted to certain military companies and became known as "Canada" townships. Granted in 1736 by Governor
Jonathan Belcher to soldiers from
Rowley, Massachusetts, Rindge was first known as "Rowley-Canada". But the
Masonian proprietors were making competing claims to the area, and in 1740 commissioners of
the Crown decided that the boundary between Massachusetts and
New Hampshire lay south of Rowley-Canada. Consequently, it was re-granted in 1749 by Governor
Benning Wentworth as "Monadnock No. 1", or "South Monadnock". The town was incorporated in 1768 by Governor
John Wentworth as "Rindge", in honor of Captain Daniel Rindge of
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, one of the original grant holders, and the one who represented New Hampshire's claim to the land before the king. Captain Abel Platts is credited as being Rindge's first temporary settler, arriving in 1738 to take possession of his family's land grant. But disputes about the grants, combined with the outbreak in 1744 of
King George's War, made it untenable to remain in Rindge, so early settlers abandoned it. Platts and others returned in 1752, and starting in 1758, settlement increased steadily. There were 1,274 residents by 1859, when
water powered industries included three
gristmills, thirteen
sawmills, thirteen
shingle mills, six
stave mills, two
planing mills, and several
clapboard mills. Image:Congregational Church and Common, Rindge Center, NH.jpg|The Common in 1906 Image:View of the Square, West Rindge, NH.jpg|West Rindge in 1910 Image:Pinecroft Inn, East Rindge, NH.jpg|Pinecroft Inn Image:RindgeNH ShedsAndStables.jpg|Historic horse sheds behind the meeting house ==Geography==