Pennacook Indians called it Namoskeag,
meaning "good fishing place"—a reference to the Amoskeag Falls in the
Merrimack River. In 1722, John Goffe settled beside Cohas Brook, later building
a dam and sawmill at what was dubbed Old Harry's Town. It was granted by
Massachusetts in 1727 as Tyngstown to veterans of Queen Anne's War who served
in 1703 under Captain William Tyng. But at New Hampshire's 1741 separation from
Massachusetts, the grant was ruled invalid and substituted with Wilton, Maine,
so Governor Benning Wentworth rechartered the town in 1751 as Derryfield.
Derryfield remains a
