This is a transcription describing Cheshire County, NH from A Gazetteer of New Hampshire Containing Descriptions of all the Counties, Towns and Districts in the State by John Hayward, John P. Jewett (publisher), Boston, 1849.
Cheshire County
Cheshire is one of the western counties in this State, and KEENE is its chief town. Its length is thirty-one miles; its greatest breadth twenty-six miles; and its least breadth fifteen. It is bounded north by the county of Sullivan, east by Hillsborough County, south by the State of Massachusetts, and west by Vermont. Throughout the whole extent on the west, it is watered by the Connecticut, the western bank of which forms the boundary line between New Hampshire and Vermont.
Ashuelot River is a considerable stream, and is tributary to Connecticut River. It has its source from a pond in Washington, and after receiving two branches in Keene and Swanzey, and several smaller streams in Winchester, empties into Connecticut River at Hinsdale. Spafford’s Lake, a beautiful collection of water, of about eight miles in circumference, is situated in Chesterfield. There is a pleasant island in the lake, containing about eight acres.
The Grand Monadnock, in Dublin and Jaffrey, is the highest mountain.–See Mountains. Bellows’ Fallls on Connecticut River, at Walpole, have been regarded as one of the greatest natural curiosities in this county.
The earliest settlement in this county was made about the year 1732, at Hinsdale, then a part of Northfield, and under the government of Massachusetts. The county probably received its name from Cheshire, one of the western counties in England.–See County Table.
COURTS IN CHESHIRE COUNTY.
Superior Court, Third District. At Newport, on the first Tuesday of July and at Keene, on the first Tuesday of December.
Court of Common Pleas. At Keene, the third Tuesday of March,and second Tuesday of September.
Probate Courts. At Keene, on the first Tuesday of every month, and on the third Tuesday of March, April, May, September, October, and November.