Gen. Enoch Poor Home Site
Exeter, Rockingham County, New Hampshire
Marker Inscription
Gen. Enoch Poor / Lived on this site / 1865 - 1780
The Story
This spot in Exeter marks the home of Enoch Poor, a New Hampshire merchant and shipbuilder who rose to become a brigadier general in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. From this seacoast town he helped rally New Hampshire's men to the Patriot cause, leading troops through the hard campaigns of the war before his death in 1780. Exeter itself served as New Hampshire's revolutionary-era capital, making it a fitting home for one of the state's most trusted field commanders.
Why it matters
Poor was one of the citizen-soldiers who turned local New England communities into the backbone of the Continental Army, a reminder that the Revolution was won by ordinary townspeople who took up arms and never came home the same.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Enoch Poor
Related events
- · American Revolution
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
State Treasury
Exeter, NH
During the Revolution, Exeter served as New Hampshire's wartime capital after royal authority collapsed in Portsmouth, and the colony-turned-state ran its affairs from this inland town. The marker fixes the years the State Treasury operated here, from 1775 as independence took hold through 1789, when the new federal Constitution took effect and a national government began to take shape. In that span the treasury helped fund New Hampshire's militia, war debts, and the machinery of a brand-new state government.
George Washington Was Entertained Here
Exeter, NH
In the autumn of 1789, the newly inaugurated President George Washington set out on a grand tour of the northern states, in part to take the measure of the young republic he now led and to let its citizens take the measure of him. His route carried him through New Hampshire, and Exeter — a town that had served as the state's Revolutionary-era capital — turned out to receive him. This plaque marks a house where Washington was received and entertained during that celebrated journey, when a stop by the first president was the event of a lifetime for a New England town.
Jeremiah Smith House
Exeter, NH
Standing in Exeter since about 1730, this handsome frame house is remembered as the home of Jeremiah Smith, one of early New Hampshire's most accomplished public men. A veteran of the Revolutionary War who reportedly marched to the Battle of Bennington, Smith went on to serve in Congress, sit as chief justice of the state's highest court, and win election as governor in the young republic's early years. His career spanned the generation that turned a cluster of former colonies into a working state government, with Exeter — a onetime Revolutionary-era capital of New Hampshire — as his home ground.
United States Armed Forces Memorial
Exeter, NH
Across New England, towns like Exeter have long marked their commons and public squares with tributes to the men and women who wore the nation's uniform. Rather than commemorating a single battle, this memorial gathers all of that service under one dedication — a civic act of remembrance repeated in countless American communities, especially in the wake of the twentieth century's great conflicts. Exeter, an old Revolutionary-era seat of New Hampshire government, is a fitting place for such a gesture, where local memory of duty and sacrifice runs deep. The plain, formal language reflects a shared vocabulary of honor meant to speak for generations of veterans at once.