Joe Blow is a Concord, New Hampshire business owner. His company needs a new marketing executive, and Joe finds the perfect candidate; her name is Mary Jones. Mary is single. She lives in Darien, Conn., and she has a good job there, but she’s open to changing jobs and working for Joe. But Joe doesn’t want her to work remotely; he wants her in his Concord office every day. So Mary asks Joe, “What’s Concord Like? Be honest!” It’s clear she’s a little hesitant about moving to Concord. How should Joe answer Mary? I suggest that Joe should first tell her the basics about Concord — that’s this column. Then he should give her a personal view. That’s next week.

The basics

■Concord is a town in southern central New Hampshire on the Merrimack River. It was founded in 1725. About 44,000 people live in Concord proper and another 60,000 in the surrounding metropolitan area. It is now the third largest town in New Hampshire, after Manchester and Nashua. It sits on two majority highways — Interstates 89 and 93. In normal traffic, it’s a 1.2-hour drive from Concord to Boston, a culturally very rich city; and it’s roughly a four-hour drive from Montreal, a city that is culturally even richer. In addition, you can take a bus from Concord to New York City in seven hours, and it’s just a 20-minute drive from Concord to Manchester Airport, from which, with connections, you can fly anywhere.

■ Since 1808, Concord has been the capital city of New Hampshire; it is the seat of Merrimack County, and the New Hampshire federal district court and New Hampshire civic and district courts are located in Concord.

■ Concord isn’t Paris, but it does have several major government buildings that are worth visiting, and all of them are within easy walking distance of one another. The most impressive is the New Hampshire State Capital, which was constructed between 1815 and 1818. It’s the oldest capital building in the U.S. where the legislature still meets. But almost equally impressive are the Old Post Office, where legislative employees work, and the New Hampshire State Library and the State Historical Society. If you visit these two buildings, you’ll obtain a matchless introduction to New Hampshire history.

■ By far the largest employers in Concord are the New Hampshire state government, with 6,000 employees, and Concord Hospital, with 3,000 employees.

■ Concord is located in the Merrimack River watershed. It has an attractive Main Street shopping district (but again, not comparable to the Rue Saint-Honoré) and many attractive residential areas, including, a minute’s walk from Main Street, a large and beautiful neighborhood of Victorian homes — one of the largest such neighborhoods in the United States.

■ Even just a few years ago, Concord had a fairly short spring, summer and fall, each with moderate temperatures, and a long, cold, snowy winter. But within the past few years, its climate has been transformed by climate change, and this change continues at a rapid rate. At least for now, Concord is a target for climate change refugees But Concord residential rentals and home prices are already sky-high and likely to continue rising, and within a few more years, its climate may be as challenging for its inhabitants as the climate in southern and western states.

■ Concord is a plain but pretty town, and if you hop in a car, within a few minutes you can visit the park-like campus of St. Paul’s School, a top residential prep school. And within a few more minutes, you can visit Hopkinton, Dunbarton, and New London, all of them classically lovely New England towns.

■ Politically, Concord used to be a conservative town, but in recent years it’s become strongly Democratic — as one Republican political candidate has put it (with dread), “another Massachusetts.”

Next week: Concord from a personal viewpoint (i.e., the viewpoint of my wife, my daughters and myself).

John Cunningham is a lawyer licensed to practice law in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. He is of counsel to the law firm of McLane Middleton, P.A. Contact him at 856-7172 or lawjmc@comcast.net. His website is llc199a.com. For access to all of his Law in the Marketplace columns, visit concordmonitor.com.

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