The story of the Moses P. Payson Federal Mansion of 1810 and its significance to the town of Bath, New Hampshire:

Built in 1810, the Moses P. Payson Mansion is the oldest building in the center of Bath Village.

To understand the significance of this residence it is helpful to recount a brief overview of the historical importance, impact and role of the professionals of the town of Bath and their influence both within the State of New Hampshire and in national politics. Indeed many renowned personages established friendships with members of the Bath community such as the United States President, Franklin Pierce, who visited here after retirement from his term as the 14th President of the United States.

The town of Bath, New Hampshire gained its greatest distinction among all the towns of the State of New Hampshire from its reputation of having the highest per capita of judges, lawyers, doctors, and educated professional residents of any town within the state. For half a century it was considered the legal center of the North Country. In this distinguished small town during the early 1,800's there resided the Chief Justice

of the Supreme Court of the State of New Hampshire, members of the State Legislature, including the Senate and House of Representatives, twenty two lawyers, five physicians, five ministers, three editors, as well as bank presidents, trustees of Dartmouth College, prominent business people and numerous professors, principals, and teachers of local schools and academies. Undergraduates of just seven of the families produced a second generation of fifteen lawyers, six physicians, and three ministers. To its credit at the height of Bath's professional development, the town had four churches, thirteen school districts with twelve schools and an academy with nine instructors and one hundred students.