If New England were to become an independent nation, what would its capital? (best city, train)

[MrDee12345]

I think the question is pretty straight forward.

I won't give a specific criteria we should use, but I'll tell you which city I choose and why I think it's the best city to be capital of New England

Concord NH

Why you ask?

I had originally narrowed it down to four cities purely based on their location in New England: Lowell, Nashua, Manchester and Concord, NH.

All four cities are 2-3 hours from every other current state capital, so it would make movement between the federal capital and the state capitals easier.

But Nashua is just a big suburb and Manchester is kind of bland, so that left us with Concord and Lowell.

Lowell actually has great bones, lovely older architecture and rail access to Boston, but it's a bit too dense to create an entire nation's capital. You'd have to tear down everything that makes the city nice in order to put up federal buildings,

Concord has a great downtown and it still has room to grow. They could get a train all the way up there and track could go to other states as well.

[TheTimidBlueBars]

Keeping the US ethos of a capital straddling the north and south, maybe Manchester? (at the southern end of a northern New England state and in Boston's orbit)

[Champ le monstre du lac]

Originally Posted by MrDee12345

But Nashua is just a big suburb and Manchester is kind of bland, so that left us with Concord and Lowell..

I'm not sure what makes Concord any less bland than Manchester as dt Concord isn't that remarkable and I'd say dt Manchester is more interesting. But there are lots of state and national capitals that are pretty boring cities and pretty much function just as government towns. Manchester has the bones with plenty of infill space to work with, a sizable commercial airport, and a good highway network in, around, and through the city (I-93/ I-293/ NH 101). But I'm sure Boston is going to be the default answer for most. Perhaps Worcester may have served as a better city and location for the capital of Massachusetts.

[Gaylord_Focker]

Boston

[Tusco]

Boston

[BigCity76]

The average American has probably never even heard of most of those other small cities.

The easy and obvious answer is Boston.

[The_Quiet_One]

First off, this would never happen. If it did, there'd be a few options:

If we're going with the geographic center of New England, it would probably be around Portland or Brunswick, Maine.

If we're going with the population center of New England, then I'd imagine that would fall somewhere around Worcester, Mass.

If we're going with the popular pick, then Boston would win hands down (and thoroughly anger CT, RI, and all of the rural northern half of New England).

It's interesting to note that at least 21 cities across New England have served as state capitals at one point. The New England states are notorious for not agreeing upon a capital city. For almost 200 years, Connecticut split its capital between New Haven and Hartford (alternating each legislative session), because the state couldn't agree on one. At one point, Rhode Island rotated between five different capital cities. Providence didn't become the sole capital until like 1900. In Maine, Portland and Augusta fought for years over which should be the capital.

See this link for more on the history: https://www.newenglandhistoricalsoci...%20in%20Exeter.

So, going by tradition, a unified New England state would most likely rotate its capital between a handful of cities.

[masssachoicetts]

Those who say Boston, are wrong.

New England would easily diversify its state’s economy. There is even a push to do that to Massachusetts.

However, I am not sure about Concord. Maybe Worcester.

[BostonBornMassMade]

Originally Posted by masssachoicetts

Those who say Boston, are wrong.

New England would easily diversify its state’s economy. There is even a push to do that to Massachusetts.

However, I am not sure about Concord. Maybe Worcester.

Anything other than Boston for ansnwer is like a sci-fi comedy. not gonna happen and if it didthat sounds like a really bad idea.

Boston is by far and away the most important place in New England 15x more important than Worcester. No amount of diversifying its economy would change that. And diversifying the economy would be anything but easy.

[Turnerbro]

They should construct a new centrally located one. I do think New England with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia could be an interesting country.