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is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,760 at the 2000 census. Warner includes the settlements of Davisville and Waterloo. The town is home to Magdalen College, Rollins State Park and Mount Kearsarge State Forest.
The town was granted in 1735 as Number One by Colonial Governor Jonathan Belcher to petitioners largely from Amesbury, Massachusetts. Called New Amesbury, it was part of a line of settlements running between the Merrimack and Connecticut rivers intended to help defend Massachusetts against New France's predations. It was regranted by the Masonian Proprietors in 1749, when it was settled with four houses and a sawmill. Called Jennesstown, it was abandoned and destroyed during the French and Indian War. The town was granted again in 1767 to Jonathan Barnard and others, who called it Amesbury. But on September 3, 1774, it was incorporated as Warner, named after Jonathan Warner, a leading Portsmouth citizen, namesake of the Warner House and relative of Governor John Wentworth. It was one of the last towns established under English provincial rule prior to the Revolution.
Warner developed into a prosperous farming community which produced meats, dairy goods, vegetables, hay and apples. The Warner River and its tributaries provided water power for mills, which in 1832 included 12 sawmills, 6 gristmills, a paper mill and 2 clothing factories. By 1858, there was also a cabinet manufacturer and bottle manufacturer. In 1885, industries included a bedstead factory, chain factory, woolen cloth factory, iron foundry, tannery and glove manufacturer. On September 9, 1821, the town was hit by what is known as the Norfolk and Long Island Hurricane. It leveled houses and forests in a 16 to 18 mile (27 to 30 km) long swath of destruction beginning west of Lake Sunapee, through New London and Sutton, over the southwest spur of Mount Kearsarge and ending at the Webster line. The storm killed 4 people in Warner, seriously injured others and destroyed considerable property.
Each October, on Columbus Day weekend, Warner hosts the annual Fall Foliage Festival, attracting thousands of people from all over New England and beyond.