Industry in Newfields

Various industries thrived in Newfields, including lumber, shipbuilding, iron production and casting, tanning, and manufacturing. Exports from Newfields included lumber, ship’s masts, beef, pork, pelts, as well as machinery, steam engines and small locomotives.

The Boston and Maine Railroad, which first extended service through Newfields in 1841, is still an active commercial line with both freight and passenger service running north and south along the waterfront, and includes a switch yard at Rockingham Junction, at the north end of town. In its day, Rockingham Junction was an important rail depot and connected a westbound line to Manchester that no longer operates. An eastbound spur into Portsmouth still receives occasional use.