The Suncook River is a 35.7-mile-long (57.5 km)[1] river located in central New Hampshire in the United States. It is a tributary of the Merrimack River, which flows to the Gulf of Maine.
The Suncook River begins at the outlet of Crystal Lake in the town of Gilmanton, New Hampshire. The village of Gilmanton Ironworks is located at the lake's outlet. The Suncook flows south two miles to the Suncook Lakes (Upper and Lower) in Barnstead. Below the lakes, the river passes through the village of Center Barnstead and enters the town of Pittsfield, whose village is centered around a 19th century dam on the river.
The river continues south through the towns of Chichester and Epsom, and then forms the town boundary between Pembroke and Allenstown. Shortly before reaching the Merrimack River, the Suncook drops 70 feet (21 m) in 0.5 miles (0.80 km), a natural waterpower site that led to the growth of the village of Suncook.
On May 16, 2006, the Suncook River, responding to the highest rainfall amounts in at least 70 years, rose to flood level and carved a new river channel in the town of Epsom. Two previous channels, around Bear Island, were left dry as the river broke into an active gravel pit half a mile to the east. The new river course, approximately a mile long, is the largest channel change in a river in New Hampshire since systematic topographic mapping began in the state in the early 20th century.[2]
In 1934, the American composer Alan Hovhaness (1911–2000), who spent time with his maternal family members in Pittsfield, New Hampshire during his youth, wrote a fantasy for cello and piano entitled Legend of the Sunkook [sic] Valley (Op. 1, no. 4).