New Hampshire
Buying Land in Coos County, New Hampshire
County seat Lancaster. Coos County -- New Hampshire's North Country -- is the state's largest county by land area and its northernmost, bordering Quebec, Maine, and Vermont. It carries a real former-mill-town economic history, the state's single largest private timberland tract, and a genuine exception to New Hampshire's town-only zoning rule: the county government itself zones its 23 unincorporated places.
New Hampshire's largest, northernmost, and most forested county
Coos County -- pronounced "CO-oss," from an Abenaki word generally translated as "place of the pines" -- is New Hampshire's northernmost county, the state's gateway to Quebec, and by far its largest by land area at roughly 1,800 square miles, about a fifth of the state's total land. Seated in Lancaster, the county is heavily forested and sparsely populated (31,271 residents at the 2020 Census across the whole county), spanning from Berlin and Gorham in the south to Pittsburg -- New Hampshire's largest town by land area and its northernmost -- near the Quebec border. This is genuine North Country: real working forest, a real former industrial economy, and real distance from the state's southern population centers.
A former paper-mill economy still shapes the land here
Coos County's 19th- and 20th-century economy centered on logging and pulp-and-paper milling, with Berlin -- historically nicknamed "The City That Trees Built" -- as the industry's hub, and Groveton (in the town of Northumberland) home to a second major paper mill. That industrial history left a distinct land-use imprint: former mill sites, company-town-era residential platting in and around Berlin and Gorham, and large blocks of land that were historically owned and managed by paper companies rather than divided into ordinary residential subdivisions. A parcel's history as former industrial or company timberland is worth understanding on its own terms here, separate from the raw-rural-land assumptions that apply elsewhere in the county.
New Hampshire's largest private timberland tract sits in northern Coos County
The Connecticut Lakes Headwaters Tract -- roughly 146,400 acres spanning Pittsburg, Clarksville, and Stewartstown -- carries a state-purchased conservation easement described as the largest single conservation project in New Hampshire's history, alongside an adjoining 25,000-acre Connecticut Lakes Natural Area the state owns outright. The land itself remains in private ownership and has changed hands more than once; as of mid-2026, a sale of the tract to Manulife Investment Management was reported pending, with the state holding a right of first refusal to match the purchase price. For a buyer anywhere in this part of the county, it is worth understanding that this single tract -- and the conservation easement attached to it -- covers a genuinely enormous share of northern Coos County's private land, shaping what timber harvesting, access, and future subdivision look like nearby regardless of who technically owns it in a given year.
Unincorporated places: the one place a New Hampshire county actually zones land
New Hampshire's general rule -- towns zone, counties don't -- has its single largest exception here. Coos County contains 23 unincorporated places (townships, gores, grants, and purchases such as Millsfield, Dixville, Success, Odell, Kilkenny, Second College Grant, and others) with no town government at all. Under RSA 28:7-b, the county government itself steps into the role a town's planning board would otherwise play, administering a published Zoning Ordinance for Coos County Unincorporated Places through its own Planning Board. This is a real, distinct due-diligence fact: if a Coos County parcel falls inside one of these unincorporated places rather than an organized town, the applicable zoning authority is the county, not a town office. The Balsams Grand Resort's long-running redevelopment in Dixville -- itself one of the 23 places -- is a live example: the county Planning Board, not a town board, has been granting and extending that project's approvals. See our dedicated zoning page for Coos County for the district structure, that case study, and what it means for a specific parcel.
What to check before buying land in Coos County
First, confirm whether the parcel sits inside an organized town (contact that town's own planning/zoning office) or one of the county's 23 unincorporated places (contact the Coos County Planning Board directly). If the land was historically part of a paper company's timberland holdings, or sits near Berlin or Groveton's former mill infrastructure, research its ownership and use history specifically rather than assuming ordinary rural-lot conventions apply. In the far north of the county, check whether the parcel is affected by the Connecticut Lakes Headwaters conservation easement. As everywhere in New Hampshire, confirm any lot under 5 acres already carries a valid NHDES subdivision approval, and treat septic design as a state NHDES process using a state-permitted designer.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in Coos County
Coos County government administers zoning directly for the 23 unincorporated places, but has no zoning role in the county's organized towns -- confirm zoning in an organized town with that municipality directly. Direct WebFetch to cooscountynh.gov and the ordinance's hosting domain (cms3.revize.com) was blocked by this session's network egress proxy, so ordinance detail reflects WebSearch-indexed secondary sourcing rather than a verbatim rule-text read this pass.
Planning & Zoning
Coos County Planning Board
Zoning, permitted uses, and Conditional Use Permits within the 23 unincorporated places (townships, gores, grants, and purchases) administered directly by Coos County government.
Planning & Zoning
Coos County (organized towns -- town-specific)
Zoning ordinances for the county's organized towns (Berlin, Gorham, Lancaster, Colebrook, Pittsburg, and others) -- contact the specific municipality directly, not the county.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
NHDES -- Subsurface Systems Bureau
Septic system design approval and sub-5-acre subdivision approval statewide, including Coos County.
Other
NHDES -- Shoreland Permitting Program
Shoreland Protection Act permits near the Connecticut Lakes, Androscoggin River, or other covered waterbodies.
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Get local guidanceTopics Specific to Coos County
Sources
- Coos County, New Hampshire — Ballotpedia (accessed 2026-09)
- About Us - Coos County, NH — Coos County, NH Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Coos | White Mountains, Lakes Region, Skiing — Encyclopaedia Britannica (accessed 2026-09)
- Connecticut Lakes Headwaters: Carbon vs. Cutting — Northern Woodlands (accessed 2026-09)
- Conn. Lakes Headwaters Tract May Be Sold, State Has First Refusal, Citizens Panel Told — InDepthNH.org (accessed 2026-09)
- Sale Pending on NH's Largest Land Parcel, Conn. Lakes Headwaters — InDepthNH.org (accessed 2026-09)
- 2024 New Hampshire Revised Statutes :: Section 28:7-b - Planning and Zoning in Unincorporated Towns and Unorganized Places — Justia (New Hampshire Revised Statutes) (accessed 2026-09)
- Zoning Ordinance, Coos County Unincorporated Places (amended 12/13/2024) — Coos County, NH Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Coos County Planning Board throws a lifeline to Balsams resort project — Concord Monitor (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09