Official and Traditional Colors of New Hampshire
New Hampshire state colors are Green and White, based on its forests and White Mountains. Get HEX, RGB, and Pantone specs plus the story behind each color choice.
Official color palette of New Hampshire
State color reference
- Official colors
- Green and White
- Official since
- Traditional / Natural (no formal legislative designation; green and white appear in the official state tartan RSA 3:21, adopted 1995)
- Primary use
- State tourism identity, New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development branding, White Mountain National Forest imagery, state cultural and environmental communications
- Known for
- New Hampshire's White Mountains include Mount Washington, which at 6,288 feet is the highest peak in the northeastern United States and held the world record for directly observed surface wind speed (231 mph, April 12, 1934) for 76 years; the White Mountain National Forest covers more than 750,000 acres of New Hampshire's northern landscape, making the green-and-white color association with forests and mountains one of the most geographically accurate in American state color history
Color Specifications
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Green
Represents the forests that cover approximately 84 percent of New Hampshire's land area, giving the Granite State one of the highest forest coverage rates of any state east of the Mississippi River; New Hampshire's forests span a remarkable ecological range from the oak-hickory woodlands of the southern tier to the northern hardwoods of white ash, sugar maple, yellow birch, and American beech in the central highlands to the spruce-fir boreal forests of the upper White Mountains above 2,500 feet elevation; the official state tartan (RSA 3:21, 1995) explicitly designates green as representing the green of the forests, making this the closest formal official recognition of green in New Hampshire state symbols; the paper birch — New Hampshire's official state tree — grows in pure and mixed stands throughout the forests, its white bark contrasting against the forest green in a visual pairing that defines the New Hampshire landscape
White
Represents both the White Mountains — the Presidential Range and surrounding peaks that occupy the northern third of New Hampshire and give the state its most dramatic alpine scenery — and the winter snowpack that covers New Hampshire from November through April, creating the skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling economy that is central to the state's tourism identity; the White Mountains derive their name from the white appearance of their granite summits when viewed from a distance, either snow-covered in winter or bleached pale by lichen and bare rock above treeline in summer; Mount Washington, at 6,288 feet the highest peak in the northeastern United States, is snow-covered for approximately six months annually and has recorded wind chills approaching -100°F on its summit; the official state tartan (RSA 3:21, 1995) explicitly designates white as representing the snow of New Hampshire; the paper birch, New Hampshire's official state tree, reinforces white in the state's color identity through its distinctive white-barked trunk
WCAG Contrast Checker
Accessibility compliance for Green and White
White
on Green background
Green
on White background
WCAG 2.1 Standards:
- AA Normal Text: 4.5:1 minimum
- AA Large Text: 3:1 minimum
- AAA Normal Text: 7:1 minimum
- AAA Large Text: 4.5:1 minimum
Developer Export
Copy-paste ready code snippets
CSS Variables
/* CSS Variables for New Hampshire */
:root {
--new-hampshire-green: #2D6A4F;
--new-hampshire-white: #FFFFFF;
}Tailwind CSS Config
// tailwind.config.js
module.exports = {
theme: {
extend: {
colors: {
'new-hampshire': {
'green': '#2D6A4F',
'white': '#FFFFFF',
}
}
}
}
}SCSS Variables
// SCSS Variables for New Hampshire
$new-hampshire-green: #2D6A4F;
$new-hampshire-white: #FFFFFF;
Wind speed recorded at the Mount Washington Observatory on April 12, 1934, which stood as the world record for directly observed surface wind speed for 76 years — a testament to the extreme alpine environment of New Hampshire's White Mountains, whose snow-covered summits give white its deepest geographic meaning as a New Hampshire state color
Color Origins and the State Tartan
New Hampshire has not designated official state colors by separate legislative statute, placing it among the majority of U.S. states that rely on natural, cultural, or institutional color associations rather than statutory designation. Green and white derive their status as New Hampshire's traditional colors directly from the physical landscape — the forested mountains and snow-covered peaks that define the state's identity and have done so since the earliest European settlement in the 17th century. The closest formal recognition of these colors in New Hampshire law appears in the state tartan, adopted in 1995 under RSA 3:21, which explicitly assigns green to represent the forests and white to represent the snow — the same natural features that underlie the green-and-white traditional color identity.
The New Hampshire state tartan was designed in 1993 by Ralf L. Hartwell of Newton, New Hampshire, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the New Hampshire Highland Games and Festival. The tartan's color symbolism formally recognizes five colors: green for the forests, white for the snow, black for the granite mountains, purple for the state bird (purple finch) and state flower (purple lilac), and red for the state's heroes. Green and white are the two colors most consistently associated with New Hampshire's natural identity in tourism materials, environmental communications, and public branding, appearing together in the White Mountain National Forest imagery that represents New Hampshire to national and international audiences and tying directly to the Purple Finch state bird.
RSA 3:21 and the State Tartan Color Symbolism
New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated 3:21 designates the New Hampshire Tartan as the official state tartan, providing the formal color symbolism framework that is the closest New Hampshire law comes to a state color designation. The tartan was designed with specific color assignments: green represents the green of New Hampshire's forests; white represents the snow; black represents the granite mountains that give the Granite State its nickname; purple represents the state bird and flower; and red represents the state's heroes. Green and white occupy the dominant positions in the tartan's visual composition, reflecting their primacy in New Hampshire's color identity. The tartan's adoption in 1995 represents the most recent formal legislative engagement with New Hampshire's color symbolism, making RSA 3:21 the authoritative source for understanding the official meaning of green and white in the state's symbolic framework and its connection to the Granite State nickname.
The White Mountains as Color Identity
The White Mountains have given New Hampshire its most distinctive color reference since European explorers first noted the pale appearance of the northern peaks from a distance. The Presidential Range — including Mount Washington, Mount Adams, Mount Jefferson, Mount Monroe, and Mount Madison, all named for early American presidents — forms the visual centerpiece of northern New Hampshire, with bare alpine summits that appear white in every season: snow-covered from November through May, bleached pale granite above treeline in summer, and illuminated by winter sun into a luminous white that can be seen from the Maine coast and the Connecticut River valley. The White Mountain National Forest, established in 1918 and covering more than 750,000 acres across northern New Hampshire and a small portion of Maine, is the landscape most immediately associated with New Hampshire's tourism identity and the primary geographic basis for white in the state's color palette, especially when read alongside the White Birch state tree.
Key milestones
First permanent European settlement in New Hampshire established at Odiorne's Point in present-day Rye; settlers encounter the dense green forests and white-peaked mountains that will define the Granite State's visual identity for the next four centuries
New Hampshire adopts its state seal, featuring the frigate Raleigh being built at Portsmouth against a background that includes the rising sun — the seal's imagery begins the process of codifying New Hampshire's natural symbols, though green and white are not yet formally assigned
Mount Washington summit weather observations begin, systematically documenting the extreme alpine conditions of New Hampshire's highest peak; the mountain's white-capped appearance in all seasons reinforces white as a defining state color
White Mountain National Forest established, protecting more than 750,000 acres of New Hampshire's northern forests and mountains; the national forest becomes the primary landscape associated with New Hampshire's green-and-white color identity in tourism and promotional materials
Mount Washington Observatory records a wind speed of 231 mph on April 12 — a world record that stands for 76 years, cementing Mount Washington's fame as the home of the world's worst weather and New Hampshire's white alpine summits as an internationally recognized feature
Paper birch (Betula papyrifera) designated as New Hampshire's official state tree under RSA 4:41; the birch's white trunk and green canopy make it a living two-color symbol of the state's traditional color palette
New Hampshire state tartan adopted into law under RSA 3:21; the tartan explicitly designates green as representing the forests and white as representing the snow — the closest formal legislative recognition of green and white in New Hampshire state law
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What the Colors Represent
New Hampshire's green and white tell the story of a state defined by two landscape extremes that exist simultaneously: the dense, productive forest that covers nearly the entire state at lower elevations, and the dramatic alpine summits that break above treeline into a landscape of rock, wind, and snow that is unlike anything else in the northeastern United States. Green is the color of 84 percent of New Hampshire's land surface — an extraordinary forest coverage that makes the state more wooded per capita than almost any other eastern state. White is the color of what rises above that green: the granite peaks of the White Mountains, the winter snow that blankets the state for months each year, and the paper birch trunks that punctuate the forest with their distinctive white bark.
Green: New Hampshire's Forested Identity
New Hampshire's forests define the state physically: covering more than 84 percent of total land area, they shape every dimension of the state's economy and identity. With approximately 4.8 million acres of forest covering more than 84 percent of the state's 5.7 million total acres, New Hampshire is one of the most heavily forested states in the contiguous United States. The forest composition changes dramatically with elevation and latitude, from the oak and white pine woodlands of the seacoast region and Merrimack Valley to the northern hardwood forests of the central highlands — where sugar maple, yellow birch, and American beech create the famous fall foliage that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each October — to the spruce-fir forests of the upper White Mountains, where balsam fir and red spruce grow in dense stands before giving way to alpine tundra above approximately 4,500 feet. New Hampshire's forest products industry, including timber harvesting, maple syrup production, and Christmas tree farming, has been economically significant since the colonial period and continues to shape the state's economic identity.
White: Mountains, Snow, and Birch
White carries three distinct references in New Hampshire's color identity, each reinforcing the others. The White Mountains derive their name from their pale appearance — a combination of snow cover for much of the year and the bleached granite and lichen of the alpine zone above treeline. Mount Washington, standing at 6,288 feet as the highest peak in the northeastern United States, is snow-covered for approximately six months of each year and receives an average annual snowfall of approximately 281 inches at its summit. The summit's weather station recorded a wind speed of 231 miles per hour on April 12, 1934, which stood as the world record for directly observed surface wind speed for 76 years until a 2010 measurement in Australia. Winter snow covers the entire New Hampshire landscape from November through April at most elevations, making white as seasonally present as green is year-round. The paper birch (Betula papyrifera), New Hampshire's official state tree, adds a living white to the forest landscape — its chalky white bark unmistakable against the green of surrounding conifers and the autumn orange and gold of hardwoods.
Usage in Tourism and State Identity
Green and white dominate New Hampshire's public-facing identity despite having no formal state color statute. The New Hampshire Division of Travel and Tourism Development, which promotes the state under the 'Live Free and Beautiful' umbrella campaign, consistently uses green and white as the primary colors in promotional materials, reflecting the forest-and-mountain landscape that motivates the vast majority of visitor traffic to the state. The White Mountain National Forest, which receives approximately six million recreational visits per year and is the most-visited unit of the national forest system in the eastern United States, represents New Hampshire's most prominent green-and-white landscape in national and international tourism imagery. New Hampshire's state flag, featuring a blue field with the state seal, does not use green or white as primary colors — the state's flag blue is distinct from its traditional landscape palette — reinforcing the informal rather than institutional basis of the green-and-white color identity; compare the New Hampshire state flag. The paper birch, New Hampshire's official state tree since 1947 under RSA 4:41, provides a living symbol that directly expresses both traditional state colors: its green canopy in summer and white trunk year-round make it a two-color symbol of New Hampshire's natural landscape in a single organism.
Timeline
First permanent European settlement in New Hampshire established at Odiorne's Point in present-day Rye; settlers encounter the dense green forests and white-peaked mountains that will define the Granite State's visual identity for the next four centuries
First permanent European settlement in New Hampshire established at Odiorne's Point in present-day Rye; settlers encounter the dense green forests and white-peaked mountains that will define the Granite State's visual identity for the next four centuries
New Hampshire adopts its state seal, featuring the frigate Raleigh being built at Portsmouth against a background that includes the rising sun — the seal's imagery begins the process of codifying New Hampshire's natural symbols, though green and white are not yet formally assigned
Mount Washington summit weather observations begin, systematically documenting the extreme alpine conditions of New Hampshire's highest peak; the mountain's white-capped appearance in all seasons reinforces white as a defining state color
Mount Washington summit weather observations begin, systematically documenting the extreme alpine conditions of New Hampshire's highest peak; the mountain's white-capped appearance in all seasons reinforces white as a defining state color
White Mountain National Forest established, protecting more than 750,000 acres of New Hampshire's northern forests and mountains; the national forest becomes the primary landscape associated with New Hampshire's green-and-white color identity in tourism and promotional materials
Mount Washington Observatory records a wind speed of 231 mph on April 12 — a world record that stands for 76 years, cementing Mount Washington's fame as the home of the world's worst weather and New Hampshire's white alpine summits as an internationally recognized feature
Mount Washington Observatory records a wind speed of 231 mph on April 12 — a world record that stands for 76 years, cementing Mount Washington's fame as the home of the world's worst weather and New Hampshire's white alpine summits as an internationally recognized feature
Paper birch (Betula papyrifera) designated as New Hampshire's official state tree under RSA 4:41; the birch's white trunk and green canopy make it a living two-color symbol of the state's traditional color palette
New Hampshire state tartan adopted into law under RSA 3:21; the tartan explicitly designates green as representing the forests and white as representing the snow — the closest formal legislative recognition of green and white in New Hampshire state law
New Hampshire state tartan adopted into law under RSA 3:21; the tartan explicitly designates green as representing the forests and white as representing the snow — the closest formal legislative recognition of green and white in New Hampshire state law
"Green represents the green of the forests; white represents the snow — the two colors that define the landscape of New Hampshire more than any others."
Quick Answers
What are the state colors of New Hampshire?
What is the HEX code for New Hampshire Green?
Where do New Hampshire's green and white come from?
Does New Hampshire have official state colors?
What is special about the White Mountains?
What does New Hampshire's state tartan say about color?
Sources
- New Hampshire RSA 3:21 - State Tartan
- White Mountain National Forest
- New Hampshire Almanac - State Symbols
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