How to Tour the New Hampshire State House

The State House Visitor Center in Concord schedules tours of the State House for groups, school classes among them, and a tour is generally an hour. To arrange one, call the Visitor Center at (603) 271-2154. Before a class visits, share the Visitor Center’s rules for tours with every adult coming: arrive on time, leave backpacks behind, and bring no food, drink or gum. To visit with your own representative or senator, contact them directly.

1. Arrange the tour

   The State House Visitor Center schedules the tours, many groups each day. Call it at (603) 271-2154 to ask for a date and with any question, or start from its page.

   To visit with your own representative or senator, contact them directly. Finding your representatives says who they are, and How to contact your legislators how to reach them.

   The rules in this guide are the Visitor Center’s own, as its Rules for Tours prints them. That document carries no date, so ask the Visitor Center about anything that matters to your visit when you book.

   State House Visitor CenterFind your representativesContact your legislators

2. Before a class visits

   The Visitor Center asks you to print its rules for tours and share them with every adult who will be touring. Among them:

   • Keep to your times. Plan to arrive and leave at your scheduled times; tours are generally one hour. If you will be more than 10 minutes early or late, call the Visitor Center at 271-2154.
   • Chaperones. Bring no more than four per class, and tell them the class tours as one large group rather than in smaller ones.
   • No backpacks. If your group brings lunches, the Visitor Center will store them.
   • Dress. Students are encouraged to dress up for the visit, but it is not required.
   • The gift shop. To visit it with your group, arrange it in advance.

3. On the day

   • Check in first. Do not bring the group into the building until someone from the Visitor Center knows you have arrived: it is a security precaution.
   • The way in. Groups enter by the front doors, into the Hall of Flags, a memorial hall near committee hearing rooms where meetings may be under way.
   • No food, drink or gum unless medically necessary, and hats off inside. The rules apply to the adults too.
   • A working building. State officials and staff are at work, so remind students to whisper.
   • Cameras. Only adults use cameras.
   • Restrooms are available, and students must be supervised. If students need the restroom before the tour begins, tell the Visitor Center right away.

4. What you may see

   Senators and representatives are told of your visit in the House and Senate Calendars, and they often try to meet the students. The tour includes the Governor’s Office, and the Governor sometimes meets groups when the schedule allows; the Visitor Center asks that students not be told they will.

   Rallies, press conferences, bill signings, a session of the House or Senate and other events can change the tour, and at times the legislative or executive chambers are closed to the public. The Calendar here shows the week’s hearings and session days.

   This week's calendar

• Finding your representatives
• How to contact your legislators
• How to attend and speak at a public hearing

• Rules for Tours, required reading for a State House tour, undatedNew Hampshire State House Visitor Center
• State House Visitor Centergc.nh.gov
• Finding Your RepresentativesGranite Record
• The CalendarGranite Record