FORTISVEX New Hampshire State Flag 3x5 Feet Nylon - Made in USA with Brass Grommets

This is the default: the size that fits the bracket already on the house, and the size Americans replace more than any other. When someone says flag without qualifying it, this is what they mean.

This is the New Hampshire state flag at 3x5 Feet (15 square feet) in nylon, made in the United States and finished with brass grommets.

Built to the New Hampshire flag specification

The New Hampshire flag is set out in New Hampshire Revised Statutes Annotated 3:2, with the seal at 3:8. It is the state seal, showing the frigate USS Raleigh, a granite boulder, a laurel wreath and nine stars, on a blue field.

Adopted in 1909 and modified in 1931.

This state's statute covers the design, the colors and the seal or emblem, and stops there — it sets no overall size for a modern outdoor flag to match. Most states take the same approach, which is exactly why every manufacturer builds state flags in the same standard sizes.

The reproduction here is faithful to the design, in the standard outdoor sizes used industry wide and bought by the states themselves. On an outdoor flag, correct colors, seal and emblems are what counts, and that is what you get.

The law that defines it, in its own words

New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 3:2 reads:

The state flag shall be of the following color and design: The body or field shall be blue and shall bear upon its center in suitable proportion and colors a representation of the state seal. The seal shall be surrounded by a wreath of laurel leaves with nine stars interspersed. When used for military purposes the flag shall conform to the regulations of the United States.

The emblem itself is defined by reference to the state seal, so these words are the frame and not the whole picture.

You do not have to take our word for any of that. Read New Hampshire Revised Statutes Section 3:2 in full at the State of New Hampshire, and check what we sell against it.

This is the flag we make. Not an approximation of it.

What is on it and what it means

The Raleigh was one of the first warships of the Continental Navy and was built at Portsmouth. The nine stars mark New Hampshire as the ninth state. The granite boulder is the state’s granite.

What most listings get wrong

It is reported to be the only state flag whose seal contains the United States Stars and Stripes, though that claim traces to secondary sources rather than to the state itself, so we will not state it as settled.

Where the New Hampshire flag flies

New Hampshire's distinctive tradition is its own Hall of Flags in the State House, built 1816 to 1819, displaying the tattered battle flags carried by New Hampshire regiments from the Civil War through Vietnam. The flags first arrived in 1866 and moved into the State House in 1900, and their fragile condition has driven ongoing preservation debate. Sources on the collection are largely news and preservation group rather than an official state catalogue, and the count varies by source.

Fly it on New Hampshire’s birthday

New Hampshire became the 9th state on June 21, 1788. Under the United States Flag Code as amended July 7, 1976, a state flag flown on the state’s birthday takes its place beneath the United States flag, and that day is the one date every year the New Hampshire flag has an official reason to go up.

Have it on hand before the date arrives and it is on the flagpole in time. The full state-by-state list is on our state birthdays page.

Nylon or polyester in New Hampshire

Nylon in the sheltered interior at Concord and Manchester. Polyester on the short coast and exposed summits. Mount Washington recorded a 231 mile per hour gust on April 12, 1934, long the fastest surface wind ever measured at a staffed weather station.

This is a house flag, fifteen square feet, where the material determines whether it flies in a light breeze and how fast it dries once it rains.

This listing is the nylon. It is the right choice for the sheltered and moderate wind sites named above, on any house bracket, and anywhere the flag comes down in storms. Two things decide that. Nylon is light, so it flies on the breeze most yards actually get instead of hanging limp, and it dries fast, which is what fights mildew in a humid climate. What it gives up is ultraviolet life: nylon’s amide bonds absorb ultraviolet and break, so under hard sun it loses strength and color faster than polyester, and it loses roughly a tenth of its strength while it is wet. If your site is one of the exposed ones above, look at the polyester version of this flag instead.

The part most buyers learn only the second time around: nylon flies in wind too light to move polyester. When it matters that the flag is actually moving — a still morning, a holiday, a funeral, a ceremony — that favors nylon even somewhere polyester would last longer. A flag that hangs motionless is not doing its job either, however durable it is.

The benchmark institutions generally lean on comes from the American Legion: the federal government's own expectation is about ninety days for a daily sunrise-to-sunset flag, and roughly a quarter of that flying around the clock. Retailers report three to six months for nylon flown daily, four to eight months for polyester, and one to three years for occasional flying. Treat those as working estimates rather than a warranty, since exposure can shift them a great deal.

How the 3x5 Feet is built

This size fails at the fly end first, and sooner than it should on most 3x5 foot flags, because this size gets bought on price more than any other. Four rows of lock stitching at the fly end is what separates one season from three.

The arithmetic behind that: 15 square feet of nylon at roughly two ounces a square yard. In a thirty mile an hour wind the fly end of a flag this size travels faster than the wind itself, because the wave running out to the tip accelerates as it goes. That is why the tip wears out first and why the stitching count at that end is the number worth reading on any listing.

This is a one person job to raise or lower, folding down to drawer size. Rotating two flags monthly costs you a minute at this size, nothing more.

With lock stitching, every stitch knots into its neighbor, so damage stays contained at the break instead of running down the seam. Read 4 rows not as 4 times the strength but as 3 backups. The heading is an inch and a half of reinforced heavy duty white material, holding two solid brass grommets. Fifteen square feet of sail area works those grommets hard on a windy site.

Commercial grade nylon is the material in this flag. Light enough to catch a gentle breeze, it sheds water rather than holding onto it and dries fast, which keeps a flag from staying heavy and stressing its seams. The ink is UV resistant and field tested, since sun exposure is what determines how long the color lasts.

Why this flag is harder to make than most

A rigged ship on water inside a laurel wreath. Ship rigging is the single hardest thing to reproduce on a flag at any size.

For what it is worth, the North American Vexillological Association surveyed 72 state, provincial and territorial flags in 2001 and rated them from zero to ten. The New Hampshire flag placed 63, at 3.18 out of 10.

Will it fit my flagpole?

It suits a five or six foot house bracket, or an in-ground flagpole of fifteen to twenty feet. That is the most common residential setup in the country and this is the size built for it.

Questions about the 3x5 Feet

What size flagpole does a 3x5 foot flag need? A six foot house bracket, or an in-ground flagpole of fifteen to twenty feet. It is the most common residential pairing in the country.

How long does a 3x5 foot nylon flag last outside? The federal working figure is about ninety days for a flag flown daily from sunrise to sunset, and about a quarter of that flown around the clock. Retailers commonly see three to six months in daily use and one to three years flown on occasions only.

Is this flag printed or sewn? The design is printed in UV resistant ink on one side and reads through in reverse on the back, which is how nearly every state flag sold in the country is made. The construction, the heading, the stitching and the grommets are sewn.

Why this size gets replaced most

There is nothing weaker about the 3x5 foot flag itself — it is just the size most often bought on price, and built to match. A cheap one with one or two rows of stitching on the fly end frays inside a season and is six inches shorter within two. The construction is what separates the two.

Specifications

• Size: 3x5 Feet
• Area: 15 square feet
• Material: 100 percent nylon
• Fly end: 4 rows of lock stitching
• Heading: heavy duty white, reinforced, 1-1/2 inch
• Finish: Brass Grommets
• Ink: UV resistant, field tested
• Made in the United States by FORTISVEX

Which size do I need?

There is one number behind both tables. A flag reads right when its length is somewhere between a quarter and a third of the flagpole it is on. If your flagpole puts you between two sizes, go smaller for a flag that flies more and lasts longer, or bigger for one that carries further.

If you know your flagpole height, start here.

• 6 Feet house bracket: 2x3 Feet or 3x5 Feet
• 15 to 20 Feet flagpole: 3x5 Feet or 4x6 Feet
• 20 to 25 Feet flagpole: 4x6 Feet or 5x8 Feet
• 25 to 35 Feet flagpole: 5x8 Feet or 6x10 Feet
• 35 to 45 Feet flagpole: 6x10 Feet or 8x12 Feet
• 45 to 60 Feet flagpole: 8x12 Feet or 10x15 Feet
• 60 to 80 Feet flagpole: 10x15 Feet or 12x18 Feet
• 80 to 100 Feet flagpole: 12x18 Feet or 15x25 Feet
• 100 to 120 Feet flagpole: 15x25 Feet or 20x30 Feet
• 120 to 150 Feet flagpole: 20x30 Feet or 20x38 Feet
• 150 to 200 Feet flagpole: 20x38 Feet or 30x50 Feet
• 200 to 240 Feet flagpole: 30x50 Feet or 30x60 Feet
• 240 Feet and above: 30x60 Feet or 50x80 Feet, engineered to the flagpole

If you know your flag size, start here.

• 2x3 Feet: 4 to 8 Feet bracket or garden flagpole
• 3x5 Feet: 6 Feet bracket, or 15 to 20 Feet in-ground flagpole
• 4x6 Feet: 18 to 25 Feet in-ground flagpole
• 5x8 Feet: 25 to 35 Feet flagpole
• 6x10 Feet: 30 to 40 Feet flagpole
• 8x12 Feet: 40 to 50 Feet flagpole
• 10x15 Feet: 50 to 60 Feet flagpole
• 12x18 Feet: 60 to 80 Feet flagpole
• 15x25 Feet: 80 to 100 Feet flagpole
• 20x30 Feet: 100 to 120 Feet flagpole
• 20x38 Feet: 120 to 150 Feet flagpole. This is the garrison size under Executive Order 10834, at a one to one point nine ratio rather than the two to three of the commercial sizes, and it is the size flown at the White House and the Capitol
• 30x50 Feet: 150 to 200 Feet flagpole
• 30x60 Feet: 200 to 240 Feet flagpole. This is the largest standard commercial size
• 50x80 Feet: 240 Feet and above, engineered to the flagpole

Push the flagpole past a hundred feet and the same ratio still applies, but it stops being a simple lookup: the flag, the truck, the halyard, the foundation and the wind load need to be engineered as a unit, and skipping that step damages the flagpole before it damages the flag. A number of famous large flags deliberately break the rule of thumb, on an engineer’s word rather than a table’s.

Every size in both tables can be ordered, listed here or not. If the size you want does not appear on the website, contact us and we can still supply it.

About the back of the flag

A printed flag reads correctly from the front and reversed from the back. That is normal and it is true of almost every flag flown in the country. A flag that reads correctly from both sides is a double sided flag, built as two flags sewn together with a liner between them, and it costs roughly twice as much and weighs roughly twice as much. Unless the statute for a particular state requires it, single sided is the standard and the right choice.

Flying it with the United States flag

Title 4, Section 7 of the Flag Code is the source for this. The United States flag is never subordinate in position — nothing flies above it, and nothing takes its place at the viewer’s left when flags are level with each other. On matched flagpoles, the United States flag takes the viewer’s left and the flags should be sized the same; on unequal flagpoles, it goes on the taller one; and on a single pole flying two flags, it goes at the top. There is no penalty for civilians who do not follow the Code, but institutions treat it as the standard regardless.

Buy two and they both last longer

The simplest way to make a flag last is to own two and rotate them monthly — that alone outlasts three flags flown to failure, because rest lets the fabric recover and the fly end is not hammered day after day. Take it down ahead of real storms, since one bad night of wind can undo six good months. Watch the fly end, where fraying starts, and a quick repair there is worth a whole extra season.

For cities, counties, schools and agencies

Fire and police departments, school districts, courthouses, municipalities and state agencies are all regular buyers of our state flags. Tax exempt purchasing is set up through the tax exempt page, and quantities, replacement schedules or an unlisted size are handled through the contact page.

Why buy it from us

We run a small American company and stock the flags we sell. Each one is made in the United States, printed in UV resistant ink, and built to the construction described above instead of built to hit a lower price. One durable flag beats three that fail, in our view. Free shipping applies to orders over twenty five dollars.