Holderness, NH Home Insurance for Squam Lake and Seasonal Homes

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By Jon Merwin, Founder and CEO

Key takeaways
  • Holderness holds nearly half of Squam Lake and Little Squam Lake; the 2020 Census counted 532 of its 1,428 homes as seasonal.
  • New boathouses over the water are not allowed, and standard homeowners forms exclude ice and freezing damage to docks.
  • A nonconforming lakefront camp that is destroyed must be fully rebuilt and enclosed within two years, or the new building must meet current zoning.
  • The fire department has boats for island calls, but dense shoreline building and steep lots make access and water supply key underwriting questions.
  • No fees, 40+ carriers to compare, a flood quote alongside every home policy, and claim help that lasts until resolution.

Holderness wraps around the western end of Squam Lake. The town covers 30.5 square miles of land and 5.4 square miles of water, and the working draft of its Master Plan natural resources chapter notes that nearly half of Squam Lake, the second-largest lake in New Hampshire, and nearly half of Little Squam Lake lie inside town lines, along with Groton, Sheep, Moon and Bowman islands and part of Great Island. The Census Bureau estimated 2,024 year-round residents in July 2025, but the 2020 Census counted 1,428 homes, and 532 of them, more than a third, were seasonal, per the draft community profile chapter.

Lake camps, island cottages, shorefront estates and hillside homes with water views each raise different insurance questions. Since 2005, Jon Merwin’s family-owned independent agency, Portsmouth Atlantic Insurance, has grown to hold licenses in 10 states. We shop 40+ carriers, charge no fees on any line of coverage, and our 1,000+ Google reviews and over 2,000 testimonials come from people we have helped across New England. Holderness owners can reach us from anywhere: call, email or start online.

Camps, cottages and lakefront homes on Squam

The draft land use chapter describes Holderness as a lake-oriented resort village on the Squam Channel and Little Squam Lake with a long history of lakeshore camps, cottages and homes on Squam Lake. Much of the land around Squam is zoned General Residence. Under the Holderness Zoning Ordinance (amended March 2026), a lot bordering Squam Lake, White Oak Pond or the Pemigewasset River needs at least 200 feet of water frontage, no structure or well may sit within 50 feet of the lake’s reference line, and that 50-foot strip must stay a native vegetated buffer. Houses top out at 35 feet. Work within 250 feet of the shore also falls under the state’s protected shoreland permit program, administered by NHDES.

Those rules shape what a rebuild costs. Materials may have to come in by barge or down a narrow camp road, staging space beside the water is tight, and permits add time. An older camp that was assembled piece by piece over decades can cost far more to replace than its age suggests, and a newer shorefront home with custom stone, glass and millwork more still. We start every Squam review with a realistic replacement figure, then look at extended replacement cost, ordinance-or-law limits and how long the family could need somewhere else to stay.

Docks, boathouses and ice

Holderness no longer allows boathouses built in or over the water, including dredged inlets, or dug-in boat slips, and an existing boathouse may not be used as a dwelling (zoning Section 400.12). That makes a lawfully existing boathouse hard to replace. If yours is grandfathered, ask what happens after a total loss before you need to.

On the insurance side, a dock or detached boathouse is usually covered under other structures, which is often set at 10 percent of the dwelling limit and can fall short for a large crib dock plus a boathouse and a guest cottage. Standard homeowners forms also exclude damage to piers, wharves and docks caused by freezing, thawing or the pressure or weight of ice or water, so ice-out damage generally is not covered. Boats themselves need their own policy, since a homeowners form gives very limited coverage for watercraft. We review all of it together, with liability that reaches the dock, the swim float and guests on the boat.

Year-round, three-season and summer homes

The draft community profile says that with so many second homes, Holderness has year-round, three-season and summer residents, each with different needs, and that some retirees are moving full time into what were vacation homes. Others keep property partly or entirely for rental income. Each pattern changes the policy. A camp drained and closed from Columbus Day to Memorial Day, a house heated all winter and checked weekly, and a home rented by the week are three different risks.

Most homeowners policies limit coverage for freezing, water damage or vandalism once a house is vacant or unoccupied beyond a stated period, and the wording varies by carrier. Tell us exactly how the place is used, including rentals, and whether it is winterized or heated. Our pages on seasonal and secondary homes and New Hampshire second homes go deeper, and consider an umbrella policy if guests, renters or a boat are in the picture.

Island and water-access-only homes

State law and the zoning ordinance (Section 300.4.2.6) allow building on islands without road frontage, and the draft natural resources chapter calls the Squam islands generally minimally developed. For insurance, the questions are practical: how would a fire crew get there, how long would it take, and what water would they use? The draft town facilities chapter lists a pontoon boat, a 13-foot Boston Whaler and a swiftwater rescue trailer among the fire department’s equipment.

Island and boat-access properties narrow the field of carriers, and underwriters often ask for more detail. Monitored smoke and low-temperature alarms, a generator, cleared space around buildings, safe fuel storage and a written caretaker plan all help us present the risk well.

Fire protection around the lake

According to the draft facilities chapter, the Holderness Fire Department works out of the Public Safety Building at 922 US Route 3, built in 1997 and shared with the police. Its 28 members include one full-time chief, four per diem firefighters who cover weekday daytime shifts, and 23 on-call firefighters. The department answered 392 calls in 2025, including 18 fires and 29 severe weather calls. It belongs to Lakes Region Mutual Fire Aid, and it decided against a north-end substation because the Plymouth fire station and agreements with Plymouth Ambulance already serve that part of town.

The chapter also notes that Squam Lake gives the department enough water overall, but dense homebuilding along the shoreline makes it hard to reach that water at a fire. The land use draft cites the town’s 2022 hazard plan update in recommending cisterns, fire ponds or dry hydrants where more water is needed. Steep ground adds to the challenge: the 2015 Hazard Mitigation Plan says nearly 44 percent of the town’s land has slopes of 15 percent or more, and the zoning ordinance limits clearing on steep lots to a building envelope plus one 25-foot opening for a view. A house tucked into trees up a steep drive is beautiful and harder to defend.

Department members trained on lithium-ion battery fires in 2022, a timely subject for anyone charging e-bikes, golf carts or electric outboard batteries in a garage or boathouse. Keep chargers away from living space, keep a clear turnaround for an engine, and post a 911 number readable from the road. Our post Does home insurance cover fire? covers what a standard policy pays after a fire.

Winter on the Squam Range

Holderness zoning treats snow load as a real design issue: under Section 700.2.1.3, adding a pitched roof or steepening an existing one for snow load management does not count as expanding a nonconforming building, as long as it adds no living or storage space. Flat or low-slope roofs on older camps and long cantilevered decks are where heavy snow shows up first. The 2015 hazard plan recalls the 1998 and 2008 ice storms, which coated trees, lines and roofs across New Hampshire and caused widespread outages.

Homeowners policies generally cover collapse from the weight of snow, ice or sleet on the house, with narrower terms for docks, decks and some outbuildings. For a camp left empty, the bigger risk is usually a furnace or power failure that freezes pipes. Low-temperature alerts, a backup generator and someone nearby with a key all matter. More on this in our snow and ice damage guide.

Flooding: the Pemigewasset, brooks and lake roads

The town’s major mapped floodplain is along the Pemigewasset River on the western border, including sections of NH Route 175A and North and South River Street, with smaller pockets near Coxboro Road, Perch Pond Road and Owl Brook. The 2015 hazard plan also lists flooding on Lower Perch Pond Road and on NH Route 113 between Cotton Cove and Mooney Point Road along Squam’s north shore, and it counts 42 ice jams on the Pemigewasset in the Holderness and Plymouth area between 1835 and 2008. Flooding from Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 closed I-93 Exit 24 for just over a day.

Holderness has been in the NFIP since July 22, 1975. The 2015 plan counted 29 insured buildings, 70 paid flood losses since 1975, and 12 repetitive losses on five properties. More recently, OpenFEMA lists Grafton County in six major disaster declarations for storms or flooding with incidents between December 2022 and July 2024, each with public assistance for towns but no individual assistance for homeowners.

A homeowners policy will not pay for flood damage, whether the water comes from the river, a brook after a summer cloudburst or rising lake water at a walkout basement. We quote flood with every Holderness home, write NFIP flood through Selective, and for higher limits look at private carriers such as Neptune Flood, Beyond Floods and Flow Flood on shorefront homes worth more than the NFIP caps. Check your address on the FEMA Flood Map Service Center, review NFIP waiting periods at FloodSmart, and read our New Hampshire flood coverage overview.

Private wells and water damage

With no public water supply or wastewater collection, Holderness landowners rely on private wells and on-site septic, according to the land use draft. The natural resources draft adds that some deep wells around town have tested high for arsenic and encourages owners to test regularly, as NHDES also recommends. From a coverage standpoint, well pumps, pressure tanks, treatment systems and buried lines can fail. Ask about equipment breakdown and service line coverage where carriers offer them, add water backup coverage for a sump pump, and consider an automatic water shutoff for any house that sits empty.

Rebuilding a camp close to the water

Many Squam camps predate the 1985 zoning ordinance and sit inside today’s 50-foot lake buffer or side setbacks. Section 700 lets a destroyed or partly destroyed nonconforming structure be rebuilt as long as the nonconformity does not grow, and a setback nonconformity must be rebuilt within the existing footprint. The catch: reconstruction must be completed, meaning fully enclosed, within two years of the destruction date. Miss that and any new building must meet current standards, which on a small shore lot could mean a smaller house set farther back.

That deadline is why we look closely at additional living expense limits, ordinance-or-law coverage and debris removal on older lakefront homes. A lake rebuild involves surveys, shoreland permits and contractors who are booked a season ahead, so the policy has to support a fast, complete rebuild rather than a slow one.

When does a Holderness home need high-value coverage?

Replacement cost drives the answer; market value does not. High-value policies typically bring broader replacement cost terms, higher limits for jewelry, art and collections, and adjusters used to custom homes. Learn more on our page about high-value home insurance in New Hampshire. Every carrier underwrites the specific property, so use this as a general guide:

  • Rebuild cost under about $2 million: most of our 40+ carriers can be considered.
  • Homes up to roughly $5 million: both Openly and National General write them.
  • Cincinnati and Chubb both write homes at any dwelling limit, so we quote both. Cincinnati usually wants at least about $150,000 in dwelling coverage.

Our carrier reviews cover Openly, Cincinnati and Chubb in more depth. For cars garaged at the lake, see high-value auto insurance.

Help with a claim

A dock pushed apart at ice-out, a pine through the porch roof, a pipe that let go in a closed camp: phone us first. We help file the claim, explain what the adjuster needs, and keep following up with you and the carrier until it is resolved.

Related pages

Start with New Hampshire homeowners insurance for statewide basics. Across Squam and around the lakes, see our Sandwich, Meredith, Moultonborough and Tuftonboro pages, and farther north and west, Sugar Hill and Lyme. Our office is at 601 Islington St, Unit 206, Portsmouth, NH.

Sources

Request a Holderness home insurance quote

Tell us about the Holderness property: lake, island or hillside, roughly when the main house and any boathouse or guest cottage were built, which months it is used, whether it is rented, how it is heated, and what you carry today. We then go to the carriers that actually want lake homes like it and lay out what each offers. Request a quote. There’s no obligation to buy. Prefer to talk? Call (603) 431-4020.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Portsmouth agency insure my Holderness or Squam Lake home?

Yes. We are licensed throughout New Hampshire, and our office at 601 Islington St, Unit 206 in Portsmouth serves Holderness homeowners remotely. Call (603) 431-4020 to begin.

Does my homeowners policy cover my dock and boathouse?

Usually under other structures coverage, which may be too low for a large dock and boathouse. Standard forms exclude damage to docks from freezing, thawing and the pressure or weight of ice or water, so ice-out damage is generally not covered. Holderness also no longer permits boathouses over the water, so ask how a grandfathered boathouse would be handled after a loss.

My camp is on a Squam Lake island. Can I still get coverage?

Yes, though fewer carriers write island homes and they ask more questions. Underwriters want to know how the fire department would reach the property; the department lists a pontoon boat and a Boston Whaler among its equipment. Monitored alarms, a generator, cleared space and a caretaker plan help.

If my old lakefront camp burns, can I rebuild it close to the water?

Often, within limits. Holderness zoning allows a destroyed nonconforming structure to be rebuilt if the nonconformity does not increase, within the existing footprint for setback issues, but it must be completed and fully enclosed within two years. Otherwise the new building must meet current standards, including the 50-foot lake buffer.

Do I need flood insurance for a Squam Lake or Pemigewasset River home?

We recommend quoting it. Homeowners insurance excludes flood. The town’s main mapped floodplain follows the Pemigewasset, but its hazard plan also lists flooding on NH Route 113 along Squam’s north shore and on Lower Perch Pond Road, and walkout basements near the water can take on water.

General information for Holderness, NH homeowners. Several sources cited here are working drafts of the town’s Master Plan update, and zoning, hazard plans and FEMA maps are revised over time; verify anything important with the Town of Holderness and FEMA. Each policy’s terms and each insurer’s underwriting decide what is covered, and flood is written separately. Call (603) 431-4020 with questions about a specific property.

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