Reviewing the history of the Gazette’s coverage of the town for our 40th anniversary celebration is an interesting journey, recognizing the changes through the years, and discovering the subjects which remain significant to us. Some constants – the costs and the politics of our municipality and our schools, news of community events and organizations, nature, and neighbors. Something else apparent as one leafs through the pages of the 440 issues of the Gazette is the importance of the topic of history itself, to our town and to its residents, past and present.
Through the years, historians have contributed articles on momentous occasions and renowned residents. We’ve featured James L. Goodwin, one of the nation’s first foresters, John Brewster, one of the nation’s prominent 18th century portraitists, and Theodore Weld, one of the nation’s leading abolitionists. We’ve published articles on Governor Cleveland who, “With a Stroke of a Pen”, replaced Hartford with Hampton as the Capital once when he signed a Thanksgiving Proclamation while at home here, and many tributes to Leslie Jewett, our hometown hero and sole casualty of World War II. We recounted our town’s role in the military with articles like the cavalry encampment of 1914 in Bigelow Valley and the World War II outpost on Pudding Hill. We’ve printed accounts of the Hurricane of ‘38 several times, and the significance of our Constitutional Oak — in 1984, 1998, in 2002 when we celebrated its 100th birthday, and last year, when its hollowness forced its removal from the center of town.
One of our most prolific writers, Pearl Scarpino, contributed many historical articles, starting on the front page of the first issue with “Fruit of the Land”, a retrospect of farming in our town. She instructed us on how campaigns were conducted in “Candy, Cigars, Elections”, and in “An Ox, a Shovel, and a Scraper”, how our roads were plowed during snow storms. Pearl also chronicled “The General Store: A Vital Link” in our first year of publication, a subject revisited whenever we welcome new owners and reviewed in 2013 by Sue Martin who traced the proprietors through two centuries. Pearl researched the Town Hall when the offices that occupied the “Town House” in 1832, the Center School in 1864, and the former Fire House in 1961 moved to their present location in 1993; and her 2000 “Rules are Rules” showed that the regulations written in 1800 to govern Town Meetings don’t differ greatly from today, aside from directives regarding gentlemen’s hats. The Gazette has reviewed the history of our library several times, most recently in last year’s “Fletcher Memorial: My How You’ve Grown”, the Post Office compliments of Norine Barrett, our Churches courtesy of the parishioners, and the Little River Grange with the recollections of those who remembered it.
From recalling Roosevelt’s declaration of war in “Pearl Harbor” to the “Evening Post Office Porch Social”, the Gazette encourages recollections of “the olden days”. Students shared their memories in “Growing and Learning in Our One Room Schoolhouses” last year and in articles like 1992’s Goshen Reunion, when graduates recounted tales of the Clarks Corner School. We’ve published articles on past celebrations of Christmas, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day and the 4th of July, and a series in the 1990’s called “Looking Back” contained topics like “Harvesting Ice” and “Sugaring”.
Looking way back, we’ve published articles on the Native Americans who lived here long ago, yet not enough and only recently, with Penny Newbury reporting on the Cowhantic Cliffs in 2008, and Jean Wierzbinski on the Nipmucks in 2014’s “The Forest Before Goodwin”. We’ve written more frequently of the events of the last century, some of which we reprinted from other newspapers in a series called “Dateline” which included the 1942 lightning bolt which struck the Congregational Church steeple, the 1920 Memorial Ceremony for the veterans of World War I, and the 1948 celebration of the 225th anniversary of the town, and in “It Happened in Hampton”, the 1927 “Old Home Day” which described Hampton as “a beauty spot unsurpassed”.
We’ve published several series: “Notes on Pick Hill” in 1979 and 1980; “Jonathan Clark’s Journal” in 1981 and 1982; and the “History of the Pearl-Jewett Family” for a few months in 2009. In the 1990’s, Wendell Davis and John Woodworth contributed “Boyhood Recollections” and “Recollections of a Country Boy” respectively, and Marion Halbach periodically shared excerpts from her grandmother’s journal from 1978 to 1997 in “Grandma’s Diary”. Throughout 2017, we recorded the “Random Recollections” of those who were born here in the 20’s and 30’s, or moved here in the 40’s or 50’s, or were teenagers here in the 60’s and 70’s. Three fascinating series — Beatrice Utley’s 1979 “Sleuthing”, which detailed how to research old houses and their inhabitants, Tom Gaines’ articles from 1981 to 1988 on Hampton’s historic architecture, and Bob Burgoyne’s monthly installments in 2002 and 2003 of “This Old Hill” which told the history of the village dwellings — were very popular with our readership, as is our most recent series, “Our Rural Heritage: Historic Barns”, which celebrates these venerable buildings with histories, photographs, and personal memories.
We are indebted to those who have recorded portions of Hampton’s history for our newspaper through their expertise, their personal recollections, and, like Pearl Scarpino, through hours and hours of research, studying deeds and records to write informative articles for us. Her torch seems to have passed to Jean Wierzbinski who, in these last few years, has contributed articles on the “Pirates of Hampton”, “How to Sit in a Hoop Skirt”, our early ministers, “History and Mystery at the North Cemetery”, and another in the South Cemetery titled “Burying Betsey”, Goodwin and his forest in “The Heart of the Tree”, the art of charcoal making, Howard Valley Church, the many old mills in “Down by the Old Mill Stream”, how a local abolitionist “Laid the Foundation for Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, and a favorite among those who grew up here – “Memories of Sledding on Hampton’s Snowy Slopes”.
History has proven a popular topic in the Gazette, and we thank all who have contributed to preserving for posterity glimpses of Hampton’s historic past.