After deliberating an amendment to the zoning regulations which would have allowed for older homes to be converted into multi-family dwellings, the Planning and Zoning Commission decided to pursue a different direction in the town’s Affordable Housing Plan.

Though the amendment was not specific to any area in town, discussion centered chiefly on the old homes on Main Street. Preservation was the operative word, with member Ev Hyde looking to  conversion into multi-dwelling units as a way to preserve the historic homes, which are costly to maintain, while member Sue Hochstetter wanted to exempt Main Street from the amendment in order to preserve the historic district.

Potential problems with accommodating wells, septic systems and parking on Main Street were raised by members and residents, who also questioned allowing only the conversion of older homes into multi-dwelling buildings. Main Street residents who spoke in opposition to the amendment also noted that the village already has two multi-family dwellings, defined as at least three units, as well as several houses with apartments.

Under Conditional Uses in the RA- Zone, proposed regulation 6.22, Conversion of Older Homes to Multiple Dwelling Units, stipulated that “Older, larger residential homes, which by contemporary standards are energy inefficient, not accommodating of smaller household sizes, and whose conversion to smaller residential units could provide uses for the general public health and welfare, as well as increasing the energy efficiency of existing buildings, may be permitted by the Commission via Special Permit in the RA-80 District”. Only structures constructed prior to 1970 were considered eligible for conversion. Conditions to the regulation limited the number of units per home to four, and provided detail as to the size of the units, the building, and the parcel. The architectural design of additions to the structure were also subject to conditions, and parking, minimally one car space per unit, would be located behind the structure “where feasible”.

Preserving the homes, and the charm of our village, was a shared objective.  The village demographics have changed historically throughout the years. Originally part of larger farms, the houses were mainly summer homes in the early part of the last century as Hampton served as a resort destination. In the 50’s and 60’s, families moved into the homes on Main Street, and now most of these are occupied by individuals and couples, several of whom have retired to our town; the attention paid to these properties is illustrative of the homeowners’ collective desire to preserve their homes.

Converting older homes into multi-family dwellings was one facet of the Affordable Housing Plan, mandated by a State Statute which requires towns to develop plans to accommodate income limited residents every five years. Other initiatives include offering tax credits for income-restricting accessory apartments, promoting CHFA/USDA mortgage assistance, and streamlining the special permit process. The PZC will continue to discuss multi-family dwellings, defined as having four to eight units, in terms of scale, density, process and location, along the Route 6 corridor and elsewhere in town.

Famous for offering world-class concerts at the Shaboo Inn, he was crowned “Cupid” in Willimantic for his charitable contributions to various community projects and non-profit organizations, and now his legendary generosity has extended to Hampton in an extraordinary way with a gift of $100,000 to the Fire Department for a much needed project and equipment.

David “Lefty” Foster, a resident of our town, was among three recipients of awards at the Northeastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce Awards Banquet held on April 20 at Stonehurst at Hampton Valley, where Peter Deary of Day Kimball Health Care received the Civic Achievement Award, Monique Wolanin of Quinnebaug Valley Community College received the Community Champion Award, and Foster received the Humanitarian Award, a perfect reflection of his life principle: to help those in need and those who help others.

In presenting Foster with the award, Arvind Shaw, Chief Executive Officer of Generations Health Care, introduced him as one of the original owners of the Shaboo Inn, from 1971 to 1982, a renowned venue that brought artists such as Muddy Waters, Sting, and Bonnie Raitt to our area. For the last forty years, he has lent his own musical talents to the fabulous Shaboo All-Stars, allowing him the privilege of playing with other national stars in the music community, and has inspired musicians to support local causes, resulting in the funding of several vital services.

The community has benefitted greatly from his charitable acts, Shaw said, with Foster’s unwavering efforts to alleviate poverty, hunger and homelessness, and to enhance health care and support people with disabilities. Summarizing, and abbreviating, an exhaustive list, Shaw said Foster provided the seed money for the Shaboo Stage in Downtown Willimantic, funded the Dining Hall for Camp Horizons, organized concerts to pay the mortgage for the Covenant Soup Kitchen, as well as purchasing a van to transport food, donated to Generations Health Care and Windham Hospital’s oncology department, his foundation donating over a quarter of a million to the No-Freeze Project for the total purchase of a building to serve as a local shelter.  Ever a patron of the arts, he has also contributed to the Windham Theater Guild and the Bread Box Theater.

Compassion was a recurring word throughout the presentation of Foster’s award, demonstrated in his genuine concern for, and steadfast commitment to, those who are at risk of “falling through the cracks”, his generosity extending not only to marginalized people, but also to those who care for them.  Other nominees had this to say of Foster:

“…his generosity in Willimantic and beyond has been a light in the darkness for many non-profit organizations…”

“…thank you for lifting us all and setting an example of caring…”

“…he knows our mission and those we serve…”

Here in Hampton, in helping the Fire Department, Foster is helping those who, perhaps, help us more than any other of our town’s many volunteers.

In accepting his award, Foster congratulated the other winners and nominees and recognized them for their accomplishments.  “I can’t believe I’m in your company,” he said. “Your legacy is reflected in the many lives you have touched.” He also recognized those in need, and offering a prayer for our “Ukranian friends”, led the audience in a few verses of “Amen”. And, of course, he recognized the Hampton Fire Company, calling members to the podium when he received the award and thanking them for their service. “I’m in awe of all volunteer Fire Department members,” he said, “who risk their lives every day”.  Foster’s gift will help facilitate the Fire Department’s  efforts through the paving of the parking lot and the purchase of the Hurst tool, the “Jaws of Life” so essential for the department’s Emergency Medical Responders who are the first at the scene, treating patients before the ambulance arrives.

Foster also thanked his wife Marilyn and his brother Mark for all of their help and support, and First Selectman Allan Cahill. Calling himself “apolitical”, he told the audience, “I like what he’s doing”. Lastly, Foster recognized our beautiful town, and thanked Craig Gates for recognizing its beauty and investing here in the evening’s venue, Stonehurst at Hampton Valley. “I love Hampton very much,” was a sentiment he repeated.  “I care deeply about everyone in Hampton, and I wanted to do something for the town.”

Another recurring theme – “helping people who need help.” To that end, Foster asked those in attendance to support his efforts to raise money for the Covenant Soup Kitchen. He also used the opportunity to announce a quarter of a million dollar donation for scholarships at Eastern Connecticut State University, as well as funds for music schools.

In presenting the award, Fire Chief Rich Schenk noted that “compassion is the word that surrounds us tonight. To have someone like David recognize us means the world.”  First Selectman Cahill, whose presence Foster also requested at the podium, proclaimed him “an honorary member of the Hampton Fire Company.”

“I’ve lived in Hampton for 26 years, and I’m told that in another 25 years, I’ll look like a real Hampton citizen”, Foster quipped.  This generous gesture, however, certainly shaved off at least a few of those years. And like any self-respecting Hamptonite, in return he asked for only one thing:  a dump sticker, which was bestowed upon him by Deputy Chief Noel Waite.

Thank you, David Foster. The Fire Department, and all who they serve, thank you. See you at the swap shack!

Dayna McDermott

Last year’s Annual Report illustrated how heavily influenced our lives were with the pandemic, its myriad uncertainties and restrictions reflected in myriad cancellations. This year chronicled the slow and cautious return to “normalcy”, with headlines like “Town Hall Reopens after Covid Hiatus” and the emergence of community activities in safe environments. Our nature preserves provided outdoor programs, Fletcher Memorial Library hosted “Bach in the Garden” with guitarist Mark Davis, and the Senior luncheons resumed. The Recreation Commission celebrated Arbor Day at the elementary school, announced “A Return to Music and Dancin’” last summer and sponsored an open air performance of Flock Theater’s “Cyrano”, and in December, teamed with Trail Wood as children constructed bird feeders, later strung on trees near the homes of elderly residents where members of our Mennonite community serenaded them with Christmas carols.

Schools continued in-person instruction, kept us apprised of precautions, and announced achievements with honor rolls and Dean’s lists and for graduations and degrees conferred to our local scholars. Students at the elementary school also apprised us of their studies with essays on the anniversary of 911, New Year celebrations around the world, and birds, and with a wonderful assortment of poetry. Less delightfully, the Superintendents informed us of budgets, as did the Board of Finance. The most significant news of schools is contained in this issue’s information on the question of combining Hampton and Scotland elementary schools under a cooperative agreement. We updated residents on the committee’s progress, and its controversies, through the year and have included relevant facts this month in order for residents to make informed decisions on this extremely important matter.

In other news, we covered the Planning and Zoning Commission’s approval of: a campground, and the consequent filing of a law suit against the Town; a store at Organic Roots Farm, followed with an article on it; the Affordable Housing Plan, and the subsequent amendment to facilitate accessory dwellings and the possibility of converting some of our old homes into multi-family dwellings, a measure which met resistance as evidenced in this edition.

In October, we introduced the candidates running for municipal office, and in November, those in contention for the three-way race for First Selectman. The eight Letters to the Editor we received this year were mostly supporting certain candidates. We also reported on the Registrars of Voters’ referrals to the Election Enforcement Commission after complaints were lodged against the First Selectman and the Town Clerk, and subsequently the Commission’s decision to investigate the alleged violations.

Our small town newspaper seldom includes global news, yet three issues rose to the rare occasion this year: the pandemic, which infiltrated all facets of our lives; the court rulings after the Capitol insurrection with an editorial called “Wheels of Justice”; and April’s front page couldn’t fail to acknowledge Ukraine.

Town organizations continued their columns. “Baby Boomers and Beyond” provided resources for seniors in Hampton, and beyond. “Scouting News” informed us of their activities throughout the pandemic. The library apprised us of new books, art displayed at Top Shelf Gallery, which included resident Ian O’Brien’s unique ink illustrations, and regular events as they returned, from Story Hour to Mah Jong. The Fire Department started a monthly column, “Smoke, Mirrors and Spotlights”, with reports on the department’s responses, and another featuring individual volunteers which enlightens us in several ways. The Gazette also recognized Citizen of the Year Noel Waite for his life-long commitment to the department where he’s served in every official capacity; and this issue covers the awards ceremony honoring David Foster for his generous gift to the department, and ultimately the town. We also shone a spotlight on Janice Trecker, for inclusion in the anthology, Best Mystery Stories of the Year, Bright Acres Farm for starring in a commercial, Stonehurst of Hampton Valley for earning two prestigious awards as a wedding venue, and artists Shirley Bernstein and Lula Blocton for their exhibits in museums in Hartford and New York, also reported by our sister paper, The New York Times.

We celebrated the artistry of words with the publication of sixteen poems and Teale’s journal entries, and Pete Vertefeuille’s photography graced the cover of the August issue with a hummingbird and December with a stonewall, which was the theme of this year’s calendar – we thank all eleven artists who contributed their photographs and paintings to our annual calendar, its popularity continues to escalate.  

Twelve people contributed to our Recipe of the Month, and contributions to our series “Remembering…” ranged  from an 1890 account from the Farmer Poet of Hampton, through a turn-of-the-century memoir,  to George Miller’s memories of our town in the 1940’s and Kit Crowne’s hysterical tales of growing up here in the 60’s. Other features included Pat Boss’s crosswords, Marcia Kilpatrick’s environmental advice in “Green Thumbs” and “Nip the Knotweed”, and the editor’s “In the Garden” with columns on water gardening, garden furniture, the natural garden and the garden of our neighbor, Dot Blocker. Angela Fichter provided us with humorous, yet informative, articles like “Ticks, Ticked-Off and Ticking” and “Hither, Thither and Yon”. We missed our neighbors during the pandemic, yet Auntie Mac fielded complaints concerning our neighbors’ boundary issues, political signs, nightly strolls, and gossip sessions. On the advice of an inquiry from “Gossip Girl”, Auntie also started a Society Column, relaying and describing the spring flings and birthday bashes of our nonagenarians.

We relied on the memories of those who grew up here for our “Rural Heritage” articles, from the Consolidated School, through holidays, to learning to swim in Miller’s Pond. We featured several barns – Marny Lawton’s, which is her art studio, the Trecker’s, now a “machine for living and working”, and the Thompson’s, with recollections which proved, once and for all, that Hampton was never “a one horse town”.  We chronicled the metamorphosis of Full Moon Farm, from a dairy operation, through an electronics repair shop, to its current use as a farmer’s market, and traced the Pre-Revolutionary War roots of Lone Elm Farm, where Keith Christadore sells vegetables from the Jewett’s corn crib grown on the Burnham’s acres.  We also recorded the history of the Fire Department and in “Fire!”, the perils prior to its establishment, and with April’s promise of humor, shared snippets of Hampton’s presence on Society Pages.

With gratitude, we said “goodbye” to Anne Christie, instrumental in the library’s butterfly garden,  community room and fall festival, Jinny Smanik, Congregational Church minister for several years, and Toby Vertefeuille, highway department member extraordinaire; and on a solemn note, a final farewell to 21 residents, including former Citizen of the Year, Phyllis Stone.

Our happiest announcement this year?  A return to our traditional Memorial Day.  Whenever we happened upon one another these last two years – at the post office, the transfer station, the polls – we were reminded, if only for a moment, of how much we missed one another. Of all the myriad ways we slowly return to “normal”, being with our neighbors is surely the best of them.

Juan Arriola, Chairman, The Hampton Gazette

It’s just about twenty miles as the crow flies from where my family settled on “Goshen Road” and where I live now in the Northeast corner. I’ve always lived in a small town: Vermont hamlets with dirt backroads that lead to another wide place in the road, a sadly diminished manufacturing village where you could shout to your neighbor across the street and get the sidewalks shoveled together with a smile in time to get to work.

Politics were pretty much the same, too. Generally congenial: town meetings started with contentious school board budgets and then we took a break for lunch. After sharing some good natured communications (catching up from winter, family news, etc.), and homemade potluck vittles, we could agree to disagree, have a vote and head back home to plant seeds for our spring gardens.

Sadly, times have changed since we could leave our attentive (and sometimes argumentative) parents at the Town meeting on the grammar school playground and run through neighbors’ fields to a friend’s house.  It used to be you got your news from the Town gas station and garage, after church at coffee hour, and the porch of the General Store.

And then suddenly, we got a newspaper. The Hampton Gazette. Some nice folks said, hey, let’s share the wonderful things that happen here with each other. Stories about our travels, a monthly calendar, how to be better stewards for our earth, and a whole lot more. It’s grown and included harder news: articles that detailed meetings, election events, and things that people said or did that could be construed as unethical, illegal, or just downright unpleasant. I admit there were times I was not happy with some of the information that was published and how it was presented. No one has been exempt from scrutiny, including yours truly, who years ago, failed to notice a meeting and got called on it by the Gazette.

And then, we got another newspaper. The Hampton Highroad was “an unaffiliated, non-political publication…dedicated to publishing material that” informs “while promoting goodwill, tolerance, and Hampton’s sense of community”. It was a lively little alternative to the Gazette, not as startling an option as say, Redbook for the Atlantic Monthly, but many, including myself, found it comforting, and miss its heartwarming spirit.

In a town as small as Hampton, one would have thought two periodicals were enough. But, we are, apparently, to borrow a phrase from Selectman Bob Grindle, “Hamptoncentric”. Which brings us to the real crux of our situation here: The Town will be sponsoring its own newsletter on the Town website.

For forty-five years, our little town journal has been a harbinger of news, all news, and opinion. And for better or worse, it has, as all independent newspapers do in some fashion, provide a conscience for their community. Not everyone likes to have their conscience pricked, let alone be called out on their decisions.

A little recent history:

Two and a half years ago, following the defeat of a referendum proposal to dissolve an ordinance that created the Board of Finance, the Selectmen voted to remove the link to the Gazette. Seemingly, this action was spurred by a special edition of the Gazette that alerted residents to a referendum vote and the issues surrounding it. Sadly, the First Selectman’s displeasure decidedly censored the only critical outlet for community offerings devoted to our Town.  

At the beginning of this year, with a new administration, Gazette chair Juan Arriola requested the Gazette link be reinstated to the Town website. The Selectmen refused, with Mr. Grindle stating that the Gazette is “uninformative, uninsightful, and a missed opportunity”. At the next Selectmen’s meeting, Gazette editor Dayna McDermott-Arriola asked the Board to consider listing the Gazette under other  “Community Organizations”. Again, they refused. Selectman John Tillinghast commented that no other area towns links or lists their town newspapers on their town websites. The Gazette’s editor returned to inform them that all area towns that actually have a town newspaper list them on their town’s website and provide a link. While Mr. Tillinghast graciously acknowledged his error, other citizens in attendance at that same gathering agreed that a not-for-profit news outlet committed to town information should be listed, as other area communities do, especially for newcomers, on hamptonct.org 

I find it strange that the Town leaders would choose this time to vote for adding a budget line of $2,500 for “selectmen’s communications”, to inform the public of “dog licensing, transfer station stickers, re-val information” all of which the Gazette publishes, and has published for 45 years, for free to the public. To date, no one has spoken publicly against this, except the Selectmen, though admittedly, the First Selectman stated that – “a lot of (anonymous) people” spoke to him privately. 

The Hampton Gazette has so much to offer in addition to news and opinion: poetry, art, our local library offerings, our helpful safety organizations and communities of faith, and how to find the tranquil places for hiking, or just for a sit and think. The best, I believe, is how we continue to thoughtfully document our own histories…of barns and horses and lifelong friendships, our schoolhouses, our learnings, and the cherished elders that have defined the adage, “it takes a village”.

“Uninformative, uninsightful…a missed opportunity”? Perhaps, the Selectmen would like to add an offering for next month’s food corner: a recipe for crow?

Mary Louise Oliver

The Barn at 236 Main Street

We often remind ourselves of how little we needed growing up in the 60’s — only one, if any, television for the whole family, no cable, no remote, no cell phones, computers, video games. But if you were growing up in Hampton, and especially in the village during that era, one thing you definitely needed was a horse.

The Thompson family was no exception. Shelter wasn’t an issue for most homes — many of the barns are still visible on Main Street, and several of these were actually carriage houses, but when Mr. Thompson bought a Tennessee Walker-Morgan cross from a riding stable because he wanted his children to learn responsibility, his son Randy went about the business of building a horse stall for ‘Major’ in the small barn behind the house. “I think a barn was originally on the property but when we moved here, it was, and still is, a garage,” Kathy Thompson explained. “Randy built a stall with an outside door for Major to wander in and out. Randy also cut all the trees to make the fence for the pasture.” All four children rode Major — Carol, Janet, Randy, and especially Kathy, who still lives in the house. In fact, the “Thompsons” is one of the few homes in town we refer to with the name of the current owner. The house, however, is not without an important past, as it served as home and office for one of our town physicians, Dr. Marsh.

The property’s first records document that Chauncey Cleveland sold a half of an acre for $150 to William Clark, who, two years later, sold the same parcel to Amasa Hall for $1500. Hall sold the lot with “buildings” back to Clark the following year for the same price, indicating that the house was built sometime between 1832 and 1835.  The sills and interior walls confirm that the house was constructed in two sections which were joined together. The northern portion, with its gable facing the street, rests on a brick foundation; the southern section sits on stone. An 1869 map shows that the house at 236 Main Street belonged to Lyndon Button and lists a “livery stable”.

In 1928, Dr. Marsh, who served as Hampton’s physician from 1912 to his retirement, purchased the property. The front room facing the street served as his office where he examined patients. Dr. Marsh made his rounds with a horse and buggy, and a photograph of the Marsh residence reveals a barn which looks larger, with the roof at a different angle, than the one that is there now. The hitching post that is still in front of the house, however, was not installed for his patients. It was Mrs. Thompson who placed it there so that when her children’s friends visited, they could tie their horses to the post while visiting. Kathy continues her mother’s tradition of circling it with red geraniums in the summer.

The Thompsons, and their horse, Major, were never lonely. “If I wanted to go horseback riding in Pine Acres, I never had to go alone,” Kathy said. “We’d go into Pine Acres off of the Stocking’s driveway and ride and ride, and go to the apple orchard and treat our horses to apples, then ride to the lake and water them, and head on home. What a treat to have such a resource so close by.”

And what a treat to have so many kids, sixty to seventy, and horses living in the village, which was called “the Magic Mile” or “the block”. Mary Lu and Peggy Trowbridge, who lived across the street from Kathy, owned ‘Lady’. Their next door neighbors were Patty and Peggy Jones and their horses ‘Blanca’, ‘Lady Bess’, and ‘Jingo’.  Anne Chapel, who lived at Ameer’s, owned ‘Pokie’, and Donna Gorgoglione, who lived at the end of Main Street, owned ‘Bucky’. Liz Moore, who lived in Ruth Grant’s house, owned ‘Chris’, and Faith and Gayle Chatey, who lived across from Grant’s, owned ‘Cheyenne’. Gail Landon, who lived across from the consolidated school, owned ‘Apache’, and her next door neighbor, Bertha Burnham, owned a pony named ‘Patches’ and a horse named ‘Jack Frost’, which her grand-daughters, Nancy and Nina Waite, Carolyn and Candace Jaworski, and Charlene, Marie and Kathie Halbach rode. The Jaworski’s, who lived in the house we still call ‘the Jaworski’s’, owned six horses – ‘Lightfoot’, ‘Linda’, ‘Ebony’, ‘Betsy’, ‘Johnny Rebel’ and ‘Midnight’. The Halbachs , who lived in the house we still refer to as ‘Charlie and Marion’s place’, owned ‘Duchess’, ‘Mr. Duke’ and ‘Patti’. Nancy and Diane Hoffman, who grew up in the house which we still call theirs, had four “noble” horses, ‘King’, ‘Queenie’, ‘Princess’, and ‘Duchess’, and Susan Johnson, who grew up in the homestead that is still the Johnson’s, owned ‘Billy’.

And that’s only on Main Street!

Elsewhere in town, there was Linda and Bonnie Westervelt’s horse named ‘Montana’, ‘Monty’ for short, Shirley and Carol Dauphin’s horse, ‘Rebel’, Becky and Janice Church’s horses, ‘Sally’ and ‘Candee’, Gail, Eunice and Debbie Fullers’ horses ‘Ginger’, ‘Lady’ and ‘Taffy’, Beth Davis’ pony, ‘Willie’ and the family’s horses ‘Ginger’ and ‘Sparky’, Edie Ostby’s horse ‘Blaze’, and the Loew’s several girls owned several horses, ‘Penny’, ‘Misty’, and ‘Girlie’. “We used to have to stand on the gas tank to get on her,” Margie Loew recalled. “We mostly rode bareback.” Howie Loew added that ‘Girlie’ was older so many people learned to ride on her.  “My father was old school,” he explained. “You rode without a saddle until you learned to ride.”

The Schenk family owned several horses through the years. A palomino named ‘Pal’, “a reliable name and a reliable horse,” Judy relayed. “We had a spirited little horse named ‘Petey’, ‘Cindy Lou’, “who might have been the one that upon first ride, promptly headed for the nearest tree branch, knocking my sister to the ground,” and Mighty Alf, “a retired race horse from Foxboro.”

The Burelle’s owned a pony, ‘Star’, who gave the children rides on a cart, and Linda and Janice Becker owned donkeys and a mule. Their friends rode them, too. “We used to throw a length of bailing twine around their noses and trot around the fenced field in back of their Kenyon Road home,” Judy remembered.

The girls in town were not the only ones to ride horses. Neal Moon had a horse named ‘Kansas’ and there were competitions in the field at his home on Parsonage Road.  Rob Jones delivered newspapers on ‘Blanca’. And Howie relayed, “I used to ride when the weather was good to Scarpino’s barbershop to get my haircut. One dollar for a haircut back then. I would tie the horse to the telephone pole across the street.”

Horses were seen hitched to lawn posts, telephone poles, and the railing behind the phone booth that used to be at the General Store, one of the places where neighborhood kids congregated. On Sundays, football was played on Main Street until the game eventually moved to the school grounds. Kathy said that Randy, who was a very serious athlete, ripped his clothes so often that Mrs. Thompson told him he needed to learn how to sew. This skill led to a career in making (and of course sky-diving with) parachutes.  Main Street homes were everyone’s homes, and the grown-ups were everyone’s parents. There were parties and dances in barns, and the Thompsons had a basketball hoop in the driveway and a pool table in the dining room, where Mrs. Thompson could “keep an eye” on everyone. Once school was over, bicycles and horses were nearly as numerous as cars.

“We would jump off the school bus, run home, and saddle up!” Debbie Schenk relayed. They would jump horses in the field behind Landon’s house, ride in Goodwin and Natchaug Forests, and march in the Memorial Day Parade, the highlight of the procession, and the year, for many. “There were almost as many horses as people in the parades!” Kathy recalled. “I used to have to walk Major around the block when they fired the rifles. He would go ballistic when nearby. I used to always ride English except in the parades when I rode western so I had a horn to hold onto when Major went out of control when the rifles went off.”

Although kids were welcome everywhere, the horses weren’t always. “I remember Mr. Burdick would call the school and ask Mr. Franklin to please send one of those Thompson kids home to get their horse,” Kathy said. “Major would always break out of the pasture for Mr. Burdicks’ rich green, gold-course type grass next door. Often Randy would get to come home, but when he went on to high school, I would often get the chance to leave school to get him back into the pasture.”

One of the Thompson’s other pets, however, Dinah, the family’s dog, was welcome everywhere, including the schoolyard, where she would come and play with us daily during recess. “Dinah was everyone’s dog. She thought the entire neighborhood was hers,” Kathy recalled, remembering when Dinah trotted up the aisle of Our Lady of Lourdes Church to witness a couple, Carol Thompson and Paul Crawford, exchange vows. “Dinah didn’t make a fuss and sat quietly until the wedding was over.”

Neighbors remember Dinah fondly. “She adopted many families in town,” Kathy said. This was so true that one Hampton resident,  Robin Thompson, who grew up in Chaplin, recalled, “I know Dinah, but I knew her as Maggie Jones’s dog!”

“Dinah was really Randy’s dog and when he went into the service after high school, she then became everyone’s dog because she missed Randy. She just hung out with whoever would give her attention, and there were a lot of kids and families in town to do that,” Kathy said. “She certainly had a wonderful life with so many people to love her. What a wonderful time to be a kid, or a dog!”

Or a horse.

Many thanks, yet again, to the “Hampton Remembers the 2^nd Half of the 20^th Century” page and its participants. A query on the horses, and their owners who grew up here garnered 155 responses, as conversations evolved and developed a life of their own, a frequent occurrence on this page where we are constantly reminded of our good fortune in growing up here in Hampton.

We had three horses at a time:

Our first horse was Duchess, a Morgan type, who was purchased from the Close family in Scotland.  Charlene must have been lounging around on our vintage “fainting couch” as she awaited the royal arrival.  I say this because years later, when my parents decided to have the couch re-covered, they found the following words, carved with blue ink, into the couch frame, “Duchess is coming!”  We were told Duchess was a former sulky race horse.  She was pretty high strung, thus only my father and older and “bigger” sisters felt comfortable riding her. After some years, Duchess was bred.  This took place at the University of Connecticut, by one of their favorite Morgan studs, Panfield.  In spite of our begging, pleading and whining, my sisters and I were not allowed to watch the mating event, and so that process remained a mystery to us for years to come.  (No internet in those days.  Although at times I have wondered how Mrs. Fuller, our longtime and beloved town librarian, might have handled any request for books with horse studding illustrations.) The union of Panfield and Duchess was a success, and Mr. Duke joined our horse group at some point.  I believe his name was voted in during a regular “Family Council” meeting attended by all five of us, each with one vote.  I recall Dad was outside in the orchard on a Saturday when someone noticed Duchess was foaling in the nearby field.  Dad ran, jumping over the electric fence in his excitement, to get to them.

Jack Frost was a big, western riding, black and white pinto with a heart of gold. He wanted to do whatever he thought his rider wanted.  He loved to be around other horses…and in parades.  He came to us with a fancy, big and heavy saddle decorated with silver conchos and long, leather saddle strings. I loved that saddle, spent a lot of time cleaning and oiling it, but could not lift it onto Jack’s back for a long time.  Once, during a Memorial Day parade, Jack apparently thought my dad wanted him to walk on his hind legs, so he complied with a few steps — much to my father’s surprise! Jack eventually went across the street to my Grandma Burnham’s house, where Nina and Nancy Waite enjoyed him for many years.  I was sad and bit jealous, since he was a well-behaved and willing horse, not at all like Patti.

Patti…well, she was definitely a character.  She mainly wanted to eat.  She was another Morgan-type horse with a physique like a 50-gallon drum.  And well, Patti was harmless…Mostly.  She was pretty much safe for riding, if you didn’t count fake-stumbling and bouts of coughing when leaving the barn (for the purpose of appearing unable to perform). And/or backing her large derriere out into traffic on Main Street for the same reason – my cousin, Candy Jaworski, remembers watching patiently as I tried to get Patti out of the road.  However, Patti would do anything for my sister Charlene.  And she obliged many visitors a ride in our fields, only stopping short and going to her knees to dump the heaviest rider head-over-heels…gently, and refusing to move thereafter.  But she’d also munch on lawn grass and let us lay on her back to soak up the sun and warmth from her body.  Those days are a delight to remember.

She was quite smart, or curious, or easily bored, because she caused more mischief than the other horses put together. After frustrations and accusations flew through the house, we learned no-one was forgetting to put the heavy, S-hook chains across the paddock exit at night. Instead, Big-Lipped Patti had figured out if she worked on them long enough she could wiggle them off, and she and her four-legged friends could run free up Main Street at night. It’s a horrible sound I still remember:  horse hooves “stampeding” …away from the house…on driveway…then pavement…knowing whose horses they might be!  On one of the escapes. Patti found her way to the orchard and ate so many green apples she had to get her stomach pumped.  We kids did get to watch the stomach pumping!  And that misshapen pine tree, still standing by the barn today?  Long-Lipped Patti nibbled any fraction of a pine needle off that tree daily, under, over or though the paddock railings, should they come within reach of her sizable horse lips.

Another problem for which we kids became suspect:  the overflow of water from the claw-footed tub that was used as a watering trough.  Multiple times the entire paddock was flooded when Dad made the first trip of the day to check on the horses.  This happened irregularly, making the paddock soggy in the warm weather, and turning it into a dangerous ice rink in the winter. The assumption was that one of us young ones turned the water on in the evening, went to clean the stalls, and forgot to turn the water off.  But oh no!  After time, and as luck would have it, the flooding took place on a night that Dad watered the horses. Turns out Nimble-Lipped Patti had learned to turn the faucet on (we were unsuccessful in efforts to teach her to turn it off).  Dad promptly fixed the problem by fashioning a removable handle for the faucet.  Hooray.  But wait…the first few mornings, if the faucet was placed anywhere near the water trough, it had disappeared by morning, resulting in a search effort throughout the paddock area. For safety purposes, it had to be stowed away safely inside the pump house!

I do believe Patti is the horse Charlene used, along with Eunice Fuller, Ann Chapel, Peggy Trowbridge and their horses as co-conspirators, to pretend fall, and stop poor travelers along Route 6, only to gallop away if the cars stopped.  Or, the rider might be leading a horse with a body draped over its back, like a dead cowboy– same purpose and results. These antics were revealed to my parents long after the statute of limitations had run out on such juvenile crimes. Gail Landon and Charlene spent hours in the pine grove behind Landon’s home, building grapevine “paddocks” and tending to their horses. It seemed perfectly safe in those days — even without cell phones.  Because Patti had such a personality, our Mom documented her antics in a short story that will be a treasure for our family’s future generations.

Kathie Halbach Moffitt

If you live in Northeast Connecticut, you are familiar with hilly driveways. When we lived in Scotland, our home was near the center of town, which means we lived along side of Route 14 in a place where the highway was flat.  Our driveway was flat too. We only needed all season tires to drive through snow that we hadn’t plowed yet or to drive over snow in the driveway that had partially melted and then froze at night. We skittered over that ice to Route 14, because you don’t need much traction at all to move a car over a flat surface. Then we moved to Hampton, where almost all highways are hilly, and if a driveway is flat, it opens onto a hill. Sigh.

The first winter here I tried to go grocery shopping on a day in which we had had no snow or freezing rain. But the driveway was shiny. I couldn’t pull up the driveway. The next day it got warm enough to melt the glare ice, and I was really hungry. Friends in Hampton said, get snow tires or get a four wheel drive car. Instead I called my step-son in Vermont. He said snow tires and four wheel drive mean nothing on an icy hill. We, in mountainous Vermont, know that.  Get studded tires. I did so, and have had no problems driving over icy driveways or icy roads since then.  But most local roads in Hampton and other towns in the northeast have no streetlights (Route 14 had one almost opposite our house in Scotland).  When you haven’t lived in a town for a million years yet, and you go to someone’s home in town for dinner after it’s dark, you might miss their driveway, especially if their home has a driveway and house and garage arrangement that is downhill and similar to their neighbor’s house and garage and driveway layout.  And there is no streetlight. The other night I wound up in front of my friend’s neighbor’s house. Guess what? Studded tires make mud out of wet lawn, and you have no traction in wet mud, even with studs. My friend’s neighbor saved me by getting my car out of his lawn. All of this could have been avoided if we still used horses.

My husband was much older than me, and he was born and raised in rural, southwest Ohio. His next-door neighbors were his great aunt and uncle, Lizzie and Tom. Although my husband’s family had a car, Uncle Tom and Aunt Lizzie refused to get one. Their answer when asked was, you don’t have to tell a horse how to start, and you don’t have to tell him how to stop.

My great-grandfather was a Swedish immigrant, and he had a home business as a confectioner, making ice cream and candy (which my grandfather loved until his death, and I love, but I figure it’s genetic). There was no electricity then, so no refrigeration yet. They used to cut ice from ponds and put the ice in an ice-house and cover it with sawdust. Therefore, when he made the ice cream, you had to eat it right away, because it wouldn’t stay unmelted very long in an ice box.  He had some cows, and he sold the extra milk and cream to local people in Babylon, Long Island, by horse and wagon. Then one customer family moved away, and the new people didn’t want any milk or cream. The horse knew the delivery route by heart. When he tried to go to the home of the former customer, my great-grandfather and my grandfather tried to steer him away from that. But he was stronger than them, being a draft horse. They finally gave up and just went to the former customer’s house, made some noise banging the tall milk cans, and the horse then went on to the next customer’s house.

I tell you this because if I had a horse and wagon, I wouldn’t have gotten stuck in the yard of my friend’s neighbor. The horse doesn’t have studs on his hooves, and he could have pulled my wagon out of that downhill yard. Also, horses are better than modern technology in other ways.  Once, a friend of mine went off horseback-riding on trails in the woods miles away from her house and barn. She fell off and not only broke her leg, but hit her head and became unconscious.  The horse went back to the barn all by itself, and when my friend’s family saw it without a rider, they went out searching for my friend, and upon finding her miles away on a trail, they called for EMTs and an ambulance. Well, today she could wear a medical alert necklace that works on GPS, and if you fall and the necklace hits ground, it alerts EMTs to the emergency and where your body will be found.  If you take a long walk on a woodsy trail and forget to wear the necklace, you’re doomed.  But a horse will never forget where the barn is.  So much for modern technology.

Angela Hawkins Fichter

Sam and Rosetta Fischer purchased the old 35 acre Ostby farm three years ago and moved with their four boys to Hampton with a vision to open an organic farm and make it a destination place for those looking for fresh local products. Thus began their journey of providing organic food grown on their own land with their own toil. Sam, who lived on his father’s farm till the economy turned sour in the 1980s and had to be sold, was trained as a carpenter until he had an opportunity to intern on a small farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. There he rekindled a love for farming and product marketing. He trained for two summers, learning all aspects of farming from seed to table. Sam says, “I knew this was what I wanted to do with my life”.

With many twists and turns, the Fishers began transforming the land with the blessings of the Ostby family. Their daughter, Edie, now living in Maine remarked, “My parents would be smiling knowing, what you are doing here.” As time passed, the farm became more and more successful and Sam and Rosetta were faced with growing pains. Should they remain small, rely on just themselves to do all the work, or hire employees to lighten the load? They eventually decided to seek a variance from the town and become a farm market. In so doing, they could then bring in other local vendors and expand their offerings without adding more work for themselves.

If you have been to Organic Roots over the winter you have noticed they move indoors in the lower floor of the home Sam built for his parents. The coolers are now stocked with food items the Fishers see as a co-op with the community. There are organic cheeses, raw milk, jams and jellies, maple syrup, Rosetta’s bread and maple cinnamon rolls, and eggs, all locally sourced. An imported from Lancaster treat are homemade pot pies from an Amish kitchen.

The Fishers express freely their love of this community and all the support they feel day in and day out. It is extremely important for them to be good neighbors. Sam says, “we want everyone to be happy.” Future hopes for the farm would include a commercial kitchen that would provide some welcomed relief for Rosetta who must rise at 3AM to begin to bake her bread that invariably sells out. Right now she can only bake four loaves at a time, so it is an arduous task to keep up with the demand indeed.

So please visit Organic Roots Farm, visit with the Fishers, and share in their rich organic goodness!

Wayne Erskine

The Regional District #11 Board of Education has approved a 2022-2023 budget of $6,646,927, a 2.14% increase in the total cost of educating students at Parish Hill. Please keep in mind that during the 2022-2023 school year, projected cost increases in one line item, health insurance, along with the outplaced special education tuition line item increases, will greatly exceed the recommended $139,508 proposed increase. In fact, unanticipated outplaced student costs alone will total approximately $336,0000 or over 5% of the proposed budget.

Our responsible approach to budgeting has led to an average increase of only approximately 1% per year during the last eleven fiscal years. The Superintendent and Board of Education were able to adopt a 2.14% budget increase by controlling spending, concentrating on efficiencies and economies of scale, and through efficient assignment of certified and non-certified personnel. As in past years, we have closely examined “actual” expenditures in all FY 20-21 and FY 21-22 budgetary line-items, leading to some notable line-item reductions. We have also effectively used federal/state grants to maximize efficiencies and to reduce the strain on our operating budget. Recent federal grants, including COVID grants, will be primarily used to address the academic loss of learning during the pandemic, deal with social/emotional concerns, and prioritize facility upgrades related to heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Furthermore, I am particularly proud that we have continued to provide a high- quality education for all of our students despite budgetary constraints due to staff contractual increases, magnet and Vo-Ag school tuition and special education costs, along with this year’s particularly high costs for outplaced students. Finally, the instability of electric and heating oil prices, supply chain issues, rising food prices, increased costs of textbooks and instructional supplies, and ensuring appropriate staffing levels have made proposing this budget increase exceptionally challenging. Despite all of these challenges, during fiscal year 21-22, we were one of only a few districts in our area that stayed within our approved budget, even with many additional COVID expenses.

We are also proud to report that Parish Hill has an impressive 96.4% graduation rate and a negligible dropout rate. Student attendance is well above the state average, and overall student assessment outcomes continue to rise. Furthermore, we offer 12 AP courses to our students and a Fuel Ed distance learning program to address credit recovery and allow students to study Latin, German, and Mandarin. In addition, our five year capital improvement plan is designed to significantly upgrade school facilities and infrastructure. We welcome residents to view for themselves these facility improvements.

The annual tri-town budget hearing will be held on Monday, May 2 at 6PM. The Region #11 2022-2023 Budget of $6,646, 927 will be voted on from noon to 8PM at each of the three towns’ respective polling places on Tuesday, May 3.

Kenneth Henrici, Superintendent

The Hampton Elementary School’s 2022-2023 Board of Education approved budget reflects a $31,152 increase. This is the result of reductions in staffing (two paraprofessional positions), reductions to supplies and equipment, no increases in the salaries of the principal and superintendent, as well as large increases in the health insurance premiums and the cost of heating oil.

After the budget was created and reviewed by the BoE, the oil crisis developed. There was an approved 81.3% increase in the oil/propane line item based on $1,000 for the propane and an oil price of $2.60 per gallon. Currently, the cost of heating oil averages $4.012 per gallon. We used 15,000 gallons because of Covid ventilation requirements, which mandated that the system operate all day, every day. If the current price per gallon remains in place for 2022-2023, our costs will rise by an unbudgeted $21,180. This will directly cut into our requested increase leaving us with an increase of $9,972 to cover the budgeted $31,152 cost increases.

I urge the citizens of Hampton to approve this budget. We have cut certified staff as well as paraprofessionals over the past four budgets. We operate Teams of one teacher teaching two grades. We have kept our school open during the two years of the crisis caused by Covid. We have kept our students learning with direct instruction. They have not lost any learning time and are demonstrating appropriate learning progress. Our full time nurse, Ms. Danielson, has kept us all healthy and reported weekly to our parents. The students still enjoy learning art, music, gym, and health. We have been blessed with community support from large air filled decorations for the holidays to offering free breakfast, snacks, and lunches to all of the students.

Are we getting a “Bang for our Bucks?” asked BoE member David Halbach.

I believe you are.

Dr. Frank Olah

Hampton Elementary School  Superintendent