Hampton, Connecticut

Hampton is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,758 at the 2000 census.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 25.5 sqmi, of which, 25.0 sqmi of it is land and 0.5 sqmi of it (1.96%) is water.

History
Hampton is made up of lands originally shared by the towns of Pomfret and Windham. It was incorporated from the towns of Pomfret, Brooklyn, Canterbury, Mansfield, and Windham in 1786. The Congregational Church is the second oldest church in the state still in use, with portions of the structure dating from 1754. Also preserved is "The House the Women Built," a 2-story building built in 1776 by Sally Bowers and other young women of the town while the men fought in the Continental Army. At Clark's Corner there is also a liberty pole dating from 1849. Erected by a resident named Jonathan Clark, it records the distance to Hartford and other towns.

Notable locations

 * Hampton Hill Historic District - added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
 * Hemlock Glen Industrial Archeological District - added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2007.

Notable people, past and present

 * John Brewster Jr. (1766–1854) deaf, itinerant, prolific painter, was born in town.
 * Royal B. Farnum (1884–1967), president of the Athenæum and Mechanics Institute
 * Edwin Way Teale (1899–1980), American naturalist and author, lived on a farm in rural Hampton with his wife Nellie from 1959 until his death in 1980. Their time at the farm named Trail Wood is chronicled in Teale's book A Naturalist Buys an Old Farm (1974). The property is now managed as a nature preserve by the Connecticut Audubon Society.
 * Theodore Dwight Weld (1803–1895), the author of American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses, an evangelical abolitionist who was born in town, where he lived until 1825 when his family moved to upstate New York.
 * Annie Withey Co-founded Annie's Homegrown as well as invented Smartfood while living in Hampton with her husband.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,758 people, 674 households, and 494 families residing in the town. The population density was 70.3 people per square mile (27.2/km²). There were 695 housing units at an average density of 27.8 per square mile (10.7/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 96.64% White, 0.23% African American, 0.46% Native American, 0.85% Asian, 0.23% from other races, and 1.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.76% of the population.

There were 674 households out of which 33.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.6% were married couples living together, 7.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.7% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the town the population was spread out with 25.8% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 29.5% from 25 to 44, 28.2% from 45 to 64, and 11.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 100.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $54,464, and the median income for a family was $66,339. Males had a median income of $44,688 versus $32,337 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,344. About 2.7% of families and 3.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.4% of those under age 18 and 6.0% of those age 65 or over.