Hampton Falls is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 2,403 at the 2020 census.
History
Archaeological excavations have confirmed that what is now Hampton Falls has been occupied by humans for roughly 10,000 years. The first settlers were indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands.
thumb|A map of the center of what is now Hampton Falls in 1638
The land of Hampton Falls was first settled by Europeans in 1638, the same time as Hampton, of which it was then a part. The settlement of Hampton joined Norfolk County, Massachusetts Colony, in 1643, along with Exeter, Dover, Portsmouth, Salisbury and Haverhill. The county existed until 1679, when the modern-day New Hampshire towns separated from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Records indicate a building that became a church may have existed near where the Weare Monument now is in 1665, but when it was first built is unknown. It was not until 1709 that the town was officially established as the Third Parish of Hampton. The Third Parish originally consisted of all land south of the Taylor River and north of the New Hampshire/Massachusetts border, or the modern-day towns of Seabrook, Kensington, and Hampton Falls.
A meeting house was built shortly after, and Thomas Crosby became the town's minister for the church. Forty-nine members of the Hampton Church were dismissed late in 1711, only to become members of the new church in the Third Parish. Parish officers and a representative were chosen in 1718. The first town meeting was held and town records began that year also. The town received its grant as an independent town with the name "Hampton falls" in 1726, but was still referred to as a parish until the Revolutionary War. Those who did use its actual name in writing spelled it with a lowercase f until around the same time.
An attempt was made in 1732 to separate the western portion of Hampton Falls and make it a parish of Kingston. The proposal failed in a way, yet succeeded in another; the land was separated, but it did not become part of Kingston—in 1737 it became a town of its own, Kensington.
A disease known as the "Throat Distemper" (now thought to have been a malignant form of diphtheria) infected the town with its symptoms in 1735 and 1736. 214 people of Hampton Falls perished, 96 of them being under the age of ten. Only two homes in town were throat distemper free. It passed through the town again in 1754, with far fewer casualties, but still many. tornado formed in the town at around 6:30 p.m. EST. It was near Interstate 95 where it overturned a truck, leaving two injured men and a kayak in a tree.
<!-- Some good info at http://www.city-data.com/city/Hampton-Falls-New-Hampshire.html mention stats, the other tornadoes. Also add info on Wakeda Bow Echo -->
Geography
thumb|The Hampton Falls River running through the Hampton Falls portion of the Seabrook-Hamptons salt marsh
The city of Boston is to the south, and Portsmouth is to the north.
The highest point in town is the summit of Great Hill, at above sea level), just north of Weares Mill on the Hampton Falls River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which are land and are water, comprising 3.39% of the town.
The town is served by Interstate 95, U.S. Route 1, New Hampshire Route 84 and New Hampshire Route 88.
Adjacent municipalities
- Hampton (northeast)
- Seabrook (south)
- Kensington (west)
- Exeter (northwest)