Historical Background
Hampton, New Hampshire has only ten cemeteries within its current borders. In its early years Hampton once included several of the neighboring towns. Those daughter towns, along with their dates of separation, are: Kingston (1690), Hampton Falls (1712-18), Kensington (1737), parts of Rye (1730-38), East Kingston (1738), North Hampton (1742), parts of Sandown (1756), Danville (1760), and parts of Seabrook (1768). When searching for gravestones of people who once lived in Hampton, keep in mind that people who died and were buried "in Hampton" may now be buried in one of these other towns.
The oldest gravestone that can be found today in Hampton dates from 1680, 41 years after the settlement of the town. The gravestones for those who died before this date (and many after this date as well) have long-since disappeared. They were likely either made of wood or unmarked fieldstones. The oldest cemetery in town -- The Pine Grove Cemetery -- has many unmarked graves that likely contain the bones of Hampton's original settlers. More on the earliest burials can be found here.
Available Records
- Through the year 1901, all of the cemetery records for the town of Hampton have been published and are readily available at the library. They are available in several different forms, as described below:
Cemetery Records Available on the library's website. All of the gravestones in nine of Hampton's ten cemeteries can be found on the library's website. The tenth cemetery -- The High Street Cemetery -- is still in use and those records have not been added here. A few of the cemeteries have digital images of the gravestones included with the records, and the library plans to add more in the future.
Volume two of the book Vital records of Hampton, New Hampshire to the end of the year 1900 published by George and Melinde Sanborn in 1998 contain records on all nine of the oldest cemeteries in town, as well as those records up to 1900 in the newer High Street Cemetery. The Sanborns recorded every field stone and unmarked grave as well, and can be considered the best source on the subject. They also provide excellent maps of each cemetery pinpointing the location of every grave. For more information on this book, some of which is crucial to using the cemetery record section, see our vital records research page.
Cemetery Records of Hampton, New Hampshire is a manuscript publication of the town's cemetery records put out in 1987 by the library's Assistant Director, William Teschek. These were later converted to web format and updated with additions and corrections, so the web version (described above) is now the better source. The original manuscript, however, is available in the library's New Hampshire Room, as well as other genealogical libraries such as the New Hampshire Historical Society in Concord and the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston. These same records were published in 1988 in James K. Hunt's Hampton Vital Records and Genealogy, 1889-1986, but the index in this title unfortunately omits all names other than the deceased.
Hampton historian Elizabeth Aykroyd, with members of Boy Scout Troop 177, published Markers of the Pine Grove Cemetery, Hampton, New Hampshire in the year 2000. This small pamphlet is available for sale for $5.00 from the Hampton Historical Society. It contains a detailed history of the cemetery, as well as information on many of its gravestone's original carvers. The actual records are abstracted in an alphabetical, tabular format keyed to a detailed map of the cemetery. This format is inferior to that on the library's website or in the Sanborn and Sanborn vital records books, so be sure to check these other two sources for more detail on each stone. Pictures of several of the stones are included in the Boy Scout pamphlet as well. The Hampton Historical Society's Tuck Museum has a copy of the full version of this Boy Scout project, which includes color images of every stone.
In 2006, Winnacunnet High School senior Kevin Buckley of Boy Scout Troop 177 completed the documentation of the Ring Swamp Cemetery on Park Avenue in Hampton for his Eagle Scout Leadership Service Project. He published a 378-page document with photos, inscriptions, and descriptions of each of the stones in the cemetery. A copy of that report is available on the library's website.
Many years ago others published an assortment of transcriptions of the records of various Hampton cemeteries. These are described here. None are as authoritative as those listed above.
Hampton cemetery records can occasionally be found on other websites, including that of the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston (searchable by members only, or from institutional member libraries, including ours). In general, these compilations are not as accurate as those available on our website.
Records of the High Street Cemetery are available in the cemetery caretaker's office. Write to them at High Street Cemetery, High Street, Hampton, N.H., 03842 or call 603-926-6659. As noted above, records from this cemetery prior to 1901 are published in the Sanborn and Sanborn vital records book.
Cemetery Locations
Many of Hampton's old cemeteries are accessible only by crossing private property. Before you visit any such graveyard it is advisable to obtain permission from the landowner. Contact a member of the town Cemetery Trustees for information as to who owns the land. Since many of these stones are in fragile condition the best advice I can give you is to stay away unless you have a real need to visit them.
Follow this link to a google map showing the locations of the following ten cemeteries.
Landing Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1715-1727. It is located on private property at the end of Cedar Point Lane, a small, private street off of Landing Road near the first corner down by the marsh.
Shaw Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1713 or 1718-1858. It is located on Route One south of town in the area near where the northbound lane splits from the southbound lane, across from the Tidewater Campground (which is owned by the Shaw family).
Batchelder Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1823-1900. It is deep in the woods and difficult to find. From the intersection of Timber Swamp Road and Mary Batchelder Road head up Mary Batchelder Road to the top of the slight rise. From the top go left into the woods 50-100 feet and start searching in ever-widening circles.
Elkins Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1851-1893. It is located in the woods on the south side of Exeter Road inside the loop of roads formed by the exits from Route 101 and Liberty Lane.
Sanborn Yard
Inclusive dates: 1829-1907. It is located on private property at 10 Gale Rd. in the western part of town.
Bride Hill Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1782-1890. It is located on the south side of Exeter Road not far from the Exeter town line.
"Ye Old Neighborhood" Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1800-1933. It is located on private property up a driveway at 447 Exeter Rd.
Pine Grove Cemetery
Current inclusive dates are 1680-1834, although interments occurred for years before this date. It is located on Winnacunnet Road opposite the end of Windmill Lane.
Ring Swamp Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1800-1934. It is located on Park Avenue about a quarter mile from the intersection with Winnacunnet Road, on the left.
High Street Cemetery
Inclusive dates: 1858-present. It is located along High Street across from the end of Academy Avenue and the Junior High School.
Cemeteries in Neighboring Towns
As stated above, many of Hampton's early settlers are buried in towns outside the present borders of Hampton. These towns were once part of a much larger Hampton. Few of their cemetery records have been published, although some local libraries have manuscripts. Hampton library is currently making an effort to acquire copies of some of these manuscripts, and some are already up on our website. As with Hampton's cemeteries, some of these records can be found in various places on the Internet, including the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston (searchable by members only, or from institutional member libraries, including ours).