Hampton

Sister cities

• Vendôme
• Pietermaritzburg
• Southampton

History

Indigenous Americans settled in present-day Hampton before 10,000 BCE. In the early 1600s, the Tidewater region was populated by the Powhatan peoples who called the lands Tsenacommacah. The Powhatan Chiefdom was made up of over 30 tribes numbering an estimated 25,000 people before the arrival of English colonists. In December 1606, three ships carrying men and boys left England on a mission sponsored by a proprietary company. Led by Captain Christopher Newport, they sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to North America. After a long voyage, they first landed at the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay on the south shore at a place they named Cape Henry (for Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, the elder son of their king). During the first few days of exploration, they identified the site of Old Point Comfort (which they originally named "Point Comfort") as a strategic defensive location at the entrance to the body of water that became known as Hampton Roads. This is formed by the confluence of the Elizabeth, Nansemond, and James rivers. The latter is the longest river in Virginia. Weeks later, on May 14, 1607, they established the first permanent English settlement in the present-day United States at Jamestown, Virginia, about further inland from the Bay, which became the site of fortifications during the following 200 years. Slightly south, near the entrance to Hampton River, the colonists seized the Native American community of Kecoughtan under Virginia's Governor, Sir Thomas Gates. The colonists established their own small town, with a small Anglican church (known now as St. John's Episcopal Church), on July 9, 1610. This came to be known as part of Hampton. (With Jamestown having been abandoned in 1699, Hampton claims to be the oldest continuously occupied English…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,031
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  15,781
• Carolina Chickadee

  Poecile carolinensis (Audubon, 1834) · Aves
  13,998
• Double-crested Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson, 1831) · Aves
  13,440
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  13,120
• Northern Mockingbird

  Mimus polyglottos (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  13,078
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,940
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  12,268

Largest nearby schools

• BETHEL HIGH
  High · Hampton · 1,777 students · 14.9:1 ratio
• KECOUGHTAN HIGH
  High · Hampton · 1,564 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• George P. Phenix Elementary
  Elementary · Hampton · 1,516 students · 9.5:1 ratio
• PHOEBUS HIGH
  High · Hampton · 1,365 students · 16.1:1 ratio
• HAMPTON HIGH
  High · Hampton · 1,359 students · 14:1 ratio
• Hunter B. Andrews
  Elementary · Hampton · 1,131 students · 13.8:1 ratio
• BENJAMIN SYMS MIDDLE
  Middle · Hampton · 897 students · 14:1 ratio
• C. ALTON LINDSAY MIDDLE
  Middle · Hampton · 707 students · 12.2:1 ratio