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 This page is part of Saugus Photos Online and is hosted by Saugus.net
Most of the images here were made with Canon EOS cameras and lenses.
 Hampton Beach New Hampshire photographs, pictures, images and text on this page are all the copyrighted work of James F. Harrington.
Non-profit usage rights may be granted without a fee but only by permission of the photographer.
 If you'd like rights to use these images on the Web or in printed material please call me, Jim Harrington, at 781-244-5655. High quality prints up to 12x18 inches are available.
New Hampshire Photographs - Hampton Beach Pictures
 Hampton Beach, New Hampshire vacations have been a favorite of many for generations.
Located on the 17-mile stretch of New Hampshire's Atlantic coast, Hampton Beach offers some of the best sand terrain of any New England beach.
The beach is bordered on the south by
Hampton Beach State Park and a tidal inlet, a narrow stretch of fast-moving water. A draw bridge over the inlet provides access for visitors from the south. To the North, along the coast, lies Great Boar's Head, which separates Hampton Beach from North Beach. To the west lie salt marshes. To the east lies the Atlantic ocean, of course. Just a few miles off shore is the Isle of Shoals. Hampton Beach hotels and motels are everywhere. Some I reccommend are Bob Hurley's Hillcrest Inn and the Pelham Resort Hotel.
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Hampton Beach Attractions
 There's always plenty to do at Hampton Beach. On sunny, Summer days thousands of people can be found enjoying the sand, sun and cool water. If you don't like crowds, visit the beach in the Winter!
Big waves are often found at this beach. A recent change in the Hampton Beach  rules allows the use of boogie-boards in the water. Kids love to ride the waves on these mini surf boards.
 When the tide is out, the flat, hard sands in the inter-tidal area provide a perfect spot for Frizbee, wiffle ball or other activities.
 Dozens of hotels, motels, gift shops, restaurants, T-shirt shops and candy stores line Ocean Blvd. Fried dough, salt water taffy and ice cream are just a small sample of the edible treats you'll find. Miniature golf, spin-art and slot car racing are just a few of the things vacationers enjoy at the beach.
Hampton Beach Arcades
Hampton Beach has at least 4 big arcades for enjoyment by kids of all ages. Most are full of video games of all shapes and sizes. Pinball, ski-ball, air-hockey, video-poker, shoot-em-up, knock-em down, table-tennis, ping-pong, pool-tables, slot-car race track, spin art, toddler rides, photo booths...etc. You name it, it's there.
 Other things that can be found at Hampton Beach, New Hampshire include: T-shirts, toe-rings, temporary tattoos, fortune tellers, fried dough, candy shops, gift shops, post cards, large playground, nightly entertainment on the Hatch Shell stage, aka band stand, deep sea fishing, fireworks, caricature portrait artists...send e-mail if missed something important. (You'll need to fix the address.)
Miss Hampton Beach Pageant
 Each year in July, the Hatch Shell stage is the setting for the Miss Hampton Beach Pageant.
Hampton Beach Casino
 The Hampton Beach Casino building was erected in the late 1890s and has been remodeled several times. When I was a kid, the Hampton Beach Casino building housed a bowling alley and a movie theater. It is also home to the biggest arcade I've ever seen, the Funarama. My mother called these arcades "Penny Arcades". I guess when she was young, a penny  was all it took to use the games and amusements in these arcades. Today, many games are $1.00 or more.
Hampton Beach Casino building was also home to Pat Dee's glass blowing shop, where hundreds of hand-made glass ornaments were on display. As kids we spent lots of time watching Pat work his magic on the glass, forming it into beautiful shapes like swans and the famous clipper ship. Pat Dee worked behind his orange-flame torch, wearing special glasses.
The image on this page shows the Hampton Beach Casino building as I remember it from the early 1960s.
 Another long-gone attraction at the Hampton Beach Casino was the Silhouette Shop where a woman (Lillian G. Clark) would cut out a silhouette profile of customers and mount it in a frame. A reader of this page who wrote in, below, reminded me of a place called the Agape Inn Coffee shop, which is also long gone.
Today the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom hosts concerts all Summer long.
Junkin's Candy, no longer in operation, always had a salt water taffy machine running in the window, with a familiar chinkita-chink sound.
 Teens enjoy the strip at night for its boy-meets-girl potential. Another popular past-time at Hampton Beach is cruzin' the strip in that souped-up car. How many times can you make the loop in 1 night?
An annual sand sculpting contest attracts some of the best sand artists in the area, not to mention the people who love to gawk at these shaped piles of sand.
Deep-sea fishing trips leave every day from Hampton Harbor for full and 1/2 day trips.
 Free summer-time concerts at the Hatch Shell stage provide entertainment on most Summer evenings. You can expect live entertainment every evening at the Hatch shell Stage. Hampton Beach Fireworks displays can be seen almost every Wednesday night during Summer months.
 My personal experience with Hampton beach began as a young child in the early 60s. Our family vacationed at Hampton Beach, NH nearly every summer. My mother, being from nearby Newburyport, Massachusetts, enjoyed Hampton Beach in her younger years so it was only natural for her to bring her children to Hampton.
Next to Christmas, the Saturday that started our Hampton Beach vacation was the best day of the year for me.
We'd rent a cottage for a 1 week stretch, sometimes 2, usually from Harris Real Estate. My sister Mary reminded me the a few times we stayed 2 weeks.
Perkins Ave, a dead end off of Ashworth Ave, was the location of many of our rentals, providing a quieter setting than some of the cottages closer to the busy Ocean Blvd.
The empty lots at the end of Perkins Ave. provided a  place for us kids to play when we were not at the beach. The nearby tide pools were a great place to catch minnows using a milk bottle, bread and a length of string. (Milk bottles were glass in those days!) A small wooden dock (depicted at right ) next to the tide pool was the setting for countless family pictures.
Very often on Friday nights, during our Hampton vacation, we'd drive down to Salisbury Beach amusement park. There were many more amusement rides there years ago. A roller coaster and merry-go-round (which I called flying horses) are some of the long gone rides.
 As my siblings grew we vacationed at Hampton Beach less often.
In the 90's, with a son of my own, I took my family to vacation at Hampton Beach.
If you have or would like to create Hampton Beach, NH material (your written text or photographs) please send it an e-mail to jim at saugus dot net (correct to normal e-mail format).
Maybe you met your spouse at Hampton or lost them there. Hampton Beach fans would love to hear about it!
Your Hampton Beach pictures or stories will be considered for publication on this page. Contributions can be with or without credit to you, depending or what you specify. Please write to share your Hampton Beach, New Hampshire experiences.
If you enjoyed this page, you'll certainly enjoy my Anna Maria Island Florida photographs page and my other photography at Saugus Photos Online. Another page that may be of interest is my Fenway Park - Red Sox photographs page.
Below are entries from readers of this page, who wrote to share their memories of Hampton Beach New Hampshire.
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5/13/15 Hi, Jim,
On what is probably a fool's errand,
I've been trying to find photos of all
the places I've ever lived (and at age
70, that's quite a few). In the early
spring of 1970, I lived for several
months in Hampton Beach. The address I
found in an old list is 142 Ash Street,
Apt 4. At the time I was a graduate
student at UNH, and struggling through
the breakup of my marriage. I was able
to afford the little apartment because
it was a cold weather price. I had to
move out when warmer weather brought a
fourfold increase in rent.
What brought me to your site was a
Google search for the Agape Inn. I did
some song writing and guitar playing,
and somehow got a gig at the Agape Inn,
where I played a few times. I learned
that the Inn was opened by a church
group (possibly a Baptist group??), and
was part of its mission to reach young
people. They were willing to let me
perform songs, which were a mix of
traditional folk songs, and some that
I'd written (and, because of the time,
some of those were war protest songs,
which I admired the Inn for letting me
play).
Other memories of that early spring
include seeing the snow fall into the
ocean for the first time, quite a
revelation for a young man who grew up
in Missouri, and playing my guitar on
the beach, something that would have
been difficult if I'd been there in the
summer, I'm sure.
I'll have to go through my old photos to
see if I haven any taken during that
time. If so, I'll be sure to send you
copies.
Thanks for bringing back some fond
memories.
--Paul Garrett
pgarrett"at"pshift.com
04/06/13
Jim,
I just wanted to share a short note from
many summers I spent at Hampton Beach in
my youth. I noticed that a couple of
your responses to Hampton Beach memories
involved remembering the "Agape In"
(noticed I used one N not two).
My name
is Jim Jenkins and I am the nephew of
Bill Jenkins, founder of the Agape In!
I
spent at least 8 full summers at the
Agape In since my mother was the "House
Mom" for the college students who worked
there through the summers! I was 17 my
last summer there! Spending that many
summers there I have more memories than
I have room to write down in this email.
If there is anyone who does remember the
tall skinny kid with curly hair known as
Jimmy, that hung out with a kid half his
size (known then as Little Larry), that
was me, the tall one!
Little Larry was the brother of the
sisters who were the fortune tellers at
that time on the Beach Boardwalk, along
with his mother! We were two pees in a
pod and knew the beach and casino like
the back of our hands. I'm sorry to say
Little Larry is gone now, but his memory
lives on!
I have attached a few photos from the
many I have of those years and the Agape
In. They are old and not in good shape,
but feel free to use them if you wish.
As far as the one "N" on the Agape In,
that is a mistake that was common, even
for the newspaper. If you look at the
pictures of the building, it has one "N"
and the reason it was like that was a
story behind the scenes! I will leave it
at that for now and if anyone cares to
remember or guess why it was like that,
feel free!
You have some great photos of Hampton
Beach and I enjoyed looking through your
site. Feel free to use my email and I
would love to hear from anyone who might
remember when!
jjclass79"at"yahoo.com
One note about the
photos, that is Little Larry standing
under the bath house sign photo. Thanks
for taking the time!
Regards,
Jim Jenkins
7/08/10
I worked at Hudon's Restaurant for 3 summers. I too spent a lot of time at the Agape when I wasn't girl watching down on the beach, playing cards with the other restaurant/hotel workers or surfing up on North Beach. One of the girls I met there, one evening after the weekly fire works, is my wife of 34 years. We had written for a while after we met but then reconnected, through a mutual friend, when I was in college. I met a lot of people hanging on the beach who have been lifelong friends to me. There is an Agape Facebook group for those who are looking to remeet friends who worked there. Brother Bill is alive and well.
Mark Lawton
09/09/08 Hi Jim,
I stumbled upon your site because I just bought a house up at Hampton Beach. I did a Google search and one had an awesome pic so I checked it out.
Well here's the funny thing. I live in Saugus, (right off The Fellsway) too. When I read your description of your summers at Hampton, I can so relate. I remember going up there back in the 70's with all my cousins for a week or two and never wanted to leave. Its' kinda cool that it really hasn't changed, but that it did change for the times.
The second funny think is where I bought my house.** Perkins Ave!!..How ironic is that?
I was wondering if you have any old photos of that street/area. I would be interested in buying some to frame and put up in the house.
Let me know.
Thanks. You have a great site too.
Jimmy
(spyketek "at" hotmail )
7/06/08 Hi Jim....found your site by accident. I have many fond memories of Hampton from when I was a little kid in the 50's. I still like it just as much, although it has changed. I can remember the bandstand,and that Hampton had it's own "Big" band that played every night. I can remember Bill Elliot the singing cop. I remember that the band conductor always came out dressed up (dinner jacket) and that the band had a standard theme song that they used..."Say it with music." I remember when the Casino had many of the "Big" band names there...men and women would line up outside waiting to get in. They were all dressed formally, men with white dinner jackets,women in their gowns. It was such an elegant time, it impressed this little girl. I can also remember being able to sit up stairs at the casino, there were benches outside and you could sit and watch the band concert. I even played in the playground,a few pieces of the equipment are still there,but not many.
I have something I would like to find out. Does anyone besides me remember a traveling museum that was on the boardwalk (yes,it really was a BOARDwalk)one summer?? It probably was the summer of '57, maybe '58. It was called the SS Spellbound,and it looked like a ship. You went in one end of it for a small price, walked the length of it, saw many interesting things from the sea. This included a real treasure from a sunken ship. My significant other says I dreamed it. I could go on and on about so many things. Anyway, thanks for letting me share some of my memories. Pat Germaine nanaweb@aol.com
01/29/08 Hi Jim,
I was just visiting Hampton Beach via internet and saw your wonderful photography, your name and invitation to write.
I lived on Ocean Blvd. and worked at the Agape Inn the entire summer of 1977.
BTW, I was upstairs in my bedroom when I learned that Elvis had died! (Funny how things like that stick with you.)
I read where you spent lots of time there, also.
Do you happen to remember the Agape Inn Coffee House? We were a stone's throw from the band shell. The last I heard was that the building had been turned into a T-shirt shop. Of course, it's probably gone by now.
Just wondering if you had any photos or memories of my little corner of the world in the Summer of 1977.
I'm married, a mom, and a Kindergarten teacher and live in Rogersville, TN, (65 miles NE of Knoxville) and my memories of that pre-chilled (errr, pre-frozen) ocean water are still vivid! What a wonderful summer that was, and oh, the FRIED DOUGH---everybody said we had the best!
Here's to youthful memories, Hannah Gillenwatere
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Hampton Beach, New Hampshire Links
Hampton Beach Hotel and Motel links
Got a beach related link you'd like to see here?
Send e-mail to the address in the image borders.
If you're a Webmaster willing to exchange links, please let me know by calling Jim at 781-244-5655.
If you have or would like to create Hampton Beach, NH material (your written text or photographs) please send it an e-mail to jim at saugus dot net (correct to normal e-mail format).
Your Hampton Beach pictures or stories will be considered for publication here. Your contributions can be with or without credit to you, depending or what you specify. Please write to share your Hampton Beach, New Hampshire experiences.
I'll soon be publishing a similar page of White Mountains - New Hampshire pictures and information.
This page is part of Saugus Photos Online and is hosted by Saugus.net.
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