Hampton Town Clock

2017 Certificate of Merit

Hampton Town Clock Committee for the rescue and restoration of the Hampton Town Clock

with: Philip D’Avanza, Preservation Timber Framing, Kenneth Lessard, V. Lessard and Sons, Skip Heal (Northeast Lantern)

In 1990, the Hampton Town Clock atop the Odd Fellows Hall was damaged in a fire that claimed the iconic building. Fortunately, the E. Howard clock, which dates to 1897, was salvaged for future interpretation by a group of volunteers. Over the next twenty-five years, various individuals spent thousands of hours repairing the clock and fundraising to house it in a new structure that honored the original tower. The new tower includes a slate roof, three new clock faces that replicate those lost in the fire, a redesigned auto rewind system that replaces the need for 45-foot-long weight cords, a reconstructed weathervane, and the refurbished bell.

When the project was completed in November 2016, it marked the first time the town clock operated in twenty-six years. According to the Hampton Town Clock committee co-chair, Elizabeth Rhoades Aykroyd, “the project could have failed at many points, save for the efforts of a small number of citizens who believed in preserving this important symbol of Hampton’s heritage.”