Hampton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

Census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Carter County,

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, United States. Located a few miles southeast of Elizabethton and northwest of Roan Mountain, Hampton is surrounded on all sides by the Unaka Mountains. It is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–

Kingsport Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It lies along the Holston River and had a population of 55,442 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city in the Kingsport–Bristol metropolitan area, w ...

–

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, TN- VA Combined Statistical Area – commonly known as the " Tri-Cities" region. The population of the CDP in 2020 was 2,030.

History

Hampton was established in the late 1860s by Elijah Simerly, a state legislator and president of the

East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad The East Tennessee & Western North Carolina Railroad , affectionately called the "Tweetsie" as a verbal acronym of its initials (ET&WNC) but also in reference to the sound of its steam whistles, was a primarily narrow gauge railroad established ...

. He named the community for his wife, Mary Hampton. Simerly built an elaborate, Italianate-style house which still stands at the corner of Main Street and 1st Avenue, and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The house is now known as the "Butler Mansion" after a later owner, Ralph Butler.Margaret Jane Butler Umholtz and Claudette Stager, ", June 1996. Section 8, pp. 8-9. The Laurel Fork Railway served a mill in Hampton.

Geography

Hampton lies in a broad valley concentrated around the

Doe River The Doe River is a tributary of the Watauga River in northeast Tennessee in the United States. The river forms in Carter County near the North Carolina line, just south of Roan Mountain State Park, and flows to Elizabethton. Hydrography Th ...

and its junction with two of its tributaries, namely the Little Doe River, which enters the area from the southwest, and Laurel Fork, which enters the area from the east. This valley is surrounded by Jenkins Mountain on the west, the

Iron Mountains The Iron Mountains are a subrange of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These mountains are located around the common meeting point of Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina. A portion of the Appalachian Trail runs the crest of the Iron Mountains ab ...

on the north, Pond Mountain to the east, and Cedar Mountain to the south. Just southeast of Hampton, the Doe River emerges from the Doe River Gorge, a narrow valley between Cedar Mountain and Fork Mountain. Watauga Lake is located northeast of Hampton. Dennis Cove, an Appalachian cove, lies to the southeast. The

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

passes through the eastern outskirts of Hampton. The trail traverses Dennis Cove and follows the upper Laurel Fork Valley before ascending to the crest of Pond Mountain. It descends again to U.S. Route 321, and continues northward along the shores of Watauga Lake. Hampton is located along U.S. Routes 321 and 19E south of

Elizabethton, Tennessee Elizabethton () is a city in, and the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is the historical site of the first independent American government (known as the Watauga Association, created in 1772) located west of ...

Demographics

Historic district

Hampton's historic district has many historic homes, including the Butler Mansion.

Economy

Hampton's economy is mainly based on tourism from the

Cherokee National Forest The Cherokee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the U.S. states of Tennessee and North Carolina that was created on June 14, 1920. The forest is maintained and managed by the United States Forest Service. It encompas ...

(In which it is located) and the

. There are several restaurants and stores in Hampton. On the southern outskirts of town, one will fin
Doe River Gorge
a Christian retreat and Summer camp featuring its own

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge (distance between the rails) narrower than . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum railw ...

Doe River Gorge - Fairmount Motor Car
/ref> railroad laid on a segment of former

roadbed.

Education

Schools in Hampton are operated by Carter County Schools: * Hampton Elementary School - Grades PK-8 * Hampton High School - Grades 9-12

Hampton-Valley Forge Volunteer Fire Department

Hampton-Valley Forge Volunteer Fire Department serves Hampton,

Valley Forge Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...

and surrounding areas.

Connection with U.S. Interstate Highway System

Interstate 26 Interstate 26 (I-26) is a main route of the Interstate Highway System in the Southeastern United States. Nominally east–west, as indicated by its even number, I-26 runs from the junction of U.S. Route 11W, US Route 11W (US 11W) ...

Exit 24 then east

Tennessee State Route 67 State Route 67 (SR 67) is a state-maintained highway in northeastern Tennessee, including a four-lane divided highway segments in both Washington County and Carter County, and part of a significant two-lane segment passing over the Butler Br ...

to Elizabethton, then right on

to Hampton.

Climate

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Carter County, Tennessee Unincorporated communities in Tennessee Johnson City metropolitan area, Tennessee