90th Anniversary

In 1970 the Winnacunnet Plantation Restoration was opened on the Museum grounds, with a parade and ribbon-cutting by Governor Walter Peterson. Intended to demonstrate daily life on the seacoast in the 17th-19th centuries, the project was plagued with problems and by 1972 had lost the support of the Society. It was closed permanently after the 1973 summer season.

Other setbacks followed. The Founders Park memorial stone for the Town of Rye had not been forgotten, but once again plans for its placement fell through. In 1977 the Society's president expressed a disappointment of another sort. 'I was struck by the lack of awareness of who the Meeting House Green Memorial and Historical Association was and where it could be located. I was further to discover that many who knew of us, and where we were, had never taken a few moments to see what we were all about.'- President Roger Garland, 1977 Hampton Town Report.

There were bright spots of progress, too. John Holman was the Museum's curator during the years 1970-1983. His dedication to organization, detail, and historical preservation still resonate in our records today. His wife Connie, whom he affectionately called 'The Commander,' also contributed to the success of the Society.

The Board of Directors took a more proactive approach to the financial future of the Society and the safety of its historical collections. Budgets were formulated and security systems installed. The road around the Museum was named 'Meeting House Green' and opened to one-way traffic only. The Green, Hussey, Emery, and Sleeper family stones were added to Founders Park. The Society reprinted Joseph Dow's History of Hampton, with sales of the book funding improvements to Tuck House and Hall. In 1975 the Society celebrated its 50th anniversary and helped dedicate Bicentennial Park on the site of the old Coast Guard Station. With the Town, the Society celebrated the country's Bicentennial in 1976.

The Custodian for the decade was Marion Freeman. Historians were Harold Fernald (1970-1974,1978-1982) and Diana LaMontagne (1974-1978). Presidents were Samuel Towle (1968-1976), Minnie Philbrook (1976-1977), Roger Garland (1977-1978), and Leslie Cummings (1978-1981). Dues were raised to $2 per person and $3 per family. The Society ended the decade with $1,000 in the Treasury.

A series of national disappointments—the Vietnam War, Kent State shootings, President Nixon's resignation from office, oil embargoes, a stock market crash, an economic recession—set the tone for the decade. In 1979 President Carter concluded that America was facing a 'crisis of confidence' and blamed overconsumption for—

Middle Eastern oil-producing nations stopped shipping oil to the United States to protest its support of Israel in the Yom Kippur War. To conserve gasoline, a national speed limit of 55 mph was enacted. There were long lines at gas stations and a system of odd-even day gas rationing, based on license plate number, was introduced. On the seacoast, dealers were concerned with the summer season when the 'population increases by 75 per cent because of tourists.' Their fears were never realized as the embargo was lifted in March 1974.

Middle Eastern supply disruptions occurred again in 1979. Due to reduced allocations of gasoline, Hampton service stations closed early each day, and some sold by appointment only. A majority of Americans thought the energy shortages were a hoax, including a Hampton man who said he was going out to buy a Cadillac and hoped 'it gets 20 miles to the gallon.' Investigative journalist Jack Anderson of the Baltimore Sun called it a'phony shortage,' citing a CIA report showing that U.S. oil imports had actually increased. Still, panic buying ensued and in the cities the long lines of 1973-74 returned. WWII-style gas ration coupons were printed but never used. Reduced consumption was blamed for the 1980s 'Oil Glut.'

In 1974 Hungarian professor of architecture Erno Rubik invented the Rubik's Cube 3-D puzzle. Since then over 350 million units have been sold worldwide. Cubes have been solved in as little as 5 1/2 seconds, even though there are 43 quintillion (43,000,000,000,000,000,000) possible combinations.

Protesting Seabrook

In 1969 local residents formed the Seacoast Anti-Pollution League to oppose the construction of a nuclear power plant at Seabrook. Nevertheless, in 1976 work was started on two reactors. Over the years thousands of anti-nuclear protesters from all over the region came to the site; in 1979 the protests turned violent and police used force to turn away the demonstrators. The protests continued, yet so did construction, with Unit 1 of the plant receiving its operating license in 1990. Unit 2 was never completed and was torn down in 2003.

Ocean House Hotel
(1900-1977)

'Wooden Towers Make Way for Golden Arches' read the March 30, 1977 Hampton Union headline. The old Ocean House hotel, built in 1900 to accommodate Trolley Era tourists, was soon torn down to make way for a McDonald's restaurant.

Coast Guard Station
(1898-1973)

The Coast Guard Station on North Beach was used from 1898-1946 and from 1947-1967. The police and fire departments used it for tear gas training and fire studies shortly before it was purposely burned in 1973.

Hampton's population grew to 10,493 residents over the decade.