The Campton post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, West Campton (1849), Blair (1883) and Beebe River (1917), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 395 in 17902020 census: 3,343210 years
How historic is Campton?
B−
More historic than 48% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Campton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Campton’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Campton is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #117 of 126 in New Hampshire. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Campton’s overall grade.
New Hampshire towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New Hampshire town has 9.5 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Campton’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (8% of New Hampshire towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.3 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Campton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Both Campton and adjacent Rumney were granted by Governor Benning Wentworth in 1761 to Jabez Spencer of East Haddam, Connecticut, then settled about 1765. But Captain Spencer died before terms of the charter, which required settlement by 50 families, each farming 5 acres (20,000 m2) for every 50 received, were fulfilled. Two families, named Fox and Taylor, first settled here in 1765. In 1767, Governor John Wentworth issued the heirs and others a new grant. Campton got its name when the first proprietors built a camp here to survey the two towns.
Passages that mention Campton, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of the town of Bristol, Grafton County, New Hampshire1904 · page 57Read the page →
Read the text
(7) Joseph Brown, b. Mar. 3, 1796, m., in 1825, Relief, dau. of Stephen and Mary (Brown) Ordway. She was b. 1803, and d. in Campton, May, 1867, ae. 64. He was a lumber manufacturer and dealer. He erected the first saw-mill at Moore's Mills, so called, and continued business there 14 years. He removed to Campton in 1843, and later to Whitefield, where he d. Mar. 26, 1884, ae. 88-0-23.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of the town of Bristol, Grafton County, New Hampshire1904Read the page →
Read the text
Avery, Mar. 1861. She was the dau. of Stephen and Hannah (Mitchell) Avery, and was b. in Campton, and d. in Thornton, Sept., 1863. He m. (2) in 1865, Charlotte, dau. of Ephriam and Eliza (Broad) Elliot, b. Brownfield, Me., Jan. 11, 1848.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
By decade
Campton, decade by decade
4 decades in the archive, from the 1850s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Campton post office opened in 1816, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Campton rank for history?
Campton is more historic than 48% of U.S. towns, #117 of 126 in New Hampshire. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Campton?
13% of Campton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.3 points), against a typical 17% for a New Hampshire town; the median home was built in 1985.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikimedia Commons (15), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
![Mt. Tri-Pyramid [i.e. Mount Tripyramid] and Campton, N.H](https://images.townratings.com/story/27831/86af8acf4ebcb8814300-s.jpg)
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