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| Hampton Community Center |
When Hampton hosts its Sesquicentennial Anniversary Gala on Saturday, its history will be present in the form of honored guests. In fact, some of their names are already familiar to anyone passing through Hampton: Bardoner, McCully, McClaren, Ault. More than just the names of roads and buildings, they're names of families who founded the township 150 years ago.
Hampton Township began as a soldier's bonus for service during the Revolutionary War. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania paid these bonuses by issuing 'depreciation certificates' to veterans. The term depreciation was used because the certificates were issued in lieu of pay in war script, which had little value when the war was over. In March 1786, 309 tracts of land in District 4 were sold at an average price of 1 shilling, 7 pence per acre. The land was surveyed by James Cunningham, who settled 600 acres for himself in the district's heart. Clear title of land required each settler to clear at least two acres, build a home and live there for five years, after which time a patent was granted.
Many members of Hampton's founding families still live in Hampton and are hoped to attend the anniversary celebration. The gala, will include a buffet dinner, entertainment and a ceremony honoring the ancestors of the township's early settlers.
Educator, author and historian Sandra Bardoner Rodenbaugh will be one in attendance. She is the great-granddaughter of John Nicholas Bardoner, a Civil War veteran and a the son of German immigrant Johann Peter Bardoner. Her great-grandfather arrived in America in 1840 as a baby. Oddly enough, Mrs. Rodenbaugh's husband, Steven, is a descendant of William Alexander McCully, who emigrated from Balleyblack, Ireland, in 1825 with his wife, Nancy Gilmore McCully.
But the friendship of the Bardoners and the McCullys go back to Hampton's very beginnings. William McCully purchased 159 acres in an area he called Talley Cavey in 1832 and built his farmhouse and fathered 10 children, whom he raised on the farm. McCully's farm and homestead were on the south side of McCully Road and his neighbor was none other than John Nicholas Bardoner. The McCullys and Bartdoners became best of freinds and remained so through several generations.
The Sesquicentennial Gala will kick off a year of festivities and fun for Hampton. A fabulous dinner menu will be offered through the Common Plea Restaurant and a chance to toast the founding families who helped to make Hampton this special place a lot of people call home. Tickets are available at a cost of $75 per person. The gala begins at 7 p.m. Saturday at Hampton Township Community Center, 3101 McCully Road.
