Tuttle’s Red Barn in Dover New Hampshire is the site of the oldest continually operating family farm in the United States. The farm has been passed down from father to son through 12 generations of the Tuttle Family.
John Tuttle of the first generation was born in Bristol, England in 1616, and later arrived in America in 1632 after a 2-month journey by ship. After the ship dropped anchor at Pemaquid of Maine, it was destroyed in a hurricane. Several crew members died while trying to save the vessel and the worldly goods aboard.
John arrived in the New World with his father’s ax and two pewter candleholders his mother gave him before she said goodbye. After ten days of walking from Pemaquid, he found Dover Point, the first settlement in New Hampshire which consisted of twenty log cabins clustered between two rivers at that time. He received a land grant for a one quarter acre lot and seven acres of farm land from King Charles I in exchange for farming the land and paying taxes. Settlers would take the “High Road” to reach the Tuttle’s land on present day Old Dover Road as it was several miles north of Dover Point. The Tuttles would return to the settlement at Dover Point each night for safety with the community.
Neighbors helped John Tuttle plow the farm land to prepare it for growing crops and build a small log cabin with a thatched roof at the settlement where he raised a family with the neighbor’s daughter, Dorothy. They had four children; the youngest boy named John Tuttle Jr. born in 1646 took over the farm. Now owning 20 acres of land, John Tuttle Jr. helped his father prepare two more acres, fertilizing the soil with oysters. They grew peas, potatoes, pears, pumpkins and parsnips, and traded with the Penacook Indians for beaver skins they sent back to England.
John Tuttle Jr. married and had eight children, the youngest son named James Tuttle born in 1683 who took over the farm from his father. There was a log cabin built on the farm lot for the third generation, and James married his childhood sweetheart named Rose, had a daughter named Phoebe, and a son named Elijah born in 1708. James Tuttle died when Elijah was a baby, leaving the farm in good hands of the fourth generation of Tuttles.
Elijah married Esther Varney, and had four sons named James, Benjamin, Samuel, and William born in 1750. He planted squash, rhubarb, beets, and beans, and he traded pumpkins and two pigs to the Pinkhams for a cow he branded with a Tuttle “T” on the horn. He also tapped maple trees and boiled the sap for maple syrup for the Varneys. William Tuttle took over the farm from Elijah, helping to support the troops through the American Revolution with barrels of parsnips, pears, and potatoes. His older brothers left to fight for the colonies in June of 1774, and they returned after America declared independence on July 4th, 1776.
William and his brothers built the farm house that is known as Tuttle’s Red Barn today in the 1780’s to accommodate the large family that was crowded in the log cabin and accommodate a place of business for the 150 acres of farmland their father now owned. William married Anna, had three daughters, and two sons named Ira, and Joseph born in 1786. The family celebrated on June 21st, 1788 with nearly all 2,000 Dover residents on Huckleberry Hill when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify the United States Constitution.
The farm was passed on to Joseph Tuttle, who learned from his father to grow, hunt, fish, and barter with neighbors for everything needed to sustain the family. Everything but the salt and pepper was grown on their land or obtained from the abundance of wildlife in the area. They fertilized with manure from their own animals, as well as lobsters, clams, and oysters. By this time, the family was churning butter and making dipped wax candles for the candle holders John Tuttle’s mother gave him over 150 years prior.
Joseph married his neighbor, Sarah Pinkham, and had five children named Eliza, Asa Chase, Steven, William Penn, and Joseph Edward born in 1835 who took over the farm from his father. Joseph Edward Tuttle and his father helped hide runaway slaves during the day under a trapdoor in the bedroom closet, and helped lead them to freedom at night.
On March 2nd, 1860, Abraham Lincoln visited Dover New Hampshire by railroad to buy some famous New Hampshire “sweet water” maple syrup from Joseph Edward Tuttle. Joseph Edward later married and had two sons named Edward, and George William born in 1865.
George William was the eight generation to take over the family farm from his father. He gathered cranberries and grapes to produce cider on their own land in Dover. He also build the town’s only glass greenhouse in the 1890’s to grow annual flowers to sell. George William Tuttle married Jane, and had five children.
William Penn Tuttle, the youngest son of George William and Jane Tuttle, was born in 1891 and later took over the farm. The Tuttles began selling apples, potatoes, cabbage, cider, and maple syrup at Gil Caswell’s Grocery in Dover and quickly found out it was cheaper to buy food than to grow your own due to competition from giant western farms with new machines and larger farms. William Penn’s wholesale business thrived by adding more land to the farm purchased from farmers that were forced out of business by the competition. Tuttle’s had a reputation for high quality corn, tomatoes, lettuce, and other produce. The crops were harvested first thing in the morning, washed meticulously, packaged, and shipped to local stores originally by horse and wagon, and later by a Model “T” with a crank motor.
William Penn’s son Hugh Tuttle, born in 1921, decided to go to college at Harvard, and while at school became farm-sick which led him to return to Tuttle’s. He introduced a tractor to help plow more land quicker, and introduced four irrigation ponds to provide a reliable source of water for the crops throughout the year. He married Joan and had three children, including Will Penn Tuttle III, born in 1947, who later took over the farm.
As chain supermarkets forced smaller stores out of business during the 1950’s, Hugh Tuttle and his wife opened a roadside stand in an old barn used to store farm equipment. The supermarkets were looking for year-round availability and long-shelf life that was not the selling point of the high quality produce Tuttle’s grows and sells. Tuttle’s Red Barn was born, attracting a large number of customers who were familiar with the unprecedented quality of Tuttle’s produce. As the barn grew in popularity, so did its size, and it transitioned from a seasonal outlet to a year-round store, bringing in produce from other sources during the off season.
William Penn Tuttle III’s son, Grayson Tuttle, born in 1997 is the 12th generation to operate America’s Oldest Family Farm in Dover New Hampshire. The farm is now 240 acres, and Tuttle’s Red Barn carries produce from the local farmers’ market. Cheese imported from Europe, fine wines, and exotic plants are just a few of the thousands of items Tuttle’s Red Barn sells today. Even Grayson knows the pewter candleholders on the mantle at home were brought to America in 1632 by his great-great-great-great- great-great-great-great-great-grandfather from England.
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