After 378 years, NH family farm goes up for sale

DOVER, N.H. – In 1632, John Tuttle arrived from England to a settlement near the Maine-New Hampshire border, using a small land grant from King Charles I to start a farm.

Eleven generations and 378 years later, his field-weary descendants — arthritic from picking fruits and vegetables and battered by competition from supermarkets and pick-it-yourself farms — are selling their spread, which is among the oldest continuously operated family farms in America.

"On Tuesday, the Tuttle Farm went on the market. Asking price: $3.35 million."
"Lucy and Will Tuttle, who grew up in a 1780 farmhouse built by family members, didn't spend their whole lives on the farm. She lived in Paris for seven years, teaching English. He went to work for an auto dealer in Boston, then worked at Campbell Soup Co. as a sales representative. She remembers her father contemplating selling the farm."

"When they took over, Tuttle and her brother made changes, turning the farm into a year-round business instead of a seasonal one. They built a a new farm stand to replace the family's old red barn — now used for storage — and diversified the product offerings to include gourmet cheeses, baked goods, plants and other products. "They changed their business model with the times in order to stay profitable and stay in business," said Lorraine Merrill, New Hampshire's agriculture commissioner. "It's much more than a farm stand."

I wonder what their annual income from the farm is? Are they really in dire circumstances or do they just want more profitability and a different lifestyle?

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