Shankhassick Farm

Then & Now

Nestled by the banks of the Oyster River, Shankhassick Farm was founded by the Burnham family in the mid-17th century. The main house, built in 1673, miraculously survived the​ Oyster River Massacre, ​a raid on the English settlement of Durham in which French soldiers and 250 Abenaki captured and killed nearly 100 inhabitants and burned more than half the dwellings, including five garrisons. Fortunately, the Burnham garrison was spared.

In 1906, Ralph D. Paine, a well-known journalist and popular author, and his wife, Katharine, purchased Shankhassick Farm and moved into the main house on May 15, 1908. Here, they raised both their family and a collection of cows, horses and chickens.

The Paine’s sons, Ralph, Jr. and twins Stuart and Philbrook, carried on their family's writing tradition.  Ralph D. Paine, Jr., known as Del, would become the managing editor and publisher of Fortune Magazine. The twins, both writers and adventurers, were rumored to be the biggest set of twins born in the State of New Hampshire.

Stuart Paine ​was an avid explorer who accompanied Admiral Byrd in his expedition to the South Pole in 1934. Despite being in the middle of the Antarctic, and seeing sites that no one had every seen before, he constantly missed the farm and wrote beautiful letters to his mother about his memories of home.

Philbrook Paine, a journalist and author of several books about Shankhassick, raised his family here as well. He married Serena Coe, whose affection for the dock yielded the nickname “Serena’s Marina.” They had an endless collection of boats, including the 2nd Merrimac built by Ned McIntosh. A Merrimac can still be found at Serena’s Marina on a summer afternoon.

In the days before faxes and the internet, Del would manage to spend the entire summer at the farm with his daughter Katie, the current owner, by his side. It was Del’s wife Nancy White who eyed the old cow barn, empty at the time, and casually commented, “Del, you should do something with that.”  Never one to resist a challenge, Del embarked on a two-year renovation that transformed “The Barn” into an amazing summer home with walls lined with old barn board. The family buggy, surrey (complete with the fringe on the top) and sleigh served as decorative furniture. 

Sadly, on August 4, 1999,  a five-alarm fire swept the property and The Barn burned to the ground. The following July, a new “Barn” was in place, and has been hosting weddings and events ever since.