Alan Mitchell built a museum in his barn. That’s how much history is woven through his family’s homestead. Perusing the collection is like stepping through a slipstream of space and time and emerging in the 18th century. A selection of wood-crafted hand tools – many branded with the family insignia – line the wide-planked walls: hefty stone sharpening wheels, crosscut saws the length of an adult man, and hammers that would make the God of Thunder blanch.

History and tradition are, obviously, prized by the Mitchells – which makes sense, when you consider their family tree has roots all the way into the early 18th century, when, in 1714, James Burley bought land from the Hilton Grant (granted by the King of England).

That land would become, for generations, home to the Burleys, and, eventually, the Mitchells, when Alan’s grandmother married into the Mitchell family. Regardless of the surname, this much is true: heritage is a treasure. When the five Mitchell siblings gathered to make a decision to conserve the land that had been home to generations before them, the answer was obvious: Yes. Because that is what our forebears would have wanted.

There is idyllic and then there is idyllic. The Mitchells’ 140+ acre spread, largely in Newmarket with a very small bit in Epping, certainly falls into that second category. Green is everywhere, manicured lawns hug antique buildings, and, off in the distance, stout trees ring the property, guarding a wealth of natural resources that lies beneath their canopies.

This place has it all. Drinking water protection? Yes! The Mitchell property sits less than 2,000 feet from the Wild & Scenic Lamprey River and over 70 acres safeguards the UNH/Durham water system. Wildlife habitat is in abundance, too, as it is home to endangered and threatened species and features a rare wetland system associated with nearby Hilton Brook.

The importance of the property to wildlife did not go unnoticed by SELT staff when visiting the property with the Mitchells. After seeing first-hand the extensive wetlands, field habitat and well-managed forest, SELT invited staff from the NH Fish & Game Department to visit the property. They too were so impressed that they agreed to partner to permanently protect the Mitchells’ land.

Even more exciting is how this place fits perfectly into a growing tapestry of nearly 5,000-acres of conserved land. The Mitchell
land directly abuts 104 acres of land conserved by the Town of Newmarket, 64 acres of land owned by NH Fish & Game, and nearly 150 acres of SELT-owned properties.

And here’s the kicker: with the acquisition and conservation of the Mitchell property, SELT will own a critical connector between Burley Farms and the Piscassic Greenway. The immense ecological value shows why meetings with the Mitchell family have taken place since the 1990s. Organizations like SELT, The Nature Conservancy, Great Bay Resource Protection Partnership, and the Newmarket Conservation Commission have had ongoing conversations with the family about protecting their land – but they had never been quite ready to make that call.

Then, the five Mitchell siblings, all trustees of the family trust where the property was held, all cradling shared memories of growing up in the fields and forests of their beloved landscape, came to the unanimous decision: it was time.

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Just behind Alan’s house is one of the few remaining original slaughter barns left in New Hampshire. Inside, the lawn tractor and some contemporary tools are stored, while a glance above shows the original hooks and ropes and pulley system, used to hold the carcasses for butchering Their father was clear to his kids back then: no one is allowed to play around the slaughter barn.

Alan and his siblings were largely good, Yankee offspring – respectful of their parents and especially loath to irritate their dad. But that universal rambunctiousness hardwired into brothers and sisters would sometimes override their conscience and they would slyly use the slaughter barn for sundry adventures (Alan recalls being tied up by his brothers and hoisted to the barn’s ceiling, then left to dangle!).

“When we looked at the next generation, we realized that there were so many more people involved, and we felt that passing it to SELT made sense. In fact, it’s really more of a succession plan than anything else.”

Dad would catch on, of course, and toss stones at the walls to shoo them away. That was their family – generous helpings of outdoor tomfoolery, tempered with the reserved sternness of parents. This trait appears to have been hewn into the genetic code of the Mitchells (and Burleys before them): closeness, camaraderie, respect, good-natured ribbing, and an abiding love for the postcard-worthy backdrop they enjoyed for a home base.

“This house was always a big meeting area for our immediate and extended family,” Alan says. “We have a photo of 40 people
at Thanksgiving dinner sitting at this long table in our dining room. This place is beyond the heirloom. It is connected to our
heritage.”

“Nobody ever said let’s strike it rich and subdivide and sell these parcels,” says Judy, Alan’s sister. “It wasn’t just an unsaid rule. I would say it was unthinkable to split up this land.”

As the siblings grew older, they knew that the time was now to ensure that the unsaid rule would be followed in perpetuity. The five siblings – all of whom get along, and four out of the five live within walking distance from each other – made the decision to sell a large swathe of their property to SELT for future conservation.

The structure of the transaction will convey 61 acres to New Hampshire Fish & Game and 71 acres to SELT (with Fish & Game holding a conservation easement).

“The five of us inherited the property as a trust from my dad and mom,” Alan says. “When we looked at the next generation, we realized that there were so many more people involved, and we felt that passing it to SELT made sense. In fact, it’s really more of a succession plan than anything else.”

Apropos, considering the property, up until two generations ago, and taking a cue from its regal roots, had been passed down to the eldest son along the Burley lineage. Now it’s time to pass it down one last time. The memories, the history, the tradition, blended with the peerless value to the environment: raise your flagon to the Burley/Mitchell kin, stewards, caretakers, and protectors of the natural realm.