Tuftonboro is the only New Hampshire town owned by just one man, John Tufton Mason, for whom the town was named. Mason was heir to the Masonian Claim, the undivided lands of northern New Hampshire, which he sold to a group of Portsmouth merchants in 1746, thereafter known as the Masonian Proprietors. They disposed of the land via grants to prospective settlers prior to the American Revolution. Situated on the shore of Lake Winnipesaukee, Tuftonboro includes the villages of Melvin Corner, Melvin Village, and Mirror Lake. Return to History