Valentine Hill emigrated to Boston in 1636 from England with his brother and began a successful career as a merchant and trader. In 1638 Valentine was made a member of the Artillery Company, In 1640 he took the Freeman’s Oath, and in that same year ordained as a Deacon in the Boston Church. In 1641 he was elected a Selectman serving until 1647. In 1643 Valentine received a grant of land at the falls of the Oyster River in what is now Durham, N.H. In 1649, Valentine and an associate got permission to build a saw mill on the river. Additional grants of land included 500 acres for farming. Due to issues with his businesses in Boston, he moved up to present-day Durham to manage his mills and property there. On the property, he employed “seven Scots”, who were indentured servants captured by British forces in the Battle of Dunbar, and among other industries, lumber was milled for use in the shipbuilding industry in surrounding towns. In 1649 Valentine Hill built the original homestead, a single-story house with a basement. In 1699, Nathaniel Hill, son and heir of Valentine, made a two-story addition to the house, giving the home the appearance we see today. After successive owners, the next major period of the property was early in the 1900’s, when James Frost took over the estate, completing the transformation of the grounds and turned into a Colonial Revival summer estate with extensive formal gardens, arbors and an elaborate stone wall. The property remained in the family until the 1980s, but suffered from some neglect. The house was purchased in 1997 and restored to her former glory and is now known as the Three Chimneys Inn. Interestingly, if this home can be dated with dendrochronology (aging the home based on the age of the cut timber), this home would be at least a decade older than the present oldest home in New Hampshire!
Buildings of New England 
Did the the Frost family take possession of the Valentine Hill property in 1800 of “early 1900’s”? Here’s an excerpt from John E Frost’s “The Nicholas Frost Family,” 1943 — “GEORGE FROST, b Dec. 3, 1765; m Apr. 20, 1797, Mar¬ garet Burleigh (b Sept. 27, 1770; d Mar. 20, 1846), daughter of John and Mehitable (Sheafe) Burleigh of Newmarket, N. H. He was a merchant and magistrate, and farmed extensively. In 1S07, he was Representative from Durham to the N. H. Legislature. He was the fourth postmaster of Durham, N. H., appointed July 1, 1808 (George Frost, Jr., and his son held this office till Jan. 5, 184S), the office being in a store on the north side of the road at the Durham Falls Bridge. He served in Capt. Alfred Smith’s company of militia during the War of 1812 and was moderator of the Durham town meetings 1812-14 and 1828. In 1800 he purchased of Jonathan Woodman the Valentine Hill house, erected in 1749, the present residence of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Sawyer (Mary Pepperrell Frost) in Durham, N. II. He died Apr. 10, 1841.”
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