"Looking for information on a J.M. Shackford who had a farm and took in guests on Bear Mountain Rd in what is now Bethlehem, New Hampshire in 1875. This location is on the Amonoosuc River on the Western side of Mount Washington."
We believe the Shackford in question is James M Shackford, the son of Thomas H. and Polly (Mead) Shackford born June 6, 1836 in Bartlett, New Hampshire. We're working to compile a full biography of James but in the mean time we wanted to share this wonderful description of James M Shackford (1836-1913) presented by Mr Charles Edward Beals in his 1916 book Passaconaway in the White Mountains. The Mrs Shackford mentioned below is Hannah E Mason (or Nason) who married James in 1867 after her first husband Orin H Chase had passed on.
From page 236 of Mr Beals's book:
James M. Shackford, son of Thomas H., was born in the Albany Intervale about 1836. After the civil war, tourists, attracted by the scenery and pure spring water, began to visit the intervale, and "Shackfords soon became a popular summer resort. The rapid increase in the number of summer boarders soon necessitated the enlargement of the house. In the old age and failing health of Mr. and Mrs. Shackford, they sold their farm, in 1907, to Mr Alfred Powall, of Cambridge, Mass. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Shackford survived the change long. From their new home, in Conway both passed on into the "Great Beyond" "Uncle Jim" and "Aunt Hannah" as we neighbors lovingly called them, were typical, hard-working, and thrifty Yankees. How we children did enjoy listening to Uncle Jim's stories! Our favorite ones were about an "all fired big bear," the burning over of Mount Tremont, and the description of the great Passaconaway slide in the 90's. And when Mr Shackford went surveying with a certain primitive instrument, one would think that George Washington, the young surveyor, had been re-embodied. Uncle Jim was a man of inflexible honesty, "as square as a brick," and his "word was good as his bond." He served in almost every town office and for several terms was sent to Concord by his fellow-citizens as their Representative in the state legislature. To Mr. Shackford, more than to any other one person, is the valley indebted for its development as a summer resort. Fisherman, hunters and mountain climbers liked the house he kept, and to this day the intervale is more widely known as "Shackford's" than as "Passaconaway".
Sources:
Beals Charles Edward, Jr, Passaconaway in the White Mountains (Boston: Richard G. Badger, 1916), page 236; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.com : accessed 15 January 2015