List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts

This article attempts to list the oldest extant buildings surviving in the state of Massachusetts in the United States of America, including the oldest houses in Massachusetts and any other surviving structures. Some dates are approximate and based upon dendochronology, architectural studies, and historical records. Sites on the list are generally from the First Period of American architecture or earlier.

Building Image Location First Built Notes
Fairbanks House Dedham, Massachusetts ca. 1637 Oldest wood-frame house in America, dated using dendochronology, and the oldest house in Massachusetts. [1]
John Humphreys House Swampscott, Massachusetts ca. 1637 Oldest house in Swampscott.
Richard Sparrow House Plymouth, Massachusetts 1640 Oldest house in Plymouth.
Wing Fort House East Sandwich, Massachusetts 1641
The Witch House Salem, Massachusetts 1642
General Israel Putnam House Danvers, Massachusetts 1643
Sturgis Library Barnstable (village), Massachusetts 1644 Oldest public library building in the country.
Hatch Homestead Marshfield, Massachusetts ca. 1647 Purportedly the oldest continuously occupied house in MA, subject of a book
James Blake House Dorchester, Massachusetts 1648 Oldest house in Boston.
James Noyes House Newbury, Massachusetts 1650
Dwight-Derby House Medfield, Massachusetts 1651
Pickering House Salem, Massachusetts 1651 Oldest house in Salem, oldest house in U.S. occupied continuously by one family
John Alden House Duxbury, Massachusetts 1653 National Historic Landmark, the only building still standing in the United States that was built by, and lived in by Pilgrims. Home of Pilgrim John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.
Goodspeed House Barnstable, Massachusetts 1653
Abraham Jaquith House Billerica, Massachusetts 1653 Building moved to New Hampshire.
Macy-Colby House Amesbury, Massachusetts 1654
Newman-Fiske-Dodge House Wenham, Massachusetts 1658
Bellingham-Cary House Chelsea, Massachusetts 1659
John Partridge House Millis, Massachusetts 1659
Parkman Tavern Concord, Massachusetts 1659
Reverend James Keith Parsonage West Bridgewater, Massachusetts 1662 Old Bridgewater Historical Society, the oldest parsonage and garrison house in the Americas.
Job Lane House Bedford, Massachusetts 1664
Pickman House Salem, Massachusetts 1664 Located on Charter Street behind the Peabody Essex Museum, the oldest continually opeated museum in America. The house abuts the Witch Memorial is also next to the 2nd oldest buring ground in America.
Gedney House Salem, Massachusetts 1665 2nd Oldest house in the City of Salem
Alexander Standish House Duxbury, Massachusetts 1666 Home of the son of Pilgrim Capt. Miles Standish.
Peter Bulkeley Esq/Reuben Brown House Concord, Massachusetts 1667
Jabez Howland House Plymouth, Massachusetts 1667 Only extant house in Plymouth occupied by Pilgrims. John Howland and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley Howland, who both came over on the Mayflower, spent their winters here with their son, Jabez, one of their 10 children. Also a National Historic Landmark.[2]
House of the Seven Gables Salem, Massachusetts 1668 National Historic Landmark, setting of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.
Isaac Goodale House Built in Salem, Massachusetts; moved to Ipswich, MA in 1928. 1668 circa On the National Register of Historic Places.
Chaplin-Clarke House Rowley, Massachusetts 1670
Chandler-Bigsby-Abbot House Andover, Massachusetts 1673 Oldest house in Andover.
Jerathmell Bowers House Lowell, Massachusetts 1673 Oldest house in Lowell.
Hoxie House Sandwich, Massachusetts 1675 circa One of the oldest houses on Cape Cod.
Harlow Old Fort House Plymouth, Massachusetts 1677 House built using timbers from the Pilgrims' 1621 fort.
John Whipple House Ipswich, Massachusetts 1677 National Historic Landmark (NHL).
Peter Tufts House Medford, Massachusetts 1677–1678 circa Possibly the oldest brick house in the United States.[3][4]
John Balch House Beverly, Massachusetts 1679 circa
Paul Revere House Boston, Massachusetts 1680 circa Oldest building in downtown Boston.[5]
Hoar Tavern Lincoln, Massachusetts 1680 Oldest home in Lincoln.[6]
Old Ship Church Hingham, Massachusetts 1681 Oldest church building in Massachusetts; only remaining Puritan 17th century meetinghouse in America; oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in America.
Cooper-Frost-Austin House Cambridge, Massachusetts 1682 Oldest house in Cambridge, verified using dendrochronology.
William Butter’s Farmhouse Wilmington, Massachusetts 1682 Oldest building in Wilmington. [3]
Pierce House (Dorchester, Massachusetts) Dorchester, Massachusetts 1683 One of the oldest houses in Boston.
Old Indian Meeting House Mashpee, Massachusetts 1684 Oldest Native American church building in America.
Quincy Homestead Quincy, Massachusetts 1686 Home to four generations of Quincys, including Dorothy Quincy Hancock. Maintained by Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation as well as the National Society of Colonial Dames in America in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Jethro Coffin House Nantucket, Massachusetts 1686 Oldest house on Nantucket Island.
Joseph Willis House Taunton, Massachusetts 1688 Oldest house in Taunton.
Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm Newbury, Massachusetts 1690 or earlier One of the oldest stone buildings in New England.
Old Jail Barnstable, Massachusetts 1690 Oldest wooden prison in America.
Deane Winthrop House Winthrop, Massachusetts between 1675 and 1690 The original building was built about 1637 and was then rebuilt to its present size between 1675 and 1690. It belonged to Deane Winthrop, whose father John Winthrop was the first Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Currently it is owned by the Winthrop Improvement and Historical Association. This building is one of the oldest wood frame houses in the country and it is the oldest continuously lived-in home. Located at 40 Shirley Street, the Deane Winthrop House is a registered National Historic Site.
Kimball Tavern Haverhill, Massachusetts 1692 The Kimball Tavern is among the oldest buildings in Massachusetts, and one of the oldest buildings in the city of Haverhill. A plaque identifies it as the site of the founding of Bradford College in 1802.
Sarah Cloyce House Framingham, Massachusetts 1693 Fleeing from the horrors of the Salem Witch Trials, Sarah Cloyce (younger sister of Rebecca Nurse and Mary Easty) and her husband Peter fled to a portion of Thomas Danforth's estate via the Old Connecticut Path. After surviving the winter in nearby caves, they built their home in what would become Framingham, Massachusetts.
Hart House Lynnfield, Massachusetts ca. 1695
Samuel Brimblecomb House Marblehead, Massachusetts Main house dated to 1713, one structural beam dates to 1689.
St. Michael's Church (Marblehead, Massachusetts) 1714 Marblehead, Massachusetts Oldest Episcopal parish church building on its original site in New England.
Boston Light Boston 1716 / 1783 First lighthouse established in the USA, 1716. The current tower, built in 1783, is the second oldest existing lighthouse in the USA (after Sandy Hook Light, New Jersey.

See also

References

  1. ^ Elsie Lathrop "Historic Houses of Early America" (Kessinger, New York: 2006) pg. 218 (accessed on Google Book Search)
  2. ^ [1]
  3. ^ Coolidge, Ruth Dame. Round About Old Medford, Medford Historical Society, 1934.
  4. ^ Hooper, John H. “Some Old Medford Houses and Estates” Medford Historic Register. VII:3 (July 1904).
  5. ^ [2]
  6. ^ http://www.wickedlocal.com/lincoln/town_info/history/x677442766?img=6 Wicked Local Lincoln article by Barbara Rhines