List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts

See also: Oldest buildings in America

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. Only houses predominantly built prior to 1700 are suitable for inclusion on this list or the building must be the oldest of its type.

The town of Ipswich has the largest number of First Period houses; at least 57 still exist. Here is more information on Ipswich's First Period houses: http://www.historicipswich.org/1st-period-houses/

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Building	Image	Location	First Built	Notes
Fairbanks House		Dedham, Massachusetts	1637 c.	Oldest wood-frame house in America, dated using dendrochronology, and the oldest house in Massachusetts.
John Humphreys House		Swampscott, Massachusetts	1637 c.	Oldest house in Swampscott.
Richard Sparrow House		Plymouth, Massachusetts	1640	Oldest house in Plymouth.
Wing Fort House	100px	East Sandwich, Massachusetts	1641	Oldest home in New England continuously owned by the same family.
The Witch House		Salem, Massachusetts	1675	Also called the Jonathan Corwin House, this was the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin [3] and is the only structure still standing in Salem, Massachusetts with direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.[4] The house is now a museum operated by the City of Salem, and is open seasonally.
Sturgis Library	100px	Barnstable (village), Massachusetts	1644	Oldest public library building in the country.
Hatch Homestead		Marshfield, Massachusetts	1647 c.	Purportedly the oldest continuously occupied house in Massachusetts.
General Israel Putnam House		Danvers, Massachusetts	1648
James Noyes House	100px	Newbury, Massachusetts	1646
Henry Adams House	File:Henry Adams House.jpg 123x123px	Medfield, Massachusetts	1652	The Henry Adams house, still in use as a residence, was built in 1652 by Henry Adams - the great uncle of President John Adams. Henry was killed by King Phillip's indians by gunshot through the neck on the front door step.
Pickering House		Salem, Massachusetts	1660	Oldest house in Salem still being lived in. It is located at 18 Broad Street in the Chestnut Street District.
John Alden House		Duxbury, Massachusetts	1653	A National Historic Landmark, this is 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
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
James Blake House		Dorchester, Massachusetts	1661	Oldest house in Boston (dendrochronology in 2007 determined the actual construction date [5][dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org])
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	1713
Pickman House		Salem, Massachusetts	1664	Located on Charter Street behind the Peabody Essex Museum, the oldest continually operated museum in America. The house abuts the Witch Memorial is also next to the second oldest burying ground in America.
Gedney House		Salem, Massachusetts	1665
Alexander Standish House		Duxbury, Massachusetts	1666	Home of the son of Pilgrim Capt. Miles Standish.
Peter Bulkeley Esq/Reuben Brown House	100px	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.
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 c.	On the National Register of Historic Places.
Chaplin-Clarke House		Rowley, Massachusetts	1670
Swett-Ilsley House	100px	Newbury, Massachusetts	1670
Judge Samuel Holten House	100px	Danvers, 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	100px	Sandwich, Massachusetts	1675 c.	One of the oldest houses on Cape Cod.
Narbonne House		Salem, Massachusetts	1675	On the Waterfront in Salem at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site and owned by the National Park Service.
Harlow Old Fort House	100px	Plymouth, Massachusetts	1677	House built using timbers from the Pilgrims' 1621 fort.
John Whipple House		Ipswich, Massachusetts	1677	National Historic Landmark.
Peter Tufts House		Medford, Massachusetts	1677–8 c.	Possibly the oldest brick house in the United States.
Rebecca Nurse Homestead	100px	Danvers, Massachusetts	1678	Rebecca Nurse, executed in the Salem Witch Trials (1692), was the most notable resident.
Coffin House		Newbury, Massachusetts	1678	One of the oldest extant examples of the principal rafter/common purlin roof.
John Balch House		Beverly, Massachusetts	1679 c.
Paul Revere House		Boston, Massachusetts	1680 c.	Oldest building in downtown Boston.
Hoar Tavern		Lincoln, Massachusetts	1680	Oldest home in Lincoln.
John Adams Birthplace		Quincy, Massachusetts	1681	Oldest existing building within which a future President of the United States was born (John Adams, October 30, 1735)
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.
Ironmaster's House		Saugus, Massachusetts	1681	Also known as the Appleton House.
Cooper-Frost-Austin House		Cambridge, Massachusetts	1682	Oldest house in Cambridge, verified using dendrochronology.
Butters-Avery House		Wilmington, Massachusetts	1682	Oldest building in Wilmington.[6]
Parson Capen House		Topsfield, Massachusetts	1683	Oldest house in Topsfield.
Pierce House (Dorchester, Massachusetts)		Dorchester, Massachusetts	1683	One of the oldest houses in Boston.
Old Indian Meeting House	100px	Mashpee, Massachusetts	1684	Oldest Native American church building in America.
John Ward House	100px	Salem, Massachusetts	1684	This house is a National Historic Landmark at 132 Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts in the Downtown Salem District; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1968.
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.
Boardman House		Saugus, Massachusetts	1687	Formerly known as the Scotch Boardman House. Also known as the Bennet-Boardman House.
Joseph Willis House		Taunton, Massachusetts	1688	Oldest house in Taunton.
William Murray House		Salem, Massachusetts	1688	A historic house at 39 Essex Street
Claflin-Richards House		Wenham, Massachusetts	1690	Constructed with ogee braces, an architectural hallmark of 16th- and 17th-century English dwellings.
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	100px	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	100px	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.
Stanley Lake House		Topsfield, Massachusetts	1693	Stanley Lake House, built in 1693, is a historic house at 95 River Road in Topsfield, Massachusetts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Browne House		Watertown, Massachusetts	1694	Oldest house in Watertown.
Parker Tavern		Reading, Massachusetts	1694	The saltbox tavern was built in 1694 by Abraham Bryant, a farmer and blacksmith. During the American Revolution, Ephraim Parker acquired the house and operated a tavern on the premises. Parker allowed Scottish prisoners of war to be housed in the tavern. The town of Reading acquired the building in 1914. In 1923 Reading Antiquarian Society purchased the building from the town for a nominal price and has maintained and operated the museum without public funding. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is currently operated by the Reading Antiquarian Society.
Hart House		Lynnfield, Massachusetts	1695 c.
Dwight-Derby House		Medfield, Massachusetts	1697
Isaac Winslow House		Marshfield, Massachusetts	1699	Residence of a governor of the Plymouth Colony; now a museum.
Old Powder House	100px	Somerville, Massachusetts	1704	Oldest stone building in Massachusetts
St. Michael's Church (Marblehead, Massachusetts)		Marblehead, Massachusetts	1714	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).
Josiah Day House		West Springfield	1754	Oldest known brick salt-box style home in the United States.

See also

• List of historic houses in Massachusetts
• Oldest buildings in the United States
• First Period houses in Ipswich http://www.historicipswich.org/1st-period-houses/