John Alden was a crew member on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower which brought the English settlers commonly known as Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts, US. He was hired in Southampton, England, as the ship's cooper, responsible for maintaining the ship's barrels. Although he was a member of the ship's crew and not a settler, Alden decided to remain in Plymouth Colony when the Mayflower returned to England. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact.
John Howland accompanied the English Separatists and other passengers when they left England on the Mayflower to settle in Plymouth Colony. He was an indentured servant and in later years an executive assistant and personal secretary to Governor John Carver.
Elizabeth Tilley was one of the passengers on the historic 1620 voyage of the Mayflower and a participant in the first Thanksgiving in the New World. She was the daughter of Mayflower passenger John Tilley and his wife Joan Hurst and, although she was their youngest child, appears to be the only one who survived the voyage. She went on to marry fellow Mayflower passenger John Howland, with whom she had ten children and 88 grandchildren. Because of their great progeny, she and her husband have millions of living descendants today.
The Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts is a historic house built ca. 1641, making it the oldest surviving timber-frame house in North America that has been verified by dendrochronology testing. Puritan settler Jonathan Fairbanks constructed the farm house for his wife Grace and their family. The house was occupied and then passed down through eight generations of the family until the early 20th century. Over several centuries the original portion was expanded as architectural styles changed and the family grew.
The Boardman House, also known as the Scotch-Boardman House or the Bennett-Boardman House, is a historic house located at 17 Howard Street, Saugus, Massachusetts. Built about 1692, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961 because of the remarkable amount of original building material still present in the house. It has been owned by Historic New England since 1914, and is open to the public on select weekends between June and October.
The Old Ship Church is a Puritan church built in 1681 in Hingham, Massachusetts. It is the only surviving 17th-century Puritan meetinghouse in America. Its congregation, gathered in 1635 and officially known as First Parish in Hingham, occupies the oldest church building in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States. On October 9, 1960, it was designated a National Historic Landmark and on November 15, 1966, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The Pilgrim Hall Museum at 75 Court Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts is the oldest public museum in the United States in continuous operation, having opened in 1824.
The Clement Weaver–Daniel Howland House is a historic stone-ender timber frame house built in 1679. This rare example of primitive 17th-century architecture is located at 125 Howland Road in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. It is the oldest documented dwelling house in Kent County and the second oldest home in Rhode Island.
The Little Neck Cemetery is a historic cemetery off Read Street in East Providence, Rhode Island, United States.
Cole's Hill is a National Historic Landmark containing the first cemetery used by the Mayflower Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. The hill is located on Carver Street near the foot of Leyden Street and across the street from Plymouth Rock. Owned since 1820 by the preservationist Pilgrim Society, it is now a public park.
The Harlow Old Fort House is a First Period historic house at 119 Sandwich Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The Plymouth Village Historic District is a historic district encompassing part of the area of earliest settlement of the Plymouth Colony in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It includes properties in an area roughly bounded on the west by North Street, on the north by Water Street on the east by Town Brook, and on the south by Court Street and Main Street. The area includes Leyden Street and streets that were laid out as early as 1633, and nearby are some of Plymouth's oldest surviving houses. The site is near Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 and the Pilgrim Hall Museum containing many of their surviving artifacts.
The Alexander Standish House is a historic house at 341 Standish Street in Duxbury, Massachusetts. It has been claimed that this house was built in 1666 by Alexander Standish (1626–1702), son of Mayflower Pilgrim, Capt. Myles Standish, but architectural analysis of the building suggests a mid-18th century construction date. Documentary evidence is also weak, suggesting that when the property passed to Alexander Standish's grandson in 1739, the house standing on it did not resemble this one. The house is a 1+1⁄2-story gambrel-roofed wood-frame structure, with five bays on the front facade and a central chimney, on which the date "1666" has been painted. It has been relatively little-altered since c. 1879, when a lithograph was made.
The John and Priscilla Alden Family Sites is a National Historic Landmark consisting of two separate properties in Duxbury, Massachusetts, United States. Both properties are significant for their association with John Alden, one of the settlers of the Plymouth Colony who came to North America on board the Mayflower, and held numerous posts of importance in the colony. Alden and his relationship with Priscilla Mullins were memorialized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in The Courtship of Miles Standish, a fictionalized narrative poem that made the story a piece of American folklore.
The Jabez Weston House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The older portion of this 2+1⁄2-story timber-frame house was built c. 1779 in a late-Georgian early-Federalist style. This portion consisted of a five bay section with a centrally located front door. Sometime, an eastern extension added three bays and a second entrance, converting the building into a two family residence. The property belonged to the Weston family, who were early settlers of the area.
The Myles Standish Burial Ground in Duxbury, Massachusetts is, according to the American Cemetery Association, the oldest maintained cemetery in the United States.
Burial Hill is a historic cemetery or burying ground on School Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Established in the 17th century, it is the burial site of several Pilgrims, the founding settlers of Plymouth Colony. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.
This article attempts to list the oldest houses built in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States from settlement to 1659. The first immigrant houses built in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colony are known as first generation structures. These were built upon settlement (1620) until about 1660 “when the first immigrant generation of preponderantly younger settlers had come to full maturity". While dozens of existing homes are thought to have been built before 1660, proving their age scientifically is another matter. Just one example built during this time period known as the Fairbanks House has been proven through dendrochronology. The rest of the examples are approximate and based on architectural studies and historical records. Its estimated that only 5 houses in total have been documented enough to firmly establish they were built during this time period. Only First Period houses built prior to 1660 are suitable for inclusion on this list as construction methods changed circa 1660. All entries should include citation with reference to: 17th century architectural features; a report by an architectural historian; or dendrochronology whenever possible.
Howland House on Thanksgiving 2009
ca. 1921 photo of the Howland House before an addition was added to the rear of the house
Early postcard of Howland House
