The Pickering House In Salem, MA: One Of America's Oldest Homes

There are many houses in America that claim to be the “oldest”.

And while scientific dating and historic records have been used to prove approximate ages, we will never really know for sure which house can truly claim that title.

But the Pickering House is unique in the United States as the oldest house to have been continuously occupied by one family – home to a single family for over three and a half centuries! It is also the oldest known house in Salem, Massachusetts.

So even though it may not be the OLDEST house in America, it’s still a big deal.

Ten generations of one family – it is hard to fathom.

Of course, this very old house did not always look the way it looks today, or even 200 hundred years ago for that matter.

In fact, the original portion of the home was quite small and many additions have been added on over the years.

Nevertheless, the home has that distinctly creepy old Salem vibe to it.

But how do we know how old it is? How close can experts get to actually dating something this old?

The Oxford Tree Ring Laboratory conducted a dendrochronology study on this home – the science of dating events by using the patterns of annual growth rings in timber – and they found the logs in the oldest section of the house were felled during the winter of 1663-64. Further, the study found that the parlour is the second oldest part of the house, with logs felled from the winter of 1681-82.

What is known from historical records is that the original part of the house was built by John Pickering in 1664 or shortly thereafter on a large tract of land he acquired in 1659.

John Pickering was a carpenter from Coventry, England. When he and his wife Elizabeth Pickering first built the home, it was just a two-room farmhouse on a vast plot of land that ran all the way down to the seaport on the North River.

The original structure was two-and-a-half stories and consisted of the present south-east (right-hand front) rooms and chimney bay.

Family papers outline how John Pickering’s son, John Jr., is believed to be responsible for a circa 1671 expansion.

By 1751, Deacon Timothy Pickering was the owner – he was responsible for raising the rear of the home to a second story.

Perhaps the best-known occupant of the house, however, was Colonel Timothy Pickering who was born in the house in 1745. A soldier and a statesman, Pickering served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Colonel Timothy Pickering

Over a period of some 350 years, the Pickerings added wings, gables, dormers, and Gothic peaks to their home.

The Google Maps bird’s eye view below gives a sense of the expansive size of the building – as it stands today.

Over the centuries, the Pickering home has been known to have housed carpenters, farmers, scientists, linguists, diplomats, and politicians – all Pickerings, of course.

Let’s have a look inside…

It would be remiss not to mention the Pickering wives & women who were responsible for the domestic upkeep and decorating of the home.

In 1948, Boston architect Gordon Robb carried out interior restoration work to reintroduce more Colonial Revival features.

You’re probably wondering if the Pickering family descendants still live at the home.

Unfortunately, the long-standing Pickering streak ended in 1998.

That was the year that the Goodhue family moved into the house, with Albert Goodhue as the primary caretaker.

Today, the Pickering House is open to the public as an old house museum run by the nonprofit Pickering Foundation.

You can take docent-led tours of the house by appointment. It can also be reserved for special events.

The house contains Revolutionary War documents and a number of fascinating artifacts and Pickering family portraits.

Notably, across the street from the Pickering House is the Broad Street Cemetery, one of the three oldest cemeteries in Salem. Here, you will find the gravestones of many Pickering descendants.