Tag: US Fish and Wildlife Service

THE HOUSE BUILT OF SPITE

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Pink house, pink cloud squiggles, pink marsh sea – 

The lonely pink house of Plum Island’s Great Marsh is today only visited by hawks and Snowy Owls perching to scan the surrounding vista for their next meal.

Local lore has it that the house was built in 1922 by a couple who were in the process of divorcing and sorting their affairs. The wife asked that the husband build a replica of their Newburyport family home. She did not say where the house was to be sited. Out of spite, he built the house atop the isolated salt marsh, with only saltwater plumbing.

The Pink House has not been occupied since the early 2000s and looks worse with each passing year. Last winter I was at the refuge for a program held at the PRNWR headquarters. After the event I tried to drive towards Plum Island but with sea water gushing in from the marsh, the road in front of the house was flooded and much too dangerous to travel.

The house is FREE, if only you will either take it off the marsh or give Parker River National Wildlife Refuge a few acres of comparable land. The second option allows for the house to stay in its current location. Read more here: Free Pink House of Newbury: Take Me I’m Yours

FREE PINK HOUSE OF NEWBURY!

Posted on by Kimsmithdesigns

Take Me I’m Yours! A FREE HOUSE! You Only Need To…pink-house-newbury-plum-island-2-copyright-kim-smith

Many admire the Pink House that you see on the way to Plum Island and the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, so much so that when it came time to demolish there was public outcry. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has agreed to preserve the house by either of these two conditions. Option number one: a person can take ownership if they are willing to move the house off the land, or option number two is that if you own several acres of comparable land near the refuge, you can exchange the land for the house. Option two allows the house to stay in its current location.

Perhaps the Pink House could become a community or art center. The building has been deemed structurally sound, although there is quite a bit of asbestos that needs removing.

The Pink House is the last house remaining on the refuge. All other homes and farms were either sold or taken by eminent domain; the very last on Stage Island was demolished just this past year.pink-house-newbury-plum-island-copyright-kim-smith

pink-house-newbury-plum-island-red-tailed-hawk-copyright-kim-smithpink-house-newbury-plum-island-red-tailed-hawk-2-copyright-kim-smithSnowy Owls, Red-tailed Hawks, and other raptors like to perch on the cupola of the Pink House.