A 380-year-old Massachusetts home listed earlier this month is a slice of American history — and now officially the oldest home for sale in the country.
Built in 1640, the Col. John Barstow house is a historical house in Hanover, Massachusetts, listed for $669,900, according to Realtor.com. While some details of how it was built have been lost to time, the property is located just 17 miles away from Plymouth Rock and retains many historic features from both the colonial and post-revolutionary periods..
The original structure was built in 1640 while the rest of the house was added later when Barstow, an army colonel from a prominent New England shipbuilding family, bought the house in 1792 and expanded it for his wife and nine children. The added features include a Colonial-style facade and expanded living spaces and rooms. The original structure, meanwhile, includes a sitting area with paneled boards and beams and a granite step in the back of the house.
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“The original part of the house is from the 1640s,” listing agent Syd Elliott, from William Raveis, told Realtor.com. “And it’s still amazing.”
Overall, the house sits at 2.36 acres and 4,624 square feet. It has six bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms and seven fireplaces — a particularly large property for the time period. While the house has switched hands a lot over the years (including in 1901 and in 1962), its owners have chosen to keep most of its historic elements. As a result, the house may not be as modern as some buyers expect.
But just as surprisingly, the house is not designated as a historic landmark and can technically be changed if future owners are not interested in history.
“The problem with antique [homes] in New England: A lot of them are antiques on the outside but ultramodern inside,” he said. “This is not the case.”