We see a few comments on random social media posts asking why Support the Pink House didn't bid on The Pink House if it were offered for only $3000. Others ask why it was not just relocated.  Here are the facts.

Support the Pink House Inc (STPH) formed in answer to tens of thousands of this regions’ businesses, artists, preservationists, historians, related organizations, residents and visitors who would like to see the iconic The Pink House stay standing and be restored IN place.
​
Your mission became our mission.

But STPH's role has always been as a facilitator of parties and agreements to achieve that mission, but never to own or restore it ourselves.

In kind, FWS Realty Chiefs never asked that the house be moved as an option because the value of trading this one acre to gain the US FWS up to 400+ acres of new, far more beneficial land was so great. And our argument is that it’s still possible, and should still happen for this to succeed as the win for all STPH has always worked so hard for -- The public, FWS, and the elected officials who helped. Businesses, artists, and visitors. Local culture, history, and economy. Generations to come.

Helping FWS conserve more land has always been an added motivation for us. We continue to ask that FWS to do a sincere and comprehensive search nation-wide so that fantastic conservation outcome can happen.
 
Though it was not our job to bring land to FWS, since 2016, STPH looked for land to contribute to that win for all, talking to land trust directors and board presidents, local owners, adjacent town planners, builders, elected officials, and refuge managers, scouring maps without resources or specific expertise. And once FWS reconfigured criteria released late last year, we found several parcels that would fit for the house to remain in place with a land trade. 100% were declined by FWS. 

Though the setting is as iconic as The Pink House itself, and why people don't want to see it moved, we of course did a deep dive into the logistics and costs to move it so we could be prepared with facts ourselves, or if someone stepped forward. Here's what we learned: 
​
After speaking to expert movers, foundation builders, 3 independent building advisors, wetland attorneys, NBPT Sewer, NBPT Water, Newbury’s Planner and building Inspector, and National Grid, among others, relocating TPH seemed limited by:

• MOVING WHOLE: The Pink House is not a candidate to be cut apart and reassembled.
• DISTANCE ENCUMBERED: It should travel no further than .50 mile, though we pressed for a yes to a mile.
• CAN’T GO OVER PI BRIDGE: Concerns it was too wide and tall (especially once on a flatbed) for PI Pike. Had the mover measure the house – he determined it would just fit on the PI Pike width, but would likely not be able to go over the Plum Island bridge. We considered one parcel available on Plum Island anyway.
• PERPETUAL PRESERVATION RESTRICTION LOST: The perpetual PR would not go with TPH as it attaches to the land deed not the structure. We no longer have restoration as The Pink House, which preservationists and Mass Historic worked on for 2 years with us, with partial funding from the Newburyport Preservation Trust.STPH Inc formed in answer to tens of thousands of this regions’ businesses, artists, preservationists, historians, related organizations, residents and visitors who would like to see the iconic The Pink House stay standing and be restored IN place.

It would require raising at least $1- 1.5 million dollars. Without FWS' full commitment or guarantee to release the house/land, no legitimate organization would have embarked on raising that kind of money - or succeeded - based on such an uncertain outcome.

So when it came time for the auction, we did look into every option within the parameters given by experts, for relocating The Pink House. Though it's not our mission, even if we found a workable situation, it's simply not within our current means to do it.

Therefore it’s not been a matter of our choice to not pursue the option to move The Pink House to a new location, but a realistic function of being unable to at this time.

See details below: 

This morning Support The Pink House announced that they are planning for a 100th Birthday Party for The Pink House, to be held Saturday, June 14, 2025.  The date was picked because it was in the summer of 1925 that Gertrude Cutter purchased the property from widow Abbie K. Little and proceeded to build The Pink House.  

The Pink House is an icon to the entire North Shore region and the state of Massachusetts, steadfast as a landmark and part of what makes New England charming, unique and special to residents and visitors from around the world, or around the corner.  And our goal is still to have the house restored in time to celebrate it's 100th birthday. 

While we continue to work on solutions as long as The Pink House is standing, whatever the future holds, The Pink House is an integral part of our identity. It is indelibly woven into the fabric and culture of this community -- it's many businesses, our fundraisers, tourism, artists.

And now for some fun! We want the community to have a hand in the creation of the celebration. What would you like to see happen?  Tell us in the comments below, or email us at [email protected]! We look forward to your input!   

And we're going to need your help to make it happen! If you would like to volunteer to chair or be on a committee to organize it, or donate art, food or beverages, or pitch in as an extra pair of hands as needed, all are wonderful. Please fill out the contact form on our website to let us know! 

And stay tuned for more in the coming months!! We're looking forward to a warm and wonderful Pink House Day event! 

PS: You can read the history of The Pink House HERE. 

On July 24, 2024, the board of Support The Pink House wrote their first column as a group in the Daily News of Newburyport. We put our energies into saving the house, every single day of the last 8 months, working literally non-stop on behalf of the public, night and day, on behalf of the thousands of people, businesses, artists, organizations in this region and beyond.  With all the stories and misinformation out there, we felt it was time people heard whats true from us.  

Support The Pink House (STPH) shares the goal stated in Fish and Wildlife’s (FWS) mission to work with others to conserve habitats. Contrary to what the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge (which oversees the property) has stated, trading the Pink House and its acre for many acres of conservation land is far more in line with their mission than demolishing the house and keeping its residential acre.

FWS paid $375,000 for the Pink House and 9.3 acres in 2011. Today, the house and its acre of upland alone are worth $425,000. With marshland averaging $1000/ acre, FWS stands to acquire up to 400-plus acres of ecological habitat to conserve in trade.

Just two-and-a-half years ago, FWS realty chiefs invited STPH to partner with them on a swap precisely because it was “so beneficial to FWS’s mission.” FWS set the terms: they promised to find the land, stating, it’s what they do each day. In turn, they required us to pay for and execute a work-intensive series of steps to ready the house/acre. FWS approved or co-signed throughout. Our part took 18 months, our total donations and then some, and approximately 60 local professionals pitching in.

As the closing approached, we were so excited. After seven years of doing everything asked of us and prior solutions falling apart, this was different. This was succeeding. Imagine how it felt when, at the 11th hour, we learned FWS lost their land… and told us that the terms of our swap had to change.

FWS did resume vetting a handful of parcels, but soon after, began the plan to remove the Pink House – without informing us.

FWS told the public that all options had been exhausted, but it’s just not so. Without expertise, we found several parcels within a few months, some adjacent to refuges, some from land trusts, others with access to Route 1A, all desirable criteria to FWS. Every single one was rejected.

More land is out there.

Most refuge managers in the country have a wish list of lands to acquire. What are the odds that not one (or several) have a $4-500K parcel? We asked FWS to send one query to all, and offered to do the follow up, one of several reasonable requests we made that can still be done.

STPH’s board even met with the Friends of the Refuge who confirmed they can take donations for Pink House needs. FWS never tried. Last week, a $5,000 donation was offered (the estimate for yearly house upkeep) if FWS would resume work on solutions. FWS declined.

​Our restoration partner remains committed to buying any land FWS wants to trade, and fulfilling his personal pledge to own the Pink House and safely restore it on his own dime. This can still be done in time to celebrate the Pink House’s 100th birthday, ensuring this beloved cultural landmark, economic driver, tourist draw and artistic muse would continue to welcome and inspire generations to come.

If auctioned, the Pink House will be taken from its iconic location, likely without our preservation restriction to maintain its signature characteristics in perpetuity.

If unsuccessful, FWS plans to demolish The Pink House at a cost of $50-90,000. Once it is removed, the lot’s’ $425,000 value will plummet in two years, due to becoming unbuildable.

Add their budget for a parking lot, benches, fencing, and permanent monitoring and you have substantial taxpayer dollars lost. Despite FWS’s report that 78% of the respondents to their 30-day comment period wanted to keep the Pink House where it is, and calls and letters continue, their decision remains unchanged. The people who donated to the steps do not want their funds wasted.

Removing the house is not in the best interest of FWS’ mission or the community.
Where are the watchdogs?

The GSA confirmed that the auction can be canceled. If FWS does not do the right thing, The Pink House will soon be gone forever, and with it, a large portion of supporters and the opportunity to conserve far more beneficial land. With options still out there, that is quite a deal FWS decided to give up, at quite a price.

The question is WHY?

Everything is still in place for this to be a win for all. We call on FWS to honor their commitment. Because Support The Pink House has — not due to contractual terms, but because we gave our word.

Support The Pink House members who contributed to this column included Rochelle Joseph, Alison Odle, Jeff Ackley, Kelly Page and Sandy Tilton.

Our founder Alison Odle has created this incredible piece of art and turned it into this year's poster for Newburyport Yankee Homecoming and If This House Could Talk - Newburyport!

​Alison created this artwork from hundreds of photographs and paintings of The Pink House made by artists over the years. Personally ~ I think it's PERFECT!! An incredible tribute to those who hold dear the meaning of community!!

Be sure to enlarge it and look closely!  ​

Brava Alison, and to every single one of you still supporting and still fighting for what is RIGHT for our community!

Art Matters.
History Matters. 
Community Matters! ​

We heard that Congressman Moulton's office and Parker River Refuge Manager Matt Hillman thought things had "died down" when it came to public reaction to his proposed demolition of The iconic Pink House. Matt says he also believes there is a silent majority who want to see it taken down. 

This week proved that wrong. 

News of a Pink House Rally went viral, spreading through not just our Newsletter and Social Media, but through other town pages, to Theater in the Open and the Newburyport Preservation Trust, to event invites to several private newsletters.

We got an influx of new Followers, inquires, letters with suggestions and offers to help, and it launched a series of Letters to the Editor of the Daily News, as well front page stories on the Town Common for the last 3 weeks. 

​Thousands of people are certainly awake and paying attention, just as we believe The Pink House will be listed for Auction - a process which can still be stopped. 

This rally served to put elected officials, The US Fish and Wildlife Service and Matt Hillman on notice.

This is part of an ongoing series to tackle commonly asked question or misconceptions, one at a time, to help everyone educate themselves before forming an opinion. 

On occasion, we hear "There are so many other causes that are more important to spend this effort on, like housing - not just this one house."

We know there are as many causes as there are people to take them on. Not all of us can work on everything that matters. In fact, each of us probably care about too many causes to contribute to them all.

We trust there are some focused on housing - which we agree is beyond worthy- while we are taking care of this house, which matters to the tourist bureau, to businesses, to many of the regions fundraisers, to artists and photographers worldwide and thousands upon thousands here and afar who have flooded us, elected officials and FWS saying they want us to continue our work to save and restore it.

What many are missing is that this stands to be a huge win for FWS. We wanted to help them conserve up to hundreds of truly pristine marsh acres locally or anywhere in the country which is the purpose of the land swap they proposed.

Did you know FWS Realty chiefs called US up 2.5 years ago, inviting us into another partnership for land swap precisely because it would be so much more beneficial to their mission to get rid of this acre, which had become so valuable monetarily that they could trade it for hundreds of acres of new land to conserve?

They asked us to complete a series of steps —and pay for them—- which we did while they cosigned all the way. It’s public record if you’d like to check it out. It took 18 months and the pro bono services of approximately 80 people. This mattered enough to them to do so too! 
And when it came time for FWS to provide the land, they did not succeed and within months, simply decided to stop. Without letting us- who they repeatedly described as partners - know about their plan to remove the house.  

Please scroll back through our blog to read more and look for the next installments of this series.  If you have a question to ask, please write us with it at [email protected]

Knowing the The Pink House was weeks from being listed for auction, Support the Pink house President, Rochelle Joseph, began meeting with municipal and state elected officials starting with Mayor Reardon on May 25. We reached out to Michael Colburn, Salisbury Select Board Chair , Alicia Grecco, Newbury Select Board Chair, Geof Walker, Newbury Selectman, Newburyport City Council President Ed Cameron, Amesbury Mayor Gove, State Rep Kristin Kassner, State Senator Bruce Tarr and Governor Healy's Senior Advisor, as well as the Lt. Governor. 

FWS and Moulton's office has been saying things were dying down. We realized that perhaps the municipal and state elected officials didn't know just HOW MUCH work and response was still going on daily, because we knew it absolutely had not. Many people continue to contact us daily, join our mailing list and social media, make suggestions and ask questions. And increasingly, prominent leaders in the area, business owners, attorneys, even lobbyists who have relationships with Moulton, Markey and Warren took it upon themselves to intervene to ask why they are not stepping in to change things. 

OUR MESSAGE: This has not died down. The effect of the removal of The Pink House on this region was not to be underestimated.  And the auction is imminent. 

OUR ASK: STEP in on behalf of your constituents if the federal delegation, who has been flooded with calls and emails from constituents, is not responding as they are duty bound to do (and instead seem to be protecting FWS's objectives). Meet as a group with Seth Moulton in person - not his people, without FWS or STPH there - and talk about what can be done before it's too late. 

The idea elected officials meeting with out pressure, a need to censor or interference from invested parties, might be able to get closer to an honest discussion.   

We asked them to fight for this cause the way they had fought for Whittier, for Salisbury Sand, and other recent issues. And asked that they fight for their constituents and their businesses, artists, tourism and historic values. If they all went together and meet with Seth Moulton himself, who could fault them for doing what they are voted in to do? By all of them going together, no one would be sticking their neck out. 

Lastly, we suggested that they meet without FWS or Support The Pink House to increase the chance they could talk frankly about a solution. 

The one hitch: FWS would only give a 3 week window for when the auction would start - even elected officials -- and that window kept changing. 

Everything seemed to be set, but when Chair Greco reached out to Kelly Bovio at Moulton's office to find out about dates, the meeting was immediately dismantled, steering to meeting with Matt Hillman about land swap. And this is how it happens. Weeks of work go into a perfectly rational plan, and as soon as it gets to Moulton's office, things get blocked.  Greco didn't know that STPH's attorney had reached out way over everyone's heads to the DOI attorney, and had submitted these new lands STPH found, trying to talk with the decision makers about them. Those meetings were deflected for 3 months, and interestingly, the same day Bovio was called, the DOI refused to do the meeting we were so close to getting.  When that was corrected, She was told that Seth would not meet without Matt Hillman there. 

This was not the purpose of the meeting. When Moulton's office would not shift, naturally the ask was to have STPH also present, if FWS would be. The answer was no. 
At this point, several attendees saw it for the sham it was becoming and kind of fell off. 
We suggested they not waste their time, welcome to how things have gone behind the scenes that the public just doesn't realize. 

And this is how it goes. It's been a terrible look at how politics works up close, even at our local level.

Considering how many of Congressman Moulton's voters and major donors live in the towns that most benefit from business and tourism generated by The Pink House, they are not happy with this inexplicable standoff. ​

Today the Merrimack River Beach Alliance (MRBA) met at PITA Hall. Led by Senator Tarr, this is a public meeting that happens regularly Matt Hillman’s Pink House update was last on the agenda. There was about 13 minutes. There was little info new to us, and what was stated was not specific.

​*GSA process is still underway to put house up for auction in the next few weeks. * There will be a “For Sale” sign on the house 
*There will be a website for info and bidding on The Pink House. 

*FWS is lobbying for it to start at the lowest bid possible. We learned yesterday that they don’t think the auction will succeed, so understandably, setting the big as low as possible would be the way to a) avoid having to demolish it themselves and the optics with it, b) throw more funds after bad for the demo. 

*There will be a 30 to 60 day bidding period. 

A prominent business owner and Pink House supporter asked, ”Why are we here, when there when there are several viable land swap options are on the table, two of which I facilitated?" Matt answered that in his opinion they weren’t viable after looking at them for various reasons. 

STPH President Rochelle Joseph spoke up about how Support The Pink House are actually the people who have worked every day of the last 8-9 years and did things exactly the way FWS wanted. 

​She pointed out that FWS asked for fresh options – and the town of Newbury asking that the much needed house /acre be reclaimed and go back on their tax rolls is just that. The town asked that Matt give them even 4 weeks to work out that option. Especially when Newbury’s elected officials, staff and committee members have also worked along side STPH on all the things FWS requested. Matt did not answer it directly, instead returned to something about land trade being exhausted. 

STPH also made comments -- for those in attendance to know. Rochelle asked why the higher ups at FWS have been stonewalling Support The Pink house and the public's calls and letters, and why, when Matt himself has admitted the auction probably won’t work, they give respect to those of us who have worked so hard in partnership with them all these years to take a few more weeks to work out Newbury's request. Because FWS acquired land can be disposed of by not jut a land trade but also by n State or Town Cooperative Agreement. 

Matt said the Realty Division at Fish & Wildlife doesn’t have the ability to keep going down this path. Rochelle pleaded that they just allow 3-4 more weeks for town of Newbury to make plans to acquire the property. Matt again repeated that 8 years has been long enough and the question about Newbury was not answered.

​Senator Tarr offered that this could be a further conversation for another time. 

Senator Tarr – there is precious little time left. 

The town of Newbury's Select Board Chair, Alicia Grecco, has been meeting with federal and state elected officials to work toward finding a way to return The Pink House and its acre of upland to Newbury's vital tax rolls. The owners, US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) pay very little taxes on all the buildings and land they own in Newbury. This should be something they agree to.

It is a good solution, and one that Support The Pink House (STPH) endorses.  Senator Markey, Congressman Moulton or Senator Warren could absolutely facilitate this. How?

Though all these years we have only been told about land swap, yet our research showed that the Congressional Research Service lists other ways that acquired federal lands can be released from ownership: 

1. As part of an authorized land trade
2. Pursuant to a cooperative agreement with a state or local government
3. The Secretary (of the Interior) determines the lands are no longer needed for the National Wildlife Reserve systems purposes in the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission approved the disposal.

Aside from these limited authorities, NWRS areas administered by the FWS can be removed from the NWRS only by an act of Congress. (like a bill). 

The Governor, and Senator Tarr and Reps Kassner and Shand can help with #2 and should call on the federal delegation to join them. We are just wondering why didn't all work on it a year ago. On August 22, 2023, Support The Pink House sent a letter to Congressman Moulton and Senators Markey and Warren, ccing with the request to meet and  discuss them. We did so because FWS was failing to produce the land they promised it was "their job" to do. 

We should have known something was up when the Federal Delegation's response was ZERO.

Today, the efforts by Chair Greco and the municipal and state elected officials who support it, is an 11th 3/4 hour solution that has every reason to work. Several people have reached out to Governor Healy and Lt. Governor Driscoll to assist, and we hope they do respond.  Support the Pink House will be writing to their contact at Governor's office as well.  Chair Grecco is focused and determined to do all she can.

If anyone reading this has a connection to the Lt. Governor or Governor Healy, please write us immediately at [email protected].