Spring is in the air! With the nicer weather and renewed activity recently, Support The Pink House has seen increasing community support. Thanks to the help of volunteers & friends, many new local businesses have kindly agreed to display our cling stickers on their doors and windows. When locals and visitors see The Pink House logo, it helps raise awareness and let people know that there's a group still hard at work to protect and preserve this favorite local landmark! We want to extend our sincere thanks and gratitude to all of our local partners, new and old, for their support and kindness! And this is only a sample. We'll be featuring them in the next couple of posts, so please check back right here! Click on any photo to go to their website! Visit our Supporters Page to see a full list of our community supporters. Written by Alison Odle, Founder and Board Member of Support The Pink House
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Northshore Magazine has their annual Best of the Northshore (BONS) 2022 survey up for voting online… and someone nominated The Pink House this year as the Most Instagrammable Spot! As the curator of the Support the Pink House Instagram account, I give many thanks for putting us on THE list. We’d love it if you would VOTE for us! Detailed instructions below. I’m very appreciative of everyone’s show of support through sharing their Pink House posts on IG and tagging us, using the hashtag, #supportthepinkhouse, among others. I realize the question of where the “best Instagrammable spot” on the Northshore is isn’t only about the best IG page, but also our Followers. It’s a testament to just how many are drawn to The Pink House and post that on Instagram. Our page really is a place where caring is through their sharing! I wanted to give a shout out to our Followers! They are the best! Our IG @supportthepinkhouse started on September 1st of 2016. At the time, when we were starting up, the focus was on our Support The Pink House Discussion Group on Facebook. So it took till October 2nd of 2018 to expand our social media reach, and I, who was volunteering at the time, was asked to curate the IG account. When I took it on, there were only 16 posts and 40 followers. I excitedly began with a passion to create a visual means by which all could experience the artistry and allure of The Pink House. It has grown to 2,820k Followers with 782 posts! It’s such a pleasure to know so many enjoy what we show (and tell). I get tickled pink by comments of memories and true admiration for The Pink House. More than numbers, it is visible proof of a community in support of this local icon! The collection of angles, views, colors, artists, weather, clouds, bird sightings proves how much The Pink House is posted on Instagram. And there’s still more to come! It never ceases to amaze me that no two posts are the same, regardless of direction, season, etc. Therefore, I’m here to help you make an honest, informed decision on your vote. Today I invite you to look back through @SupportThePinkHouse on IG and catch up on what you may have missed. Think of it as going back to a museum where you may notice something you hadn’t before and may decide to read the gallery notes in an exhibit. While here, you can even find someone new to follow. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised to see more than photographs and paintings… there’s articles, gift décor, jewelry, events, drawings, digital art, crafts, maps, videos, snow owls, hawks, stories, and of course, selfies. The Support the Pink House Instagram account is tangible evidence of how influential this unique house is. If the Northshore Magazine was to research for its readers what spot is most repeatedly posted on IG, they’d have to look at 100 accounts to find commonality. Yet The Support the Pink House IG account is solely about this one Instagrammable place!
The DEADLINE is May 1st so please consider voting now by using the link below. It only takes a minute! 1. Click the link: https://bit.ly/PHVOTEBONS 2. Look for the category "PLAY" 3.Scroll to INSTAGRAMMABLE Spots 4. Find The Pink House on the list 5. Click VOTE, give an email and it’s done! Also, feel free to ‘volunteer’ by asking friends and family to vote too, or share this on YOUR social media! THANK YOU! Written by Kelly K Page (@kellykpage). Instagram Curator of @SupportIhePinkHouseaccount, photographer, artist, and Executive Board Member of Support The Pink House It's time for North Shore Magazine to hold its yearly awards for what people deem as THE BEST in our area. And... drumroll please... our iconic Pink House has been nominated for the Most Instagramable Spot! And YOU can VOTE for The Pink House to WIN in under 3 minutes! Here's how;
We sure think The Pink House a winner. And we're not alone! Check out just A FWS of the photos people have posted on our Instagram account, most incredibly curated by Board Member Kelly Keislich Page. You can find more by following us there @supportthepinkhouse! An Instagramable Spot is described as something visually noteworthy, artistic, interesting and meaningful - a great spot for a photo! Wouldn't you say The Pink House fits that description??? You can only vote once, but from EACH email you have. Help by Inviting your family and friends join in too... And we'd be delighted if you'd share this blog (or the instructions) on your social media! It's a great way to "volunteer" if you love our Pink House — and we know how very many do! If everyone who has written us, put testimonials on our social media, has painted, photographed, driven out to visit, written about this house, made craft items of it or bought Pink House art voted, it would win by a landslide! Please stand up and let your voice be counted! Think Pink! And thank you! There was a nice letter published in the Daily News written by Steven Lindsay entitled Defend Beauty, Culture and Heritage. He captured, using only a few paragraphs, an idea shared by many who live in this area. And it's a thought provoking read. Steven was visiting Plum Island and became inspired by the idea that the effort to preserve some of the original aesthetics of the area, in this case in the form of original cottages and homes, is a way to maintain our and the area's heritage. Further, he suggests that these remaining stand as symbols of a simpler time, and serve as a way of grounding ourselves in a world that's become pretty topsy turvy. His call is for us to continue to defend these symbols — because it's important. We know change is a constant. Some improvements are good, and some are inevitable but there are certain things worth fighting to keep for posterity, to retain the charm so many moved to this area precisely because they are there. And why others are drawn here, which greatly helps keep local businesses, and all the people and services who are needed to run them, artists, and cottage industries afloat. Our heritage is a critical to link to preserving what makes our area so special. In this case, Steven included The Pink House among them, speaking for the many who do too. He makes the point that he world may feel like it's turning upside down, but when you drive out and see these places you get a sense of how important a service it is when some things remain stable. The Pink House, for example, has stood in its marvelous setting for nearly 100 years. What do you see and feel when you dive out to sit with it? Or photograph it The sky stretches out endlessly. Birds fly in formation going past. One or whole flocks may alight on that iconic rooftop. On certain days, you can hear the steady coming and going of the ocean waves, or marvel at the spectacular beauty of the marsh on either side at high tide, or when frozen over. The idyllic scene as the Colby farmers hay the salt grass on their property surrounding the house harkens back to simpler times. As the moon and sun rise and set over The Pink House, you witness splendor running the gamut from a riot of color through to the gloaming when all the is left is that signature silhouette. And as you take it all in, you will feel a primal relief, a sense of grounding. Preserving what matters is powerful. By Rochelle Joseph
Sunrise on February 14th at The Pink House revealed something hanging on the chain drawn across its gravel driveway. Closer inspection revealed it was this wonderful Valentine! Someone had taken the time to make this by hand, and brave temps below freezing to bring it as a surprise for all to see. A result, we have learned, of a program The Newburyport Preservation Trust began a program for young preservationists in 2019. We learned that this valentine was made by a third grader, likely from the Francis T. Bresnahan Elementary School in Newburyport. Each year, The Newburyport Daily News has covered this wonderful appreciation event that teaches kids to care about history and preservation! As they grow, none of them will look at what makes New England special the same way again. Some may go on to become preservationists. It's very similar to animal conservation. Once you have close encounters and make a connection, you develop an interest and respect for the animal (or houses) and if they're not cared for properly, you'll notice, and often speak up or pitch in to protect them. New Englanders are lucky. There are so many historic homes the region -- and others that are just very special, for all sorts of reasons. They may have interesting architecture, or their occupants may have played an interesting role in the town or the trades. They may inspire artists, or have a story behind them. In The Pink House's case, there's the urban legend that it is a spite house. It has certainly brought global attention to the house, but our researchers did a very deep dive into all the records and photos that exist, along with many conversations with old timers or their families. By constructing the evidence based on facts, we came up with a very different scenario! The house has in fact been lived in and loved by many families. It's pretty interesting, so please visit our history page to learn what we discovered! Whatever the reason, all the homes bring charm to a place, and make people want to visit, live, or stay here. And that is a great reason to show them some love on Valentines Day—and celebrate year round! If you'd like to learn about the periods of houses and how to identify them based on their architectural features, you might really enjoy reading THIS page on the Newburyport Preservation Trust's website. It goes through each home's period, complete with a photo of each example of it, starting with the First Period (1625), up to the Victorian Period, which runs till 1900. It's a fascinating and fun read. You may want to print it out to use and plan to walk or drive around to spot homes and figure out what period they belong to! FUN FACT: A house must be over 75 years old to be considered for historic recognition in MA. Built in 1925, The Pink House will be 100 years old in 2025! Written by Rochelle Joseph
Almost all of us are familiar with a house appraisal. For the average home, it's a pretty simple process. You hire someone, pay a few hundred dollars and get your report in a week or so. But this is another way that The Pink House is not an average home! That is one thing Support The Pink House (STPH) has learned again and again on the mission to save and restore the house on behalf of the community. Getting an appraisal was the first step to learn IF the house could be traded to new ownership in a land swap. Because it is now owned by the federal government, far more stringent standards and processes are required -- in this case, something called a Yellow Book Appraisal. It is an extensive study to determine the "highest and best use" of The Pink House and its land. Among other things, that includes a study of nearby home owners and the general area, finding comparable (which really are nearly impossible to find for such a special property), talking to the municipality, builders who assess structural value and a plethora of other factors. Because so much research is involved, the appraisal can take 2-3 months, cost around $5000, and deliver a report of 60 or more pages! For this purpose, we asked that The Pink House be appraised with a little over an acre, which includes all the upland upon which it sits. Since The Pink House can't be sold at this time, the purpose of this step was to establish an approximate value for The Pink House and its acre, so the land the FWS could add and conserve via trade could be located. Once we completed this step, it allowed FWS to begin looking for suitable land and STPH to move on to the next step which we will cover in the next blog post. A word about a land swap. The US Fish and Wildlife's mission is to conserve land and the habitats for wildlife, in perpetuity. Buildings or structures rarely figure in to their plans. If they acquire land that happens to have a structure on it, as was the case of the 3 parcels totaling 9.29 acres that came with the purchase of The Pink House, they often demolish it. Marsh land or even forested land is far less expensive per acre than a residentially zoned house, even with only one acre, located off an often busy Plum Island Turnpike. In other words, trading a house they do not want on one acre, while saving the subsequent costs to demolish it, remove the debris safely, and fill the hole left, could get them many more acres of marsh or grasslands to conserve in return. FWS could conceivably acquire 50 to several hundred acres in trade for this one and The Pink House. The trade would be so much more beneficial to the FWS and their mission, while keeping the house in the community, able to be restored and available for use it would be a complete win for the region as well as the FWS! This win/win outcome is exactly why we partnered together in this endeavor, and have stayed committed to it, as we explored one possible solution after another. We were completely unfamiliar with this concept when we began working to save The Pink House, and had no idea the epic journey we were taking on as locals who rose to volunteer to do this on behalf of the overwhelming public concern to keep this iconic house in our region. We had to learn every single bit - and so know the public would likely be just like us, and want to understand it just like we did.
So we're creating a series of blog posts, each covering a step in the process to see if the house was able to be traded at all - and if so, take you all the way through with us to the successful ending! Stay tuned. and bookmark this page, so you can learn about each step the volunteers for Support The Pink House took on your behalf to see this beloved, iconic Foursquare with it's unique silhouette stand and be restored in perpetuity! What is a legend? Merriam-Webster says: A legend is a story coming down from the past, especially one particularly regarded as historical, although NOT verifiable. The Pink House Legend certainly fits this definition! It seems to have been passed down for generations. So where did it begin? We at Support the Pink House have researched and spoken to hundreds of people of all ages & still, we have no verifiable answer to where it got legs! Regardless, The Legend itself has seemingly become History! Our own exhaustive historical research revealed documents a troubled marriage in the early 1920’s, between the first residents of The Pink House: Henry T.Cutter (known as Harry), son of Gertrude Cutter and husband of Ruth Morin Cutter, father of Henry T. Cutter Jr. (known as Harry Jr.). They moved into The Pink House in November of 1925, when Harry Jr. was just 2 yrs old. After a short stay at The Pink House, Ruth was unhappy, having been left alone with baby Harry Jr., was unable to provide for her child. She followed her attorney’s advice and left The Pink House and Harry -- her husband of just three years. She took their young son with her to live at her mother’s home in Salem, MA. Did The Legend begin here? It is easy to assume local “historians” collected and evaluated information which was repeated around town. After all, in May 1926, Ruth Morin Cutter filed a suit for $50,000.00 in damages against Harry’s mother, Gertrude Cutter, who built The Pink House. Ruth alleges “alienation for the affection of her husband Harry," adding that his mother Gertrude maliciously persuaded Harry to leave Ruth, their home at The Pink House, and their young son. It’s easy to imagine how the chatter around town might have been growing! And perhaps that chatter surrounding Harry and Ruth's troubled marriage was played out in not so private places! After all, at one time, Harry’s parents George H. Cutter & Gertrude, were proprietors of a “café“ at 5 Inn Street, Newburyport, sometimes referred to as a tavern in a local gossip column called The Prattler. Divorce papers were eventually filed in 1934, at MA Probate Court. By November 25, 1925, Harry and Ruth both claimed desertion as the reason. So -- one can only imagine the “talk” that passed from one person to another over all that time! Is THIS how a Legend is born? Those MA Probate Court records show that the Judge denied the divorce petition, but ordered Harry to pay child support to Ruth for the benefit of Harry Jr. So, was The Legend depicting The Pink House as a spite house already established, or did that happen later on? Harry T, Cutter was finally able to obtain a divorce in the State of Florida. He then married Beatrice Bowry in 1937. They had a son they named Stephen and remained married for the rest of their lives. it seems the new family returned to The Pink House to vacation as the children of Stephen Cutter have told us he enjoyed his visits to “the little Pink House." The Cutter family eventually sold The Pink House to someone outside their family in 1947. Even though we've heard of many happy memories made by the several families who lived there since, and the many friends and kids who spent time there with them, The Legend lives on.
No matter how or when The Legend began, it is a unique tie between our community and this home on the marsh... a timeless treasure indeed. To learn more about our historical findings, visit our History Page. By Sandy Tilton, Photographer, Author of Ralph n' Me, Support The Pink House Board Member. Did you know that the Pink House once had an open porch in the front? We didn't, until one day, out of the blue, PH fan Susan Polinsky posted this photo of the house on our Facebook page. It was taken by her mother, Susan said. On the back it was dated December 1950! Wow! Take a look! Today the primary entrance is the blue door to the right of the porch, on the front west side. Seeing this photo from 1950 explains a lot. Because when you step inside via the blue door, you walk a few paces to get to an inner door frame, which then puts you smack dab at the center of everything. The living room with it's fireplace and built in bookshelves spread out to your left, a wooden staircase leading to the second floor bedrooms is to your right, and the way to the kitchen/dining area is straight ahead. In the days when the porch was open, that same central frame was the front door. So when did it get filled in? When we were were working to get the house recognized as significant on the state level through the Mass Historic Commission, they asked us to find out. Our PH history sleuths Sandy Tilton and Alison Odle didn't turn up anything. They looked for a building permit, and we asked some of the folks who had lived near it decades ago if they knew and we were coming up with nothing. But when we wrote to one of the last owners to live there, the answer came in a few sentences! Early in the 1960's, over 50 years ago, the porch was filled in by the oldest son and his father, along with help from the neighbor across the street who owned the boat house that is just West of Bob Lobster. It was to serve as his bedroom which it did till he left for college. You can't see it from these pictures, but if you've stood in front of the house, you can see the porch wraps around and spans most of the east side of the house. The outer walls are covered with materials different than the shingles on the rest of the house. Pretty cool! If you want to read more about the history of the house and the people who have lived there, please visit our PH History Page. We've just stumbled upon another interesting tie bit that we'll be writing about soon, so stay tuned to this page! We always are searching for photos or paintings of The Pink House from the past, inside our out. If you have any, please send them to us at info@SupportThePinkHouse.com!
As time has allowed us to venture out of our homes, with mask and sanitizer in tow, taking drives has never been more freeing than now. Mental health for some could mean either simply or desperately just physically getting out the house. So, no matter how one does that (and if you’re local and/or an athlete), a trip out to The Pink House is doable. Although not legal to go beyond the marked signs and rope of the Federally owned property, The Pink House is always there! Enticement beholds with the smell of the salt air (or low tide, lol), touch of seasonal breeze, sound of birds (and if lucky, local airport planes), a mouth-watering reaction to being near Bob Lobster, and most of all, taking in the visual surroundings of our beloved icon. I enjoy reading on our social media pages about the memories that families, visitors, islanders, and artists have had and the anticipation of again being near it. The more I live here (over two decades), and as my daughters get older and my creativity heightens, I still grasp that quickened beat every time I know there will be a nice sunset. Grab the camera, phone and keys (mask, sanitizer…) and try not to stop at the many other near-perfect-view spots on the way, before it’s too late. But you know what? It is usually never too late. And if it turns out the clouds overcome any show of what was meant to be, get curious on the perspective coordinates of that Pink House, and stay out even later! No matter the time, season, or date (amount of clouds) … I challenge myself to find different views of The Pink House. Like the time I took a right onto Sunset Drive after the bridge onto Plum Island, and headed towards the Refuge entrance. It was high tide and never saw the house from that far away looking back at its eastern side. Then what fun to see a boat go by on the Parker River, “in front” of the house! Another time I went to turn around in the back lot of the Bob Lobster restaurant and could see over their fence to across the street. It looked like a typical house in a neighborhood with a fence, trees, and the Plum Island Turnpike before it. The pandemic has this entire world going through the same circumstances. Just as social media gives us the choice to witness what we’re all doing at any given time, we also have the opportunity to experience feelings connected to someplace, when we actually can’t be there. Let this time awaken your senses online, or take a drive (bike, walk, skate…)! Create your artwork roadside and send us a post! #besafe By Kelly Page, Social Media Manager, Photographer, and Board Member of Support The Pink House. |
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April 2024
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