What’s the oldest house in the U.S that’s still in existance?
The González-Alvarez House in St. Augustine, FL. A lot of “oldest” stuff is in St. Augustine.
If your definition of house is sufficiently flexible, I suspect it would be something like the mesa verde cliff dwellings.
My house was built in 1760 and is still largely original. I know it isn’t close to the oldest but I am quite proud of it. There are a few houses within a few miles of my house that were built in the 1600’s and still occupied. My only point is that parts of New England and maybe Virginia still have a slew of very old houses that are lived in.
I believe the oldest house is in Santa Fe.
On the eastern side of Old Santa Fe Trail at 215 East De Vargas Street is the oldest house in the United States, built around 1646.
That isn’t right. Massachusetts has houses older than that. For example, the John Balch house in Beverly, MA was built in 1636.
Also, the Fairbanks House in Dedham, MA is proven to be at least as old as 1636. It is the oldest wooden building in the U.S.
The Richard Sparrow has in Plymouth, MA was completed by 1640 as well.
I read in Yankee magazine a few years ago that the oldest house of British colonial origin was in Connecticut and it was taken apart piece by piece and moved somewhere out west. No cite.
It seems, though, that it is no longer a house and is now a museum. I think to qualify as oldest, IMO, it must still be used primarily as a residence. I don’t know what the answer tothe OP is, it seems the St. Augustine house is now a museum, but it wasn’t clear. Plus a whole second floor was added much later.
Most of the very earliest houses are going to be museums. However, Massachusetts has a whole slew of houses still in use that were built in the mid to late 1600’s. There is one right down the street from me and another a few miles away.
When I was a kid, there was a family living in the Balch house. Their name was Hood, and they had a son named Robin. I’m not sure if there’s anyone living there now, but every time I drive by (I live in Beverly), the same cars are parked there, even late at night. I think they claim that it’s specifically the oldest wood-framed house in the U.S. Sometimes they call out the Fairbanks house to a rumble for the rights to that claim. It gets messy.