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All the United States Massachusetts Newbury Plum Island Pink House
Plum Island Pink House is permanently closed.

This entry remains in the Atlas as a record of its history, but it is no longer accessible to visitors.

AO Edited

Plum Island Pink House

This picturesque abandoned home is rumored to be a spite house.

Newbury, Massachusetts

Added By
Whitney Kaharick
Email
Been Here
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CAPTION
A hawk perched atop the Pink House.   vikkiq
The Pink House.   F Lahiguera
A snowy owl perched atop the house.   Bud
The spite house is a hit with birds of prey like this snowy owl.   Stephanie Nicole
The Pink House.   Bob Bird
  kevinvitali / Atlas Obscura User
  missingfilm / Atlas Obscura User
  probablyup / Atlas Obscura User
  probablyup / Atlas Obscura User
As of March 2025, the house as been demolished   eidolun / Atlas Obscura User
Pink House the day before demolition   Justin V / Atlas Obscura User
The Pink House, November 3 2024   reedsavory / Atlas Obscura User
  rossdotgif / Atlas Obscura User
  ickaimp / Atlas Obscura User
View from the road in May   Mikey Burnett / Atlas Obscura User
@photoahk   photoahk / Atlas Obscura User
  kaemaki / Atlas Obscura User
The Pink House.   Todd P
The Pink House, Plum Island.   Instagram user @gotsarah
Pink House   mosherhmh / Atlas Obscura User
  Jared Weinstock / Atlas Obscura User
  Babs81 / Atlas Obscura User
The Pink House beneath a glowing Moon.   Lee Wright
Been Here
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Added to list

About

This abandoned house looms over a salt marsh, its pale pink paint looking like a mirror of the colorful sunsets that so often streak the sky. It’s a celebrated local landmark, one with a definite air of mystery and romance. But the picturesque house’s story is not at all romantic. A local legend says that it’s a spite house, a divorced man’s way of getting the final say against his ex-wife.

According to town lore, the house was built while a local couple was in the process of finalizing their divorce in the 1920s. As part of the divorce agreement, the wife required her husband to build an exact replica of their family home for her. But unfortunately for her, she didn’t specify exactly where.

Her soon-to-be-ex went along with her stipulations and built a home identical to the one they once shared. It would’ve been a sweet, amicable gesture—had he not purposely built it atop an isolated salt marsh. Even the plumbing used salt water instead of fresh water, making the abode allegedly uninhabitable.

The house was enjoyed by the family of the ex-husband as a summer home, and inhabited by a series of families after they sold it in the 1940s. However, it has been vacant since the early 2000s. Now, birds of prey like hawks and snowy owls are the only ones to drop in for an occasional visit. The house has even been slated for demolition, though a grassroots group called Support The Pink House continues to rally to save the beloved landmark with community support. 

In 2017, Support The Pink House did extensive research into the history of the house and this legend surrounding its origins, and found it to be inconclusive.

As it turns out, the divorce happened several years after the couple moved in to the house, though they separated soon after moving in. The divorce papers don't mention any property changing hands. Researchers never found any records of the original couple living in a house that could be considered a replica, and the fact that the house was plumbed with salt water was not unusual for the time. Though Plum Island was somewhat of a recreation area with new year-round and summer homes being built, fresh running water was either non-existent or rare in the area during the 1920s. In fact, indoor plumbing itself was still somewhat new at this time in the U.S. The house has been described as uninhabitable but this may have been an exaggeration, as the family who built it enjoyed it for many years and lived in it themselves, despite owning other stately homes in the neighboring town of Newburyport. 

The scandal seems more that the husband "tricked" his wife into thinking they were going to start their new life with their infant son in this house, only to abandon her there with little money and no car while he went about his business, even eating meals at his mother's house without his wife, and seeing another woman in Boston. So while there does seem to be plenty of spite to go around in this story, we're not sure it qualifies as a Spite House. However, the rumors persist and arguably add to the charm of the lonely, lovely pink house that sits out on the marsh, beckoning passers by to contemplate its unique beauty. 

The Pink House was eventually torn down by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service after attempts to save it failed.

Related Tags

Houses Spite House Feud Birds Love Pink Abandoned Houses Animals Homes

Know Before You Go

The house has been demolished. As part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, It is still an interesting place to visit.

Community Contributors

Added By

whitneykaharick

Edited By

dondoughty, erjeffery, odlealison, mosherhmh...

  • dondoughty
  • erjeffery
  • odlealison
  • mosherhmh
  • ickaimp
  • Kerry Wolfe
  • missingfilm
  • kaemaki
  • Babs81
  • photoahk
  • kevinvitali
  • Justin V
  • Jared Weinstock
  • probablyup
  • reedsavory
  • Mikey Burnett
  • rossdotgif
  • eidolun

Published

March 28, 2018

Edit this listing

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Sources
  • https://www.wickedlocal.com/story/news/2025/03/12/pink-house-newbury-massachusetts-boston-history-homes/82303265007/
  • https://www.wcvb.com/article/pink-house-demolition-plan-march-1741702253/64145039
  • http://merrimackvalleymarealestate.com/plum-island-pink-house-spite-house/
  • http://www.nshoremag.com/April-2016/saving-plum-islands-pink-house/
  • https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/fashion/plum-islands-pink-house-inspires-a-real-estate-fantasy.html?_r=0
  • https://www.supportthepinkhouse.com/pink-house-history.html
Plum Island Pink House
57 Plum Island Turnpike
Newbury, Massachusetts
United States
42.797064, -70.830623
Visit Website
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