The Richard Sparrow House (1640)

Notice the weathered dark wooden structure with a steeply pitched roof and small, diamond-paned windows. You can pull up the exterior photo on your screen to see its simple, enduring profile. This is the Richard Sparrow House, the absolute oldest surviving home in Plymouth. Richard Sparrow was an English surveyor who arrived in sixteen thirty-six. Almost immediately, he was granted a sixteen-acre tract of land, where he used his careful eye for measurement to construct this house around sixteen forty. Imagine the precise, deliberate work required to build a permanent anchor in a rugged new settlement. Though Sparrow moved to Eastham in sixteen fifty-three, this sturdy dwelling stayed put. In nineteen seventy-four, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places, marking its significance in the Plymouth Village Historic District. Today, you can explore it as a house museum and art gallery, which is open Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from ten A-M to five P-M. It is a quiet testament to early colonial endurance. Take all the time you need here, and when you are ready, we will continue on our route.