ON THE ROAD TO PLUM ISLAND – If you are pink and popular with humans of all ages who love to look at you, paint and photograph you as well as with many types of birds, including Osprey, which enjoy sitting on your chimney and roof, how would you like to celebrate your 100th birthday?
That is what the Supporters of the Pink House (STPH) is asking the house’s legions of fans. Whether the house is still standing overlooking the marsh or if it has been moved to another site, the not-for-profit organization is planning to celebrate on June 14, 2025, the house that Gertrude Cutter built.
“We can’t erase that history,” said Sandy Tilton, a STPH board member last week. “The Pink House is part of the community. That’s never going away.”
The federal Fish & Wildlife Service, which owns the Pink House, is trying to sell it or trade it for other land that the agency believes will fit better with its wildlife protection mission. The Pink House has been declared a surplus asset by the Government Services Administration, which has tried to auction off the house.
For the last few weeks, the F&WS has offered potential buyers tours of the house in hopes that someone will want to buy it and move it to another site.
So far, there appears to be no takers, and the auction has officially ended, although Matt Hillman, the director of the Parker River Wildlife Refuge, which controls the Pink House, has reportedly described the closing of the auction as “soft.”
That means if an offer comes in over the next few weeks, it will be considered.
If no solution presents itself, the government could demolish the Pink House at a cost estimated at $90,000. That could happen anytime, according to Rochelle Joseph, the STPH president. But she hopes the F&WS will wait until this winter after the birds’ nesting and breeding season is over and the humans are painting or photographing it less.
Tilton hopes the F&WS will change its mind and leave the house where it is. “Everything is changing. Why can’t the Fish and Wildlife Service change? It’s their choice.”
STPH also continues to search for a solution to the future of the Pink House and believes it has identified at least one good possibility, Joseph said. The government agency cannot sell the Pink House. It can only trade it for land the F&WS would like to have.
The STPH has a potential buyer if a land trade can be worked out.
“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,” the group’s blog states.
“We want the community to have a hand in the creation of the (100th Birthday) celebration,” Joseph wrote on the group’s website. She invited all who love the Pink House to send their ideas for a celebration to info@supportthepinkhouse.com.
“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 (the 100th birthday party), or donate art, food or beverages, or pitch in as an extra pair of hands as needed, all are wonderful. Stay tuned for more in the coming months!!” Joseph wrote.
Tilton said of holding the first Pink House Day, “Hopefully we are starting something that will be everlasting. The legend and the story will live on.”
