Editor’s Note: Rylee’s last name is being withheld
PLUM ISLAND TURNPIKE – At seven years old, Rylee W. remembers calling out a greeting to the Pink House whenever her family drove by it to their Plum Island home. She loved to see the birds on the roof of the 100-year-old house, the most painted and photographed icon on the Great Salt Marsh.
Rylee enjoyed hearing the stories her next-door neighbor, Bruce Stott, told about living in the Pink House.
Another neighbor, Bob Connors, remembers Rylee asking him every time he saw her, “What are you going to do to save the Pink House?” She would tell Conners, “You know a lot of people. You can do something.”
The Pink House was built in 1925 by Gertrude W. Cutter for her son’s family. Over the years, the little house on the marsh changed hands several times with Stott being the last before it was purchased and after several years torn down by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (F&WS).
“There were a lot of tears in our house when it was torn down,” Rylee’s mother Meghan said.
Rylee wrote a letter to the F&WS, asking the federal agency not to tear down the house.
“I love the Pink House. I love to get my telescope and find the Pink House through the window of my sleeping loft,” she wrote. “When I come to Plum Island, I always scream the Pink House. My neighbor grew up in the Pink House and has a model of the Pink House in his window.
“I really want to go inside the Pink House someday. It is so cool! I can’t believe anyone would want to know it down. Please save the Pink House.”
Even though the house no longer stands, its image remains part of the area’s history. Artists painted it. Visitors still stop to take photos of the sign commemorating the Pink House. .
It was Rylee, now nine years old, Connors said, that planted the idea in his mind to create the sign that the town of Newbury has erected on the site where the Pink House stood. Connors took the idea for the sign to the Newbury SelectBoard, who voted four-zero, to accept the sign, which was paid for by two anonymous Plum Island residents, Connors said. He denied that he was one of the two.
Under a replica of local artist Kathy Culbert’s painting of the house, the sign reads: “The Pink House. Honoring 100 Years of Memories. Demolished March 11, 2025, But Never Forgotten.”
Rylee’s letter, illustrated with a drawing of the Pink House, was sent to Kelly Page, a director of The Support the Pink House group.
A year later, Page, an artist and manager of the art gallery at the Newburyport Artists Assn., wrote that she remembers Rylee and her mother well. Page wrote: “Meghan sent me Rylee’s letter, of which I posted on July 9th of 2024. How could we (and particularly Fish & Wildlife Services) not be moved by such compassion and advocacy by this young girl trying to make a difference?!
“I think it’s incredible that Rylee’s letter still had an effect on someone that could indeed help her and thousands of others with the comfort of knowing that what mattered will not be forgotten.”
Under a replica of local artist Kathy Culbert’s painting of the house, the sign reads: “The Pink House. Honoring 100 Years of Memories. Demolished March 11, 2025, But Never Forgotten.”
Page wrote: “The donated sign at the former site of The Pink House is a reminder of the devotion to what we hold culturally important. This regional icon will not be forgotten in its absence, thanks to the generosity of those in The Pink House Community.
“A place not measured in size, but by those who continue to share the impression The Pink House had on them. Artists have been affected the most by the departed structure, as they create the visual relationship between inspiration and memories. However, Pink House artwork continues to be of great interest! The monument on the Plum Island Turnpike is not only standing strong for those who see it. It’s there for those who need it.” ♦
