43 Summer Street, the Wilcomb-Pinder house (1718)

This timber-framed First Period house was built in 1718 by William Wilcomb. The interior of the home features hand-hewn summer beams, wide plank flooring and the original fireplaces.

On Jeffreys Neck, William Willcomb operated a fishing stage, a small building and platform for salting and drying fish. The next owner, William Benjamin Pinder was a corporal with Col. Appleton’s company in the ill-fated 1756 expedition against the French at Louisburg, Nova Scotia during the French and Indian War. The Wilcomb and Pinder  families were among the early settlers in Ipswich.

The Willcomb-Pinder house , photo circa 1990 by the Ipswich Historical Commission for the MACRIS site.
The Willcomb-Pinder house, photo circa 1990 by the Ipswich Historical Commission for the MACRIS site.

The current owners added 800 square feet in 2005 with the saltbox conversion and the addition of gables. View MACRIS

Wilcomb-Pinder Cove Detail   With the existing soffit and fascia peeling away from this First Period house under the relentless weight of the season’s ice it became time to
engage in some overdue carpentry. Between storms a surgical demolition revealed evidence of a previous coved cornice that we deemed worth of recreating. Precedent for a plaster soffit, deemed a sign of personal prosperity in Colonial times, exists a mere 100 yards away in the form of the Stephen Boardman house.

summer_view_darling_closeup_1200.jpg
The Wilcomb-Pinder house is on the left heading up Summer St. in this view across the river from the small park on Turkey Shore Rd. Closeup from photo by Edward L. Darling, collection of William J. Barton. No utility poles are visible in this photo, indicating that it was taken in the late 19th Century.
water_st_summer_dexter_1200
View of Summer St. from Turkey Shore Rd., early 20th Century photo by George Dexter, courtesy of Robert Cronin. The Wilcomb-Pinder house is the first visible house on the left, heading up Summer St.

2 thoughts on “43 Summer Street, the Wilcomb-Pinder house (1718)”

  1. I traced my husband’s ancestors back to Ipswich and some of them were Pinders so I was pleased to find that this still stands!

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