Oldest House in Provincetown

(Excerpt from Norman Dunnell thesis: The Provincetown Lands: A Social and Economic History of Provincetown to 1900.)

The oldest house in Provincetown the Seth Nickerson house, was built circa 1746 and is located at 72 Commercial Street (the West End). It is 30 feet long and 28 feet deep; a full cape, with a door in the middle flanked by two windows on each side and is typical of the architecture of the eighteenth century. Part of the house was made from wood collected along the beach from shipwrecks. Heavy oak beams and wide floorboards of pine made for a durable structure.

Seth Nickerson was a ship's carpenter and built his house accordingly. The oak logs were found on the north shore, facing the Atlantic. The center chimney, ... acted as an anchor for the house. In many ways, these were "land craft " and the chimney was built on top of a criss-cross of logs to prevent it from sinking into the sands.