In the late 1600s, Alaska belonged to the native people descended from migrants who had settled there in prehistoric times. On the other side of the continent, English settlers were expanding their foothold along the Atlantic coast.
Sometime between 1675 and 1680, one of those Atlantic settlers, successful merchant Izekiel Cushing, decided to build a home in Plymouth County in what we now know as Massachusetts. Little could he have imagined his house would survive into the 21st century after being taken apart and reassembled in far-off Alaska.
Now the owners, who bought the 2,470-square-foot home in 1981 and transported it to a lakeside in Anchorage, have put it on the market for $825,000.
Covered in the cedar clapboard so common in homes along coastal Massachusetts, the house has three bedrooms and three bathrooms. While it features modern amenities such as a cypress soaking tub with its own water heater and a Wolfe range in its modern kitchen, it also has pre-Colonial building elements, including wide-plank flooring and original beams that any history buff would love, says homeowner Ross Brudenell.
The original home sports two additions, one with a sunroom facing the lake. Brudenell had been a float-plane pilot working in the public health sector in Alaska when he bought the land next to the lake and then found the house back East that he wanted to put on the property, he explains.
Transporting it across the country involved disassembling it and moving it by truck, train, and barge to reach Anchorage. The home site also includes two float-plane slips, fuel storage, and a lift. Float planes are common in Alaska, where many remote areas can be reached only by plane. Liz Steele is the listing agent.
A pilot who loves American history would no doubt fall in love with this piece of early Americana nestled serenely on an Alaska lakefront.