Ten generations of the Pickering family lived in the Pickering House at 18 Broad Street, in Salem's McIntire Historic District between Cambridge and Summer Street. Built circa 1664, this First Period Colonial house has evolved considerably over the centuries. The original core was two stories tall with a single room on each floor and an entry bay.
The left side was added circa 1682 by John Pickering II, and in 1751 Deacon Timothy Pickering raised a rear lean-to up to a full two stories, producing the form you see today. In 1841 the front facade was reworked, so the building wears traces of many ages. Ten successive generations of the Pickering family, including Colonel Timothy Pickering, owned and lived in this grand home; it was believed to have been the oldest house in the United States continuously occupied by one family until 1998, when the Goodhue family moved in and Albert Goodhue became the primary caretaker.
Today the house is open to the public under the auspices of the nonprofit Pickering Foundation. Notice the Broad Street Cemetery across the street, one of the three oldest in Salem, and this layered facade.