NRHP Reference # 71000881 Area 404.7 m² | Built 1856 Opened 1856 Added to NRHP 13 December 1971 | |
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Address 910 Bancroft St, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA Similar Leopold Hotel, Aftermath Clubhouse, Flatiron Building, TG Richards and Com, Bellingham National Bank Buil | ||
The Pickett House is the oldest house in the city of Bellingham, Washington, located on 910 Bancroft Street. Built in 1856 by United States Army Captain George Pickett, who later became a prominent general in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.
History
After Captain Pickett arrived in Bellingham on the pretense of overseeing the construction Fort Bellingham, he chose a spot on what was then called Peabody Hill in the town of Whatcom to be cleared for his home. The house was built with two stories of lumber provided by the nearby Roeder-Peabody lumber mill on Whatcom Creek. About a year later, the Captain's son, James Tilton Pickett, was born in the house. After Pickett left Bellingham in 1861 to serve in the Civil War, the house changed hands several times, before Hattie Strothers left the house to the Washington State Historical Society in 1936 upon her death. In 1941, the home became a museum, and later home to the Daughters of Pioneers, both of which still occupy the site.
Very few changes have been made to the original structure. A narrow staircase was added to replace the ladder leading to the upstairs sleeping quarters, and a kitchen has been added to the lean-to section of the house.