A Hamptons Property Fight Over a Black Whaler’s Homestead
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A large and costly legal fight is brewing over a tiny, dilapidated house on a black whaler’s homestead in Rockport, Massachusetts. The Whaler’s Wharf Preservation Foundation wants to demolish the house, part of the former Wisteria Lodge mansion that is a Grade 1 historic site and a National Historic Landmark.
Filed in the state Superior Court over two years ago, the suit names the Whaler’s Wharf Preservation Foundation and architect John L. T. Ward as defendants.
The Foundation, a non-profit group that owns the property, is proposing to demolish the house and two adjacent buildings, in part because they’re on the Whaler Mansion’s former property line.
The preservation group, which has spent more than three years fighting the demolition, claims that the entire house is unsafe. The Whaler Preservation Foundation, which is also named as a defendant in the suit, denies that. The Foundation says that the Whaler Mansion was a gift from the Whalers, who owned or used it for many years, and that the mansion’s original owners and others have used it with the blessing of the family. But the Whaler’s Preservation Foundation argues that the mansion has suffered over the years, is in a deteriorating condition, and should be demolished.
In a letter to the judge, the Whaler’s Preservation Foundation says the court may be asked to determine if the house is fit to be occupied.
A legal battle that began with lawsuits filed in Massachusetts Superior Court has been transferred to the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts by U.S. District Judge Raymond A. Jackson.
A Hamptons property fight isn’t all that uncommon. In fact, some New York City officials have complained of neighbors who have fought over their land (harshly) for decades, and the courts have handled it summarily.
However, the case involving the former Wisteria Lodge mansion in Rockport, Massachusetts, may be one of the most costly and contentious.
The home, which dates to the 18th century, is currently owned by the