Iconic Greenport shuckers shack lists for $1.195M

A 700-square-foot, one-bedroom cottage that has withstood Long Island’s most devastating hurricanes since 1872 is now on the market for $1.195 million. Annual taxes are only $3,792.

Believed to be the last shell fishing shuckers shack on Long Island, this fully updated home sits on a peninsula between Stirling Basin, an inlet with moorings in the back of the house, and Greenport Harbor at the front with a view of Shelter Island.

Broker Jill Dunbar of Douglas Elliman said that residents have long been curious about the durability of the 149-year-old cottage.

"It's one of those iconic North Fork buildings," said Dunbar, who along with Alexander Aquino is representing the house. "There just are not that many shingle or wooden structures left anymore that are in their original state. It’s a house that time has forgotten. It's the way you think of Long Island in the 1920s and '30s."

Owners Terese Svoboda and Steve Bull, who bought the cottage six years ago, said it has endured because of its materials. "They built them really strong back in the day and they built it out of recycled lumber from the shipyards," said Bull.

The house features a large screened-in porch with a bedroom on the front. The rest is an open space with a kitchen, living space and one bathroom. There’s a pull-down Murphy bed in the living area that slides behind a bookcase. A second screened porch is on the water side.

"There are water views in every single window and there's a window in all the walls, so it's quite amazing," said Svoboda, an American poet and novelist. "And it has natural ventilation because of its position on the sea so that you don't need air conditioners in the summertime."

The year-round cottage has been updated with a new bathroom, kitchen, flooring, natural wooden siding with insulation, roof, solar panels, a charging station for an electric vehicle, and a contemporary storage shed.

But its unique history leaves its mark with the original, pull-down oyster shucking shelf.

For those interested in growing their own shellfish, Bull is raising oysters as a citizen scientist with Cornell University. A new owner would need to get a license but could take over the oyster crop that’s right out the back door.

Bull said the location of the house puts a swim on the private, sandy beach within 10 feet and a private dock for two moorings within 100 feet. It’s on a 0.2-acre lot in the Greenport School District.

Bull, who said they’re selling to leave the state, added there’s room to develop a second story on the house.