[1] The Dustin House stands in what is now a rural-residential area of northern Haverhill, on the east side of Hilldale Avenue opposite a golf course.

Window and door openings are topped by segmented arches, and there is a stringcourse of corbelled brickwork between the first and second floors.

[2] The house is believed to have been under construction by farmer and brick-maker Thomas Duston at the time of the 1697 attack on Haverhill during King William's War.

[3] It was during this raid that his wife, Hannah Duston, in bed at their existing home a half mile away, was captured by Native Americans.

Its form is also unusual for northeastern Massachusetts, and more closely resembles the stone-enders of early Rhode Island.