27 25 History 26 Timeline Walloomsac Rd. Old Bennington 1749 Charter granted to Bennington by Map and Key New Hampshire Governor Benning 24 Wentworth 1 Pliney Dewey House 23 2 1761 Bennington settled by families from 22 Hiram Waters House Massachusettes and Connecticut 3 Isaiah Hendryx House 21 4 Jedidiah Dewey House

1762 Benjamin Harwood, first child born 20 5 Roberts House Monument Ave. Monument in Bennington 6 Monument to William Lloyd Garrison 19 7 Colonel Nathaniel Brush House 1763 Meetinghouse built, first Protestant 17 8 Walloomsac Inn church in 18 Bank St. 9 Old First Church 1777 Vermont declares itself an 16 10 Site of the Meetinghouse 1763 independent state 15 11 Site of the County Courthouse 1847

12 Site of ’s House 1777 on August 16 13 Asa Hyde House 1791 Vermont joins the United States 14 Catamount Tavern 1767 as the 14th State after fourteen 14 15 Old Academy years as an independent republic 16 Site of Samuel Robinson’s log cabin Main St. 13 17 Samuel Raymond House 1806 Old First Church dedicated 12 18 General David Robinson House 11 19 Richard Carpenter House 1828 William Lloyd Garrison publishes 8 10 Ave. Monument Journal of the Times 9 20 Uel Robinson House VT Route 9 / West Rd. 21 Ellenwood-Daniel Conkling House 1841 Downtown Bennington, called 7 6 5 22 Fay-Brown House “Algiers,” develops 23 Governor John Robinson House 4 1891 Dedication of Bennington Battle 24 Captain David Robinson House Monument celebrating the Battle 3 25 Bennington Battle Monument of Bennington in 1777 and the 2 1 26 Monument to Colonel Seth Warner Centennial of Vermont statehood 27 Monument to General **This map is not to scale Monument Ave. Extension Old Benningtonchartered 1749

photo part of Collection of the Bennington Museum

Old Bennington Old Bennington is the earliest permanent settlement in Vermont. In the Spring of 1761 Captain Samuel Robinson directed a group of 22 settlers from Massachusetts to the wilderness of Vermont to form a Congregational community centered around a village green and a meeting house. The Bennington Historical Society Walking Tour community grew rapidly, hosting many fine homes, schools, a cemetery, post office, and View of Bennington, 1798, Ralph Earl (1751-1801), Collection of the Bennington Museum court house. It was a self-sufficient community he mission of the Bennington Historical with many local artisans and merchants to TSociety is to research the history of provide services. Bennington and surrounding communities and The ventured out share our insights with the public. We hope Discover the Stories from here to fight for their land and freedom in to foster a greater understanding of our the Battle of Bennington. In July of 1777, the common heritage. of Twenty-Seven Council of Safety met in Bennington and The society conducts approximately wrestled with the affairs of the newly created eight monthly meetings per year in Bennington Buildings & Monuments Republic of Vermont. At the meeting house they Museum’s beautiful Ada Paresky Education discussed the new Vermont constitution, prohibiting Center. Our monthly presentations are usually slavery and offering near universal suffrage. on the third Sunday of the month at 2:00 p.m in Vermont’s Bennington produced six Vermont governors. in the Ada Paresky Education Center at the However, as industry grew, activity began Bennington Museum, located at 75 Main First & Oldest Town to shift downhill along the Walloomsack River Street in Bennington. which provided power to operate mills and machinery. Government offices and business We are grateful to our sponsors: soon followed, leaving Old Bennington behind Tri-State FCU, Town of Bennington, as a quiet residential community. Bank of Bennington, Bennington Potters, Old Bennington reflects a history of and Hawkins House Craftsmarket. change; homes have been taken down, moved, and benningtonhistory.org renovated but the original character of individualism [email protected] and freedom remains and continues in the spirit Bennington Historical Society Follow the tour with your phone of Bennington and of Vermont. ~ Bennington Museum ~ 1 Pliney Dewey House 1800 10 Site of Bennington 19 Richard Carpenter House 1819 Built by son of Jedidiah Meetinghouse 1763 One of the many tradesmen in Dewey, first pastor of the First On this site stood the original Old Bennington, Carpenter Church. Pliney ran a cider mill Meetinghouse. The building was operated a tailor shop with by the brook behind the home. 40 x 50 feet and served as a Isaiah Hendryx. The triple Federal style. school, a church, and Town Hall. window above the door shows Prisoners from the Battle of Bennington were held here. The renovations carried out in Vermont legislature convened here in 1778. It was taken down the 1890s. after the completion of the Old First Church. Hiram Waters House 1820 2 Waters was a carpenter and 20 The Uel Robinson House 1828 built the house at left. 11 Site of County Courthouse 1847 Uel was the grandson of Samuel The shop, built in 1862, was This was the third Courthouse to Robinson. The house is a connected to the home. Both be built in Old Bennington. It Federal style / Greek Revival buildings are in the Greek burned in 1869 and was rebuilt clapboard home. Interestingly, Revival style with later in a location on South Street, two of Uel’s sons moved to embellishments such as the moving the base of power from South Carolina and served in the starburst on the pediment. Old Bennington to what is now downtown Bennington. In Confederate Army during the Vermont a Shire Town is a county seat, and Bennington and Civil War. Manchester both share that distinction. The June term of the Isaiah Hendryx House 1830 3 County Court convenes at Bennington and the December term at In this brick house the front Ellenwood-Daniel Conkling Manchester. Ethan Allen’s home, built in 1769 was next door. 21 door and the gable reflect the House 1810 Federal style and the gable This home was enlarged and facing the street and pediment Ethan Allen's House 1769 embellished in the Italianate style reflect the Greek Revival Style 12 Ethan Allen lived here from in 1859. At one time it sported a showing the changing architec- 1769 to 1775. He is best known cupola. Conkling’s carriage shop tural styles of the period. as one of the founders of was next door. Hendryx was a tailor, one of the many tradesmen and merchants Vermont and for the capture of that worked in Old Bennington providing goods and services to early in the the community. Revolutionary War. A historic marker is located a few feet 22 The Fay-Brown House 1781 4 Jedidiah Dewey House 1763 north of the homesite. This is the only stone building Built by Jedidiah Dewey, a in the area and was built as a carpenter and the first pastor of blacksmith shop. It was the First Church, this is one of 13 Asa Hyde House 1787 converted into a dwelling in the oldest frame buildings in Asa Hyde, a skilled cabinet 1857 and underwent remodeling Vermont. The house is located maker, came to Bennington in 1937. on the original “Minister’s Lot” from Norwich, Connecticut, in of 420 acres that was granted 1805 to work with the building to him by the town proprietors and stretched all the way to the of the First Church. He is Walloomsac River. responsible for many of the 23 Governor John Robinson features of the church, including House 1860 the columns, pews, and pulpit. 5 Roberts House 1895 Robinson, the first Democratic Built in the Colonial Revival Governor of Vermont, was style, it replicates the earlier 14 Site of the elected in 1853. The house was Federal style of the other Catamount Tavern 1767 built in the vernacular style that buildings on the street. It was combined both Greek Revival Originally the Stephen Fay the home of novelist John and Federal features. Tavern, the building stood on Gardner while he taught at this site and served as the head- Bennington College. quarters of Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, who left 24 Captain David Robinson 6 William Lloyd Garrison from here in 1775 to capture House 1790 Marker Fort Ticonderoga. General Stark, Robinson was a grandson of William Lloyd Garrison, the who commanded the American Samuel Robinson, one of the great abolitionist, briefly ran a forces in the Battle of founders of Bennington. Upon newspaper, The Journal of the Bennington, conferred here with his death he deeded his house to Times, in Bennington from the leaders of Vermont prior to the Battle. British officers the First Congregational Church 1828 to 1829 before moving on captured in the Battle were housed here for a short time. The for use as a parsonage. to establish The Liberator. bronze statue of the catamount commemorates a stuffed mountain lion that once stood in front of the tavern snarling towards New York, then engaged in land disputes with Vermont. The Bennington Battle Col. Nathaniel Brush House 25 7 Monument 1891 1775 Built to commemorate the Battle Colonel Brush commanded two 15 Old Academy 1819 of Bennington, it is located near companies of Vermont militia This two story brick building the site of the Continental Store- at the Battle of Bennington. having a steep gable front was house which was the object of The home was renovated originally built as a school; later the British attack. The limestone in 1824. it served as the town library, memorial is 306 feet high, with the fire department in the making it the tallest structure in basement. Just after it was built Walloomsac Inn 1771 Vermont. President Benjamin 8 a windstorm blew off the belfry, Originally the Dewey Tavern, it Harrison attended its dedication and part of the facade had to be was built by Elijah Dewey, son in 1891 on the 100th anniversary of Vermont statehood. Memori- replaced. Note the difference in of Reverend Jedidiah Dewey. als to General Stark, Colonel Warner, and printer Anthony the brickwork on the front. During Bennington’s heyday as Haswell are located nearby. the jumping-off point for settling the Vermont frontier, 16 Site of Samuel Robinson’s 26 Monument to the Walloomsac Inn was an Log Cabin 1761 important stage stop and one of the village’s commercial and Colonel Seth Warner Robinson was the founder of social centers. Prisoners captured at the Battle of Bennington Seth Warner was a resident of Bennington and leader of the were fed from its kitchens, Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Bennington and successor to first settlers who bought land James Madison stayed here in 1791, and President Rutherford Ethan Allen as leader of Green titles originating from a grant B. Hayes held a reception at the Inn celebrating the centennial of Mountain Boys. Later, when made by Governor Benning the Battle of Bennington in 1877. Mrs. Theodore Roosevelt and the Green Mountain Boys Wentworth of New Hampshire her family and later Walt Disney were guests as well. The Inn became a Continental Army in 1749. was in continuous operation as an inn into the 1970s and may be regiment, he led them to victory the oldest inn in Vermont. It is currently a private residence. at the Battle of Bennington.

9 Old First Church 1805 The first Protestant congrega- 17 Samuel Raymond House 1821 27 Monument to tion in the New Hampshire Built of locally made brick, this General John Stark Grants was gathered on was the residence of the John Stark, one of the heroes of December 3, 1762 at the president of the first bank in Bunker Hill, raised 1400 Meetinghouse. The First Bennington, which was located volunteers from New Hampshire Congregational Church, built next door on Bank Street. and was the overall commander in 1805, was dedicated in Extensive renovations around at the Battle of Bennington. 1806. Designed by noted architect Lavius Fillmore, with its 1930 included a two-story Rallying his troops before the Palladian window and open belfry, it represents the best of addition and a sunporch. battle he said “There they are, Federal church architecture. It was restored and rededicated as boys! We beat them today or Vermont’s Colonial Shrine in 1937; Robert Frost read a poem at Molly Stark sleeps a widow tonight!” The sculpture shows the ceremony. The adjacent cemetery, which predates the church, General David Robinson contains the graves of many of the founders of Bennington, 18 General Stark pointing to the battlefield. Governors of Vermont, and a mass grave of German and American House 1795 soldiers killed at the Battle of Bennington. The earliest grave is General David Robinson was that of Bridget Harwood who died in 1762. Robert Frost, one of the sons of Samuel Special thanks to Robert Tegart and the Bennington although not a member of the congregation, is buried here with Robinson. Built in the Georgian Historical Society for donating their time and knowledge members of his family. style, the house features a large to create this walking tour. Palladian window.