A Day in Bennington, Vermont

We spent Monday (23rd) in Bennington and started out the morning at one of Mark's favorite stops this trip -- Hemmings Sunoco old-fashioned Filling Station and Museum. Hemmings Motor News is headquartered here and their free museum has cool classic cars and automobile memorabilia.

 

Just up the road is Old First Church, a beautifully restored Congregational Church that was built in 1805. It has historic box pews that were purchased by individual families. Since the church was not heated, each family would carry hot coals to church in a footwarmer and, gathered snuggly together in their pew box, the walls would help hold in the heat.

 

Robert Frost is buried in the adjacent cemetery.

Mark looking down at Robert Frost's grave stone.

Grave of a Revolutionary War soldier

 

Nearby is the Bennington Battle Monument which was built to commemorate the Revolutionary War battle of August 16, 1777. The stone obelisk is 306 feet tall and offers a 360 degree view from it's lookout chamber.

View from a window in the monument.

 

The Bennington Museum features the Grandma Moses Gallery and has many of her paintings and belongings on display. No photographs were allowed.

We also drove just outside of town to the Robert Frost Stone House Museum, but it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We walked around outside the house he lived in from 1920-29.

 

We were also disappointed to find the Park-MuCullough Historic Estate closed (only open on Fridays). This 35-room Victorian home was built in 1865 and still has the original furnishings. We were able to get a peek through some of the windows and it looked quite impressive. I enjoyed sitting a few moments on the porch swing. There is also an adorable child's playhouse and I was able to take a couple of pictures through the window.

Playhouse pictured in front of the main house.

Kitchen of the playhouse (taken through the window). The other room was a parlor complete with Victorian wallpaper and lace curtains.

 

We were able to find two of the three local covered bridges . . .the Henry Bridge and the Paper Mill Village Bridge. They are still in use today but our rig was too large and we had to find an alternate route to get across the river.

Henry Bridge

Henry Bridge

Paper Mill Bridge

Paper Mill Bridge

 

We had a little difficulty finding a place to camp for the night. We drove off the beaten track to the Townshend State Park over the dam bridge and at the foot of Bald Mountain, but discovered it was already closed for the season. Townshend is also the site of the old Scott Covered Bridge built in 1870.

Scott Bridge

 

We ended up backtracking and spent the night at Jamaica State Park.

 

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