June Blog: Self-guided tours & history of Bennington |
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We hope everyone is having a great start to summer! The weather is beautiful in Wilmington & we are enjoying the warm days. Bennington is located about 25 minutes from Wilmington, full of history it is a great destination to tour while visiting the area.
Thank you, Charlie & Megan |
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Bennington, town (township), one of the seats of Bennington county (the other is Manchester Village), in the southwest corner of Vermont, U.S., on the Walloomsac River between the Taconic Range and the Green Mountains. It includes the villages of Old Bennington, Bennington, and North Bennington.
The site, chartered as a town in 1749, was settled in 1761 and named for Benning Wentworth, governor of New Hampshire, who issued the grant. The settlers were led by Samuel Robinson, who camped in the river valley on his return from the French and Indian War. Within the year the group had organized a town-meeting government that has survived to this day with only slight modifications. These pioneers, among them Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys, successfully resisted the claims to Bennington lands by absentee landlords of New York, and the independence of Vermonters was soon established.
During the 19th century the town grew into a textile, pottery, wood products, and paper centre. Its present economy is based on manufacturing (batteries, automotive parts, composites, stoneware, plastic products, and hand tools), agriculture (including maple sugar), and tourism. Nearby ski areas attract many visitors.
Extant colonial buildings include the Walloomsac Inn (in continuous service from the 1760s to the 1980s, when it became a private residence) and the houses of Parson Jedediah Dewey, Governor Isaac Tichenor, and General David Robinson. The Old First Church (1806) was restored in 1937; the grave of Robert Frost, the poet, is in the Old Burying Ground. The town is the seat of Southern Vermont College (founded 1926) and Bennington College (1932.) |
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After capturing Fort Ticonderoga (see Siege of Fort Ticonderoga) in July 1777, the British commander, General John Burgoyne, pushed into western New York State toward Albany. His long supply line to Canada could not provide adequate supplies, and so hoping to capture needed provisions and overawe New Englanders, he dispatched a well-equipped regiment to Bennington under the German colonel Friedrich Baum. The raiding force, numbering 800 Germans, British, Loyalists, and Indians, departed on 9 August and plundered the countryside for five days. On 14 August, a group of American militia sent by Vermont Brigadier General John Stark lost a skirmish with Baum’s raiders near Bennington. The American force grew to 1,100 men the next day when Stark arrived with reinforcements in heavy rain. Baum realized he was badly outnumbered. He sent a courier to Burgoyne requesting more troops and had his men build earth breastworks in the meantime for defense.
On 16 August, Stark led his militia in a multipronged assault against Baum’s positions. The complex American plan worked perfectly, hitting the positions simultaneously from several directions. The Loyalists and Indians ran at the first volley, but the British and German regulars fiercely defended their redoubt for two hours until their ammunition was gone. In a vain attempt to break out, Baum had his dismounted Hessian cavalrymen draw sabers and attack on foot. Baum fell fatally wounded, and the survivors surrendered. Reinforcements sent by Burgoyne were delayed by the rain and arrived after the battle. Stark reformed his celebrating men and attacked the arriving Germans. In the fight, the German commander was killed and the rest forced to retreat. The outcome of this engagement went far in enhancing American morale.
The battle, which took place at the site of the present village of Walloomsac, New York (several miles west of Bennington), contributed to the eventual defeat of Burgoyne. It is commemorated by a historical park near Walloomsac and by a 306-foot obelisk at the village of Old Bennington. |
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The Bennington Museum presents and explores the rich culture of southern Vermont, eastern New York State, northwestern Massachusetts, and southern New Hampshire in all its forms, from the 18th century to the present.
The Museum, founded in 1875, has an outstanding historical collection centered on regional materials—particularly those associated with the Battle of Bennington in 1777 during the American Revolution, which took place several miles northwest of Bennington in what is now New York state.
The museum includes genealogical records, the oldest stars-and-stripes flag in existence, an art collection containing stoneware and porcelain objects from local potteries, and paintings, including a number of works by Grandma Moses.
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Tours Bennington boasts multiple driving & walking tours that bring you through the history of the area. The Bennington Museum has compiled a great list of these tours.
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Thank you for your continued support |
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