The Daniel Benton Homestead is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a variety of ...

and the oldest house in Tolland,

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

. It was built in 1720 and has been operated by the Tolland Historical Society as a museum since 1970. Along with the Old Tolland County Jail and Museum, the Tolland County Courthouse, and the Hicks-Stearns Family Museum, the Benton Homestead is one of Tolland's four major historic landmarks.

House

The house is a colonial

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months. The ...

with an

ell An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", an ...

, featuring ten rooms, five fireplaces, and a spacious cellar. The building has been restored and repainted in its original colors. The original paneling in the parlor was painted with simulated walnut wood grain in a style typical of early

Georgian architecture Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1714 and 1830. It is named after the first four Monarchy of the United Kingdom, British monarchs of the House of Han ...

History

Daniel Benton, son of Samuel Benton, one of the first settlers in Tolland, built the family homestead on 40 acres of farmland in 1720. The house stayed in the Benton family for six generations. It was the ancestral home of U.S. Senator William Benton.

American Revolution

During the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, twenty Hessian soldiers were imprisoned in the Benton Homestead's cellar, whose rafters featured intricate scrolls, now undecipherable, carved by Hessians to pass the time during captivity. The prisoners were well-treated and several chose to remain in Tolland after their release. The homestead was also the scene of a tragic romance. Daniel Benton's grandson, Elisha Benton (b. 1748), fell in love with Jemima Barrows (b. 1759), 11 years his junior and the daughter of a local cabinetmaker. Both families frowned on the romance because of age and social class differences. Elisha and two of his brothers enlisted in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

and were captured in the

Battle of Long Island The Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn and the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, was an action of the American Revolutionary War fought on August 27, 1776, at and near the western edge of Long Island in present-day Brooklyn ...

and held for months on squalorous British prison ships. Elisha's brothers died in captivity. Released in a prisoner exchange, Elisha Benton returned home suffering from smallpox in January 1777. Jemima attempted to nurse Elisha back to health, but he died on January 21. Jemima, too, died of smallpox on February 28. As custom prohibited the burying of an unmarried couple side by side, the lovers were buried a discreet distance apart on Benton land.

Twentieth century

In 1934, the Chapin family, which was descended from the Bentons, sold the house to WTIC radio host and

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

dietetics instructor Florrie Bishop Bowering. Bowering restored the house and lived there until she sold it in 1968 to William Shocket and Charles Goodstein. The new owners donated the property, house, and furnishings to the Tolland Historical Society on December 13, 1969. The house opened as a museum the following year. It is open for tours on Sundays from June through September. The house is reputedly haunted by the ghosts of Hessian soldiers, and of the lovers Elisha and Jemima. Bowering's maid reportedly saw the specter of a young woman in a bridal dress wandering through the house and weeping. Other visitors reported unexplained lights, sounds, and apparitions.

Popular culture

The Benton Homestead was featured on Episode 20 of the popular history podcast ''

Lore Lore may refer to: * Folklore, acquired knowledge or traditional beliefs * Oral lore or oral tradition, orally conveyed cultural knowledge and traditions Places * Loré, former French commune * Loré (East Timor), a city and subdistrict in La ...

''.

References

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External links

Daniel Benton Homestead Museum
- Tolland Historical Society Tolland, Connecticut Buildings and structures in Tolland County, Connecticut Museums in Tolland County, Connecticut History museums in Connecticut Historic house museums in Connecticut Reportedly haunted locations in Connecticut