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Bennington Battle Monument

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Bennington Battle Monument October 2021 001
Bennington Battle Monument October 2021 001

The Bennington Battle Monument is a 306-foot-high (93 m) stone obelisk located at 15 Monument Circle, in Bennington, Vermont, United States. The monument commemorates the Battle of Bennington during the American Revolutionary War. In that battle, on 16 August 1777, Brigadier General John Stark and 1,400 New Hampshire men, aided by Colonels Warner and Herrick of Vermont, Simonds of Massachusetts, and Moses Nichols of New Hampshire, defeated two detachments of General John Burgoyne's British army, who were seeking to capture a store of weapons and food maintained where the monument now stands. While the battle is termed the Battle of Bennington, it actually occurred about 10 miles (16 km) away, in Walloomsac, New York; the Bennington Battlefield, a U.S. National Historic Landmark, is entirely within the state of New York. In 1877, a local historical society began to plan a monument for the battle's centenary, and considered many designs. One which called for a slender stone column only 100 feet (30 m) tall was showcased during the battle's centennial celebration, which was attended by President Rutherford B. Hayes. The committee eventually accepted J. Phillip Rinn's design with some changes. The monument's cornerstone was laid in 1887, and it was completed in November 1889 at a total cost of $112,000 (including the site). It is constructed of Sandy Hill Dolomite from present day Hudson Falls, New York, a blue-gray magnesian limestone containing numerous fossils. Dedication ceremonies were delayed until 1891, when President Benjamin Harrison attended the ceremonies and held a reception at the nearby Walloomsac Inn. Today the Bennington Battle Monument is a Vermont State Historic Site.From its observatory level at 200 feet (61 m), which can be reached by elevator (but not the 417 stairs, which are closed), one can see Vermont along with the other U.S. states of Massachusetts and New York. A kettle captured from General Burgoyne's camp at Saratoga is visible in the monument along with a diorama of the second engagement, and information on how the monument was built. Statues of John Stark ("Live free or die"), Seth Warner, and other notables ornament the grounds. The monument, while 10 miles (16 km) from the relevant battlefield, is located very close to what was once the site of the Catamount Tavern, where Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys planned the capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Bennington Battle Monument (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Bennington Battle Monument
Monument Circle,

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N 42.88916 ° E -73.21563 °
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Bennington Battle Monument

Monument Circle
05257
Vermont, United States
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historicsites.vermont.gov

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Bennington Battle Monument October 2021 001
Bennington Battle Monument October 2021 001
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Catamount Tavern
Catamount Tavern

The Catamount Tavern was a tavern in Old Bennington, Vermont, United States. Originally known as Fay's House, it is marked now by a granite and copper statue placed in 1896. It was built 1769 and burned in 1871. During the tavern's 102 years of existence, it was the site of many important events in Vermont's colonial and revolutionary history. It was, for instance, the site of the public hanging of New York grantee and member of the Queen's Rangers, David Redding. Arrested for horse-theft, he managed to escape while being transported to Albany, New York. But he was re-arrested very soon and taken to Bennington, where, after a trial in the tavern, he was sentenced to be hanged in a field adjacent to the tavern. A local merchant, John Burnham, delayed the execution by pointing out that Redding had been tried by six rather than twelve men. Colonel Ethan Allen advised the crowd depart to return the day fixed for the execution in the act of the governor and council, adding with an oath, and according to Dr. John Spargo who wrote a book on the hanging which can be found in the Bennington Museum library, "you shall see somebody hung, for if Redding is not hung, I will be hung myself." Upon this assurance, the uproar ceased and the crowd dispersed. Redding was sentenced to hang on June 11, 1778 and his bones, after many years of being used for research and being kept in a drawer, were laid to rest 200 years later in the Old First Church Cemetery. The name Catamount Tavern came about when Settlers from Bennington Vermont posted a stuffed catamount on the tavern's signpost to repel the New Yorkers who claimed their land. The Catamount served as headquarters for the Green Mountain Boys while making their plans against the New Yorkers and the British. Ethan Allen planned the capture of Fort Ticonderoga here; John Stark planned British General Burgoyne's defeat here, eventually leading to the Battle of Bennington. The Catamount was also the meeting place of Vermont's only form of government then, in 1775, the Vermont Council of Safety.

Bennington Museum
Bennington Museum

The Bennington Museum is an accredited museum with notable collections of art and regional history. It is located at 75 Main Street, Bennington, Vermont, USA. The museum's history dates to 1852 when the Bennington Historical Association was first incorporated. In 1923 the association acquired a former church, which it renovated and opened to the public in 1928 as the Bennington Historical Museum. The building was subsequently expanded in 1938, 1960, 1974, and 1999. In 1938 its name was revised to the Bennington Historical Museum and Art Gallery to reflect its holdings of artwork, and in 1954 it was renamed the Bennington Museum. The collections have a special focus on Vermont and adjacent areas of New York and Massachusetts. In 1972 the schoolhouse attended by Grandma Moses was moved to the grounds and included as part of the museum. It also includes a genealogy and history research library. Key aspects of the museum's permanent collections include: Grandma Moses Gallery - the largest public collection of paintings by noted local artist "Grandma Moses", Anna Mary Robertson Moses (1860-1961). Fine Art Gallery - including works by Ralph Earl, Oliver Tarbell Eddy, Erastus Salisbury Field, Ammi Phillips, William Morris Hunt, Frederick MacMonnies, Rockwell Kent, and Simon Moselsio. Bennington Modernism - avant-garde artworks from the early 1950s through the mid-1970s by artists including Pat Adams, Willard Boepple, Anthony Caro, Paul Feeley, Helen Frankenthaler, Patricia Johanson, Vincent Longo, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Dan Shapiro, David Smith, and Tony Smith. Gilded Age Vermont - focused on Bennington from the mid 1800s to mid 1900s. Exhibits include paintings by William Morris Hunt, Frederick MacMonnies’ portrait painting of May Suydam Palmer, and glass and metal works by Lewis Comfort Tiffany, as well as a parlor organ manufactured by the Estey Organ Company and the Martin Wasp, a luxury automobile made in Bennington in 1924-25. Military Gallery - focusing on the Revolutionary War's Battle of Bennington, and including an exhibit of Vermont-made firearms from 1760 to 1900. Bennington Pottery - featuring pieces by Norton Pottery (1785-1894), United States Pottery Company (1847-1858), Fenton pottery, and redware. Textile Gallery - the Bennington flag, one of the oldest “stars and stripes” in existence, a Green Mountain Boys flag belonging to John Stark, the Jane Stickle Quilt, and other textiles.The museum also displays temporary exhibits on a wide variety of subjects.