Archive for November, 2015

Benton Barn, Sachem’s Head, Guilford, CT, as photographed on 35mm Kodachrome slide film by Elton L. Helander, February 1947.

Benton Barn was built circa 1850 for John Benton. From 1859–1867, the barn was owned by H. Lee Scranton, whose farm supplied all the dairy products that graced the tables of the celebrated Sachem’s Head Hotel.

In 1869, Dan L. Benton, Jr. acquired the farm and gifted it to his son, L. Herbert Benton in 1888. The farm was later operated by Herbert’s son, Eliot H. Benton, and his grandson, H. Milton Benton. After Milton’s death in 2006, the barn lot was sold. In 2009, Jonathan Wuerth dismantled the high hay barn section for re-erection (5000 Durham Road, North Guilford).

(download large TIFF format for printing)

Benton Barn, Sachem’s Head, Guilford, CT, as photographed on 35mm Kodachrome slide film by J. Perry Wilson in May 1944. Wilson (1889–1976) was a pre-eminent American painter of murals and used this image as a backdrop for a diorama that can still be seen in the Yale Peabody Museum, New Haven, CT.

Benton Barn was built circa 1850 for John Benton. From 1859–1867, the barn was owned by H. Lee Scranton, whose farm supplied all the dairy products that graced the tables of the celebrated Sachem’s Head Hotel.

In 1869, Dan L. Benton, Jr. acquired the farm and gifted it to his son, L. Herbert Benton in 1888. The farm was later operated by Herbert’s son, Eliot H. Benton, and his grandson, H. Milton Benton. After Milton’s death in 2006, the barn lot was sold. In 2009, Jonathan Wuerth dismantled the high hay barn section for re-erection (5000 Durham Road, North Guilford).

(download large TIFF format for printing)