Architecture styles change over time, showing the preferences of the people based on convenience, availability of materials, and outside influences. Bennington is no different. From the late 1700s to 1910, there were eight recognizable styles of houses were built in our town. The oldest is the Cape.

House Beautiful.com describes a Cape-style house this way: “…modest, one-room deep, wood-framed houses with clapboard or shingle exteriors (which, when weathered over time, turned that quintessential light gray color). They were low, broad structures with unadorned, flat-front facades….The classic Cape Cod cottage had a central front door with two windows on each side of it…The homes often had a large central chimney that linked to several rooms in the house, with a steeply pitched, side-gabled roof (meaning the triangular portions of the roof are on the sides of the house), which helped prevent snow accumulation. The ceilings of the single-story homes were low, which kept things cozy and also helped to keep living quarters warm.”

The oldest houses in Bennington date from the 1790s, and they are all Cape-style. It is said that many of the houses on Main Street were built by John Putnam, to encourage families to move to the area.

The floor plan at left shows the typical lay-out of the time: only three main rooms downstairs, around the central chimney. A ‘keeping room’ would be called the kitchen today or a ‘great room’/family room in modern decorating parlance. It was the warmest room in the house. That was where the cooking, eating, and everyday life occurred. The four rooms flanking the keeping room were for two pantries; a bedroom for a guest; a smaller bedroom for a family invalid, or servant. The stairs lead to a loft for storage and for children’s sleeping quarters as the family grew.

We are fortunate that some of our oldest houses still stand, such as the Putnam House; Balch Farm house near the top of Bible Hill Road [which was being restored in 1979, when it caught fire from a purported lightning strike, and was almost completely destroyed]; and the many Cape-style houses near the Village Center, like the one below on Bible Hill Road, sometimes called the Burtt House, after its builder.

The next installment of the Bennington NH Historical Society Blog will be posted on September 18, 2023. If you click the Follow button, all future posts will be sent straight to your inbox every month.