Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bennett House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bennett House
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| Nearest city | Norway, Maine |
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| Area | 48 acres (19 ha) |
| Built | 1792 |
| Architectural style | Federal |
| NRHP reference No. | 96000652 |
| Added to NRHP | June 7, 1996 |
The Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bennett House, also known as Cedarbrook Farm, is a very old and special house in Norway, Maine, United States. It's famous for its unique design and a room with amazing stencil paintings on the walls! A well-known newspaper editor, Don Carlos Seitz, used to own it and ran a special kind of farm there. This historic home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. This means it's an important part of American history.
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What Makes the Bennett House Special?
The farm property today is about 48 acres. This is a smaller part of the 150 acres Nathaniel Bennett bought in 1790. The house itself is a classic example of the Federal style. It's made of wood and faces south. It has five sections across the front and two brick chimneys inside.
House Design and Features
The main entrance is in the middle. It has windows on the sides and decorated columns. A wide, flat trim piece and a decorative top are above the door. An addition, called an "ell," stretches from the back of the house. This ell connects the house to an old barn. The ell was rebuilt in the 1980s. The barn's age is not known, but it might be as old as the main house.
Inside the Historic Home
The main part of the house has four rooms on each floor. Two rooms are on each side of a central hallway. The front rooms on both floors have fancy wood panels around the fireplaces. They also have wood trim along the bottom of the walls. The back rooms are much simpler.
The Unique Stencil Room
One of the most interesting parts of the house is the front room on the left. It has very unusual stencil artwork painted right on its walls! This artwork is different from most stencil designs from that time. Many stencils back then were inspired by an artist named Moses Eaton. But these designs are unique. The walls are painted a sky blue color. Over this blue, there are rows of flowers. Each flower stem has two buds and a group of leaves. A small yellow flower separates the leaves.
A Look Back at Cedarbrook Farm's History
The front part of the Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bennett House was built around 1792. This was soon after Nathaniel Bennett bought the land. The back part of the house was added later, in 1812. The outside doors were updated with a Greek Revival style sometime after that.
From Bennetts to a Famous Editor
Nathaniel and Elizabeth Bennett did not have children. The house was eventually sold to Don Carlos Seitz. He was a famous publisher for the New York World newspaper. Seitz used the property as a "gentleman's farm." This means he owned and managed the farm, but he likely didn't do all the hard work himself. He was the one who named the property "Cedarbrook Farm." He also built a large barn on the property. That barn is no longer there, but its foundation can still be seen.
Later Years of the Farm
In 1927, Don Carlos Seitz's family sold the farm. It was bought by one of his hired workers. For a while, the property was even used as a place for tourists to stay.
