Benjamin Bushnell Farm
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The Benjamin Bushnell Farm is a historic farm property in
Essex, Connecticut Essex is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 6,733 at the 2020 census. It is made up of three villages: Essex Village, Centerbrook, and Ivoryton. History The Great Attack Essex is one of the few A ...
. Developed around 1790, the property includes a well-preserved Federal period farmhouse, and a rare example of a 19th-century cranberry house. The farm was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
in 1990.


Description and history

The Benjamin Bushnell Farm is located in a rural setting of southern Essex, on between Ingham Hill Road and
Connecticut Route 153 Route 153 is a Connecticut state highway in the Connecticut River valley running from U.S. Route 1 in Westbrook center to Route 154 in Essex Village in the town of Essex. Route description Route 153 begins as Essex Road in downtown Westbroo ...
. The property includes five buildings. The main house is a c. 1790 Federal style structure, five bays wide, with a central chimney. Its main entrance has a fine Federal surround, with delicate pilasters supporting a corniced entablature. The barn, with attached silo, is of 19th century origin, and the three remaining buildings are smaller, including a rare surviving cranberry house. The latter is evidence that the Bushnells and their successors actually cultivated
cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...
, rather than just harvesting wild ones. and The property was owned from the late 17th century by the Bushnell family, settlers of
Old Saybrook Old Saybrook is a town in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 10,481 at the 2020 census. It contains the incorporated borough of Fenwick, as well as the census-designated places of Old Saybrook Center and Saybroo ...
. The house was built by Benjamin Bushnell, and is a good example of a vernacular colonial style house, to which Federal details, likely inspired by the publications of
Asher Benjamin Asher Benjamin (June 15, 1773July 26, 1845) was an American architect and author whose work transitioned between Federal architecture and the later Greek Revival architecture. His seven handbooks on design deeply influenced the look of cities an ...
, were applied. The property remained in the Bushnell family until 1879, when it was purchased by William Sisson. Sisson is credited with introducing the cultivation of cranberries to the area, using bogs on the property and damming two ponds to flood them on a seasonal basis.


See also

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National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Connecticut __NOTOC__ This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Middlesex County, Connecticut. There are 123 properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut, United S ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bushnell, Benjamin, Farm Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Essex, Connecticut Colonial architecture in Connecticut Federal architecture in Connecticut Houses in Middlesex County, Connecticut Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Connecticut