For these of us clearing out our attics and basements, investigating inherited wooden furnishings, or scoping out roadside vintage outlets, it’s normal to come back throughout a wooden piece branded with the quantity “76.”
Should you’re questioning what that brand means, you’re not alone. A fast Google search clarifies that many of us are too.
The reply? Bennington Pine Furnishings.
Let’s dive into the historical past of the model– or what little we learn about it.
The Rise and Fall of the Bennington Pine Furnishings Firm
In Winooski, Vermont, in the course of the roaring twenties, the Vermont Furnishings Firm opened its doorways, embarking on a journey of workmanship in Northern Vermont following a convention of Vermont Furnishings making that may be traced to the seventeenth century. Identified initially for crafting high-quality maple wooden items, within the Nineteen Sixties, the Vermont Furnishings Firm needed to attempt one thing completely different: furnishings constituted of pine. Thus, Bennington Pine Furnishings was born someday within the Nineteen Sixties.
The Seventies have been the golden period for Bennington Pine, a interval when colonial-style furnishings grew to become a staple in American properties. These items, crafted with consideration to element, featured the sturdiness of strong wooden building and basic tongue and groove drawers.
In keeping with historian Joe Rosson, the corporate may be traced to the Seventies, “however the little data I may discover means that the mom firm and Bennington Pine have been out of enterprise someday within the Seventies.” Nonetheless, it’s not publicly accessible why the corporate went out of enterprise.
Additionally in accordance with Rosson, one method to distinguish the Bennington Pine benches from genuinely outdated items is that “the Bennington items have been assembled with screws– not with sq. nails as they could have been in any other case.”
The place to View or Buy Bennington Pine Furnishings
Moreover of us promoting Bennington Pine Furnishings independently, you may come throughout items from the model in Vermont vintage outlets and classic marketplaces. Nonetheless, for details about different key gamers within the historical past of woodworking in Vermont, try our Vermont Furnishings Encyclopedia.