Bensen-Ball House - gallery of interior

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Bensen-Ball House - interior

Taken in August and September, 2001, these photos show the interior of the Bensen-Ball house as it was being carefully pealed away, layer by layer, to reveal its secrets. My notes and photos are those of a non-expert. Though I have received information from Jeri Bemis, Joe Wheeler, and Win Wilbur, any mistakes are mine.

At an open house for citizens interested in history, David Ottinger describes the old kitchen. Ottinger is a old house appreciator and dismantler-preserver. The cupboard at left shows the older feather-edge paneling. The big central chimney used to be where the ladder is shown. The mantle at right is Federalist (about 1820), which was the house's LAST major renovation! Recently, it hasn't been fiddled with much.

This is the back kitchen corner. The soft bricks and clay were a thermal mass within the exterior wall opposite the kitchen fireplace. The red paint is evidence of a cupboard on the back wall. Tucked into a niche in the back wall was an old ladle (see arrow).

This is the ladle which had been hidden in a dark niche. Old shoes and old newspapers were also inside the walls.

This is an awkward pan of the parlor interior wall. The front door and old feather-edge paneling is at the right. Another federal-period mantle is in the middle. The old-house historian points to a "gunstock" corner post, also shown in the next photo. Naomy's room is perhaps at the left, where she would have lived, after her father's 1808 will required that she be provided a room, so long as she remained single. The horizontal striping on the paneling is evidence of the early plastering, which was applied to lath over the paneling.

The vertical oak post broadens at the top, forming an old "gunstock" joint, where various timbers join in a very old style.

Signatures are not uncommon on boards and chamfered beams. Jeri Bemis, who is leading the preservation effort, shows a signature that appears to be that of John Ball. In the back of the shed room, the words "April 19" may have been scrawled on a wall.

The upper story had two small rooms, one on each side of the central chimney that is shown in Gleason's 1904 photo. These rooms were originally accessible only by ladder. Probably the children lived up there, boys on one side, girls on the other? To my surprise, I learned that the rooms remained unfinished and uninsulated, except by old newspapers (mid-1800s issues survive, visible beside the window in the photo) tacked to the sheathing. Both the Balls and the Bensens had large families: 6-8 kids would go to bed up there. Brr.

Return to Bensen-Ball house start page

	At an open house for citizens interested in history, David Ottinger describes the old kitchen. Ottinger is a old house appreciator and dismantler-preserver. The cupboard at left shows the older feather-edge paneling. The big central chimney used to be where the ladder is shown. The mantle at right is Federalist (about 1820), which was the house's LAST major renovation! Recently, it hasn't been fiddled with much.
	This is the back kitchen corner. The soft bricks and clay were a thermal mass within the exterior wall opposite the kitchen fireplace. The red paint is evidence of a cupboard on the back wall. Tucked into a niche in the back wall was an old ladle (see arrow).
	This is the ladle which had been hidden in a dark niche. Old shoes and old newspapers were also inside the walls.
	This is an awkward pan of the parlor interior wall. The front door and old feather-edge paneling is at the right. Another federal-period mantle is in the middle. The old-house historian points to a "gunstock" corner post, also shown in the next photo. Naomy's room is perhaps at the left, where she would have lived, after her father's 1808 will required that she be provided a room, so long as she remained single. The horizontal striping on the paneling is evidence of the early plastering, which was applied to lath over the paneling.
	The vertical oak post broadens at the top, forming an old "gunstock" joint, where various timbers join in a very old style.
	Signatures are not uncommon on boards and chamfered beams. Jeri Bemis, who is leading the preservation effort, shows a signature that appears to be that of John Ball. In the back of the shed room, the words "April 19" may have been scrawled on a wall.
	The upper story had two small rooms, one on each side of the central chimney that is shown in Gleason's 1904 photo. These rooms were originally accessible only by ladder. Probably the children lived up there, boys on one side, girls on the other? To my surprise, I learned that the rooms remained unfinished and uninsulated, except by old newspapers (mid-1800s issues survive, visible beside the window in the photo) tacked to the sheathing. Both the Balls and the Bensens had large families: 6-8 kids would go to bed up there. Brr.