More about North Bennington Vermont
Hiland Hall, Trenor Park and John McCullough were the patriarchs of the enormously philanthropic Park-McCullough family of North Bennington, Vermont but don’t discount the women! Hiland’s wife, Dolly, endured a trip around the Horn, losing their first born son on the journey to San Francisco and then returned gamely to the Hall Farm where she efficiently and without complaint ran the family farm during her husband’s long absence. Their daughter, Laura, who married the entrepreneurial attorney Trenor Park, courageously joined her husband in his ventures in California despite her father’s misgivings. She shared in her husbands losses and gains, culminating with their successful return to New York City and North Bennington. Upon their return in 1865 they purchased 200 acres of the Hall Farm saving Hiland and Dolly from serious debt and in one year built the splendid Park-McCullough Estate. In 1871 their daughter Lizzie married John McCullough, former Attorney General for California who later became Governor of Vermont. She remained a resident of the Great House until her death in 1930. Future generations of the family have been instrumental in providing North Bennington with its public library, train station (which has been converted to Town offices) and finally with the gift of the Park McCullough Mansion, now home to a non-profit organization that is the center piece of the cultural life in North Bennington to this day.
Read our next installment on what is happening at present day Hiland Hall.
Tags: Hiland Hall, John McCullough, North Bennington Vermont, North Bennington VT, Park McCullough, Trenor Park