enter name and hit return
Find in Page
BENSONHURST AND WASHINGTON; CLAY'S APPLEJACK An old millstone, worn smooth by time, lies in front of the hospitable door of BENSONhurst. Years ago this stone was brought from Holland, and, after passing decades in faithful service, was finally preserved as a unique threshold for the ancient house that has been famous for the welcome given its guests. Bensonhurst stands near Gravesend Bay, between what is now BENSON Avenue and Bay 24th Street. Near the homestead the British landed in Revolutionary times, and far and wide spread themselves over the town, regarding personal property as lightly as they might a wisp of hay driven by the wind across their march. Nicholas COWENHOVEN built the house more than a hundred years ago. His grand-daughter Maria married Egbert BENSON, and since that time until within a few years, from generation to generation, the BENSON's lived and kept the latch-string out in their house by the sea. The family became prominent in affairs of State, which they served with honor. Fighting Anthony BENSON gave his life for his country in the Revolutionary War, during which he was taken prisoner, and confined in the old prison-ship, Jersey, where he died from starvation and disease and was buried in Wallabout Bay. Bensonhurst has opened her doors to many a distinguished guest. General Washington was a frequent visitor there; and Mrs. Margaret BENSON BERRY, daughter of the late George BENSON, has rare old plates that were used when the first President of the United States dined in her old home. Washington was fond of leisurely partaking of his excellent meal, of praising it, and afterward he found pleasure in walking arm in arm with his host down to the beach where the shad for which New Utrecht was then famous were caught. He probably lingered there to see this and that fisherman draw out his shad. This home must have been a quiet retreat for the great man, though before and after a visit there he was accustomed to meet the groups that gathered to see and speak with him. Henry CLAY liked Bensonhurst, and the elder. BENSON was a friend and admirer of his. There is a tradition that they enjoyed many a pipe and bottle of applejack together, and to-day Mrs. BERRY has a bottle of the very applejack that came from CLAY's plantation in the South. This is evidently a bottle that CLAY and the elder BENSON overlooked, or else it may have been sent by the-latter after one of his visits to the homestead. . At Bensonhurst Martha LAMB wrote much of her History of New York, gaining inspiration in the quiet of the old homestead and historical facts from the old families of the vicinity by whom she was received. "Welkom," the quaint motto that hung in the hall at Bensonhurst, now hangs in Mr. and Mrs. BERRY's home in St. John's Place; and the homestead itself was some years ago sold to Mr. Walter E. PARFITT, who still resides there with his family. The house has been changed to suit the needs of the present owners. The Dutch oven, in which so many famous dinners were cooked, still stands in the old kitchen. The attic has hand-hewn rafters put together with wooden pegs; and many of the rooms, especially in the second story of the house, are quaint and rambling, with nooks and crannies that are found only in houses of long ago. In the rooms still linger memories of the old, old days when Washington came, and CLAY, passing across the old millstone and on over the threshold of the door bearing its hospitable "Welkom." About a Lost Sunbonnet & How Mistress Van Brunt Conquered the British in the Van Brunt Homestead Return to INDEX..Rambles of Brooklyn Return to BROOKLYN Info Main Page