2,174 Comments for Bennett School for Girls

It is such a shame to see such beautiful architecture, and history, left to fall in on itself. Thanks for sharing the info & pics. Love it.

u girls are staying on top of this

Thank you Celeste, I think the grand fireplaces were auctioned. There was a large one in the grand living room ,and that has been gone a very long time as well.

Nice photo of the Music Hall Stage Christina ^.^ From a photo I saw recently, ( the opposite side of yours ) it would seem as if the fire place was removed long ago. Which is a shame, it was a nice one, maybe it was recycled and it still exists somewhere else in the world! That would be cool. Maybe it was just covered in debris... or maybe it was vandalized.

As for the fires, yeah I hate those people. They also try to use the nonfunctional fire places... ah well.

don't know what longtime Millbrookites think of the building- as I was driving around in absolute awe of the trees and mountains others were driving probably oblivious of the beauty of the scenery -maybe the same thought is of Bennett if U have more pics of after fallen leaves please post them-- have never seen it with bare trees

Nooo, it is definitely new, I have a few friends that visited in September ,and that was not there. Maybe she thought you meant the front?

I read Carola's bio and it says she has lived in Millbrook for 30 years. That means she has watched Halcyon Hall's decline ,and I image that would be a painful thing see.

nothing much has happened in the last couple of years - it looks pretty much as it did when we last wrote about it - eventually it will fall down on its own as no one has the money to hastem its demise------------- from Carola Lott of the Independent maybe it's been there but we never noticed it- go figure- I would not want to be living at Bennett Commons when the big one hits they are just feet away from it

Iceberg, you are correct, the left hand peak could go at anytime. I hate to say , the crookedness that you see is the building itself. The doorways look like a cartoon, very small at the bottom ,and they get larger as they go up. So small at the bottom you would have to shimmy sideways to get through it. The top of the door frame is then greeted with slanted down molding.

I say this all the time ,but I have no idea how it's still standing. Since that peak room collapsed that means the rooms are down on both sides so the hallway is just kind of floating there.

Another thing, there are also a few spots where people have tried to burn it down. I don't know how the fire went out because I'm assuming they took off when they did it.

I understand why PR is using an alias, the whole thing is depressing and infuriating. You have to speak your mind in order to help cope with it. I guess my way of coping with it, is filming every possible angle during every season at all hours of the day. Every time I go it's different, there's new graffiti over the beautiful woodwork, top story rooms that you could walk on are now down in the basement, I'm not exactly the best writer that's Rusty's specialty. This is example of what I'm trying to say:

I took this picture (even though I don't take pictures, made an exception for Bennett) last spring:

https://scontent-a-lga...187_1148053765_n.jpg

Normally that room is pitch black. The ceiling gave out just a little bit, and the sun just happened to be shining through the small collapse making it look as if there was a spot light on that chair. It's eerie because many productions happened on that stage ,and it almost looked as if one was happening at that very moment. I would say, it looked like that for about 10 minutes and then it was gone.

I visited that spot yesterday, almost the entire right hand side of the ceiling is down so it now lights up the entire room which is covered in graffiti and someone lit the chair on fire at one point so it's a melted mess.

Yesterdays trip took a lot of me so I'm feeling sad so don't mind my novel >.< Sorry if there's poor punctuation/spelling errors. I've been chugging coffee all morning and it's doing NOTHING!

Christina, from your photos there, looks like another collapse could happen to the left of the chimney. The windows look like they are beginning to sag down somewhat. Do you concur or is it just the angle the photo was taken, making it appear that way?

wanderer, I too hope the end is not near for her. She has hung on this long, but time is not being kind to her & neither is the weather that she has to deal with. If she is going out, the old girl is doing it on her terms.

I learned all that foliage on the side is poison sumac >.< Does Carola Lott have a connection to Bennett? I just found her picture at the "who we are" section of the Millbrook Independent ,and I'm almost positive she was standing right next to me as I got in my car by the Millbrook diner. She was looking at a history plaque in front of an old building so she caught my attention.

the foliage was soo dense there I missed it if it was done- oh no is this the beginning of the end for the old girl- please keep us up on deterioration- will contact Carola Lott of Millbrook Independent monday

I have some very sad news, I needed more Bennett interiors so I made a return trip this morning. There is another very large collapse, looks like it just happened. Wanderer when you visited, did you see it?

The computer I'm on can't handle my video files so I took a cell phone photo of my camera screen so everyone can see it (excuse the quality):

Pulled Back:

http://i899.photobucke...ein2_zps1bf0f415.jpg

Close: http://i899.photobucke...vein_zps07ddfa8d.jpg

Christina you think like me ^o^

Spectator, that's actually my video ,and my boyfriend's photos. I'm glad you like the music! Rusty and I have been spending several months working on a full documentary about Bennett College. We have slowed down on other abandoned places since this doc is so much work. It's a very important place ,and loved by so many (including myself). I want to make sure her memory ,and stories live on forever. I feel cheesy saying that ,but I feel strongly about it.

keep the camera ready - happy trails to you