History of Park-McCullough

The Park-McCullough House is one of the finest, most significant, and best Preserved Victorian Mansions in New England. Built in 1864-65 by attorney and entrepreneur Trenor Park (1823-1882), the house was designed by Henry Dudley, a prolific New York architect of the popular firm of Diaper and Dudley. It is an important example of a country house in the Second Empire Style and incorporates architectural features of the Romantic Revival style that were popular at the time. The house retains to a great extent the integrity and impact of its original design.

A family portrait showing Trenor and Laura Park with daughter Lizzie

Trenor Park was born in Woodford, Vermont, just east of Bennington. He was ambitious and earned a law degree at the age of 21. His abilities caught the eye of Hiland Hall (1795-1885), son of one of the original settlers of Bennington and a leading political light. In 1846, Park married Hall's daughter, Laura (1828-1875)

Trenor Park moved to California where he amassed a fortune overseeing the mining interests of John C. Fremont. Laura, his wife, preferred the East and she persuaded him to return to Vermont, where they began to build on 200 acres of land that had been part of Hiland Hall's holdings. The house cost $75,000 and the family moved in on Christmas Day, 1865.

The Park's oldest daughter, Eliza Hall "Lizzie" Park (1848-1938), married John G. McCullough, another lawyer. After Trenor's death in 1882 she bought out her siblings' interest in the house.

Lizzie and John McCullough made extensive renovations to the house in 1889-90, largely in order to entertain President Benjamin Harrison who had come to town to dedicate the new Bennington Monument.

Lizzie's son, Hall Park McCullough, inherited the house upon her death, and it was lived in by direct descendents of the family until 1965. The property includes a playhouse, in the style of the mansion, a carriage barn, and formal gardens.