Bennington Center for the Arts and its covered bridges: Where art meets history

View of the museum from Rt 9

Bennington Center for the Arts and the Covered Bridge Museum

44 Gypsy Lane

Bennington, Vermont 05201

802-442-7158

http://www.benningtoncenterforthearts.org/

Open seven days 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. until December 19 – January 16, 

Adult admission $9 (dollar off for AAA Members)

By Jane Feehan

It’s hard to miss the Bennington Center for the Arts visible from Route 9 entering this southern Vermont town. The Center is comingled with the Covered Bridge Museum with its eye-catching red bridge sitting along its side.

Silk Road Covered Bridge in Bennington

Covered bridges, popular during the 19^th century, were built to protect bridge underpinnings from weathering so structures would last decades longer. There are about 600 covered bridges remaining in the United States with about 100 in Vermont. History and construction techniques are on display, with the real thing sitting on the property of the Center.

The Center’s art collections, displayed on two floors, are changed intermittently. Currently, original works include a fantastic display of Master Carver Floyd Sholz’s bird creations. Feathers appear to be, well ... feathery and so lifelike it’s hard to believe they were carved. Exquisite. 

For more on the world's leading Master Carver, visit http://www.vermontraptoracademy.com/works.htm

For more on covered bridges, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Covered_bridges

For Grandma Moses exhibit and other things Vermont, visit:http://janesbits.blogspot.com/2011/11/bennington-museum-for-all-things.html


Tags: Bennington Fine Arts Center, Bennington, Vermont, Vermont covered bridges, covered bridges, Bennington museum