Bones Discovered Under Building in Bennington

BENNINGTON (NEWS10) - On Monday, police received a call about some bones found under a building on West Road in Bennington.

"We received a call about some bones that were discovered underneath the residence as they were digging," said Police Chief Paul Doucette, "right now in Bennington, we don't have an open missing persons case.”

The contractor in charge of the project, Al Clayton, says that the bones were discovered by one of his employees, Benjamin Rich. "I just saw something white. Then I grabbed the rake and pulled out a bone," Rich said.

Clayton quickly realized that the bones might be more than just animal remains. "It was maybe two inches in diameter. It wasn't perfectly round. So it was kind of weird. So I called in the Bennington Police Department,” Clayton explained.

Both Clayton and Rich agreed that the remains were likely quite old. Rich noted, “Obviously it wasn't anything too recent. It was full of dirt inside the bone.” Clayton added, “There was no bone marrow inside. It was obvious that this is an older piece of material.”

Police Chief Doucette concurred with the assessment, saying, “We're in a very historical part of Bennington. We did have a Revolutionary War here.”

The owner of the property, Mo Kafka, provided historical context for the site. "The large white Greek Revival house on the property was originally built in 1830 and was expanded and renovated in 1852. The house is known as the Hall House and was occupied by members of the prominent Hall family for much of the 19th Century and well into the 20th Century. Governor Hiland Hall was the most prominent resident of the house," Kafka explained.

Kafka noted that the bones were found under a small green house on the property. "The green cottage on the southwest corner of the current property was behind the Merrill House but faces Seminary Lane. By the time of a 1958 survey, the parcels of the Merrill and Hall properties, the green cottage, and the house at 40 West were all owned by the Bennington College Corp," Kafka added.

The bones are now in the care of an archaeologist and on their way to the University of Vermont Medical Center, where experts will determine the origin and age of the bones. Chief Doucette commented, “Finding human remains is very unusual and does not happen a lot. I can only think of a couple of times in my career where human remains have been found.”