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State preservation officials say Bennington Battle Monument needs urgent work; study estimates $40 million restoration
Summary
Officials from Vermont State Historic Sites and the Division for Historic Preservation told the committee the Bennington Battle Monument is saturated with water, shedding stone and needs stabilization, a drying campaign and a scaffolded enclosure; consultants preliminarily estimate about $40 million to fully restore the structure.
Jamie Duggan, director of preservation for the Vermont State Historic Sites, briefed the Corrections & Institutions Committee on Feb. 4 about the condition of the Bennington Battle Monument and the results of a recent, multi‑phase engineering and material investigation.
Duggan said the monument, completed in 1891, is 306 feet, 4 inches tall, has an observation level about 200 feet up and 417 interior steps. The structure is principally built of Sandy Hill dolomitic limestone and is founded on bedrock with foundation walls up to nine feet thick. Over its history the monument has repeatedly suffered moisture infiltration and episodic stone loss; Duggan said the last major exterior repointing work was conducted in 2005 and that earlier repairs sometimes used inappropriate materials or were otherwise incomplete.
The consulting team laser‑scanned the monument, performed ground‑penetrating…
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