Built during Bloomfield’s early settlement period, this Greek Revival farmhouse is a front-gabled one-and-a-half story home with recessed umbrage porch. Its history is primarily associated with the Benjamin, Hendrie, and Barton families. Their lives and times reflect the changes in Bloomfield from the rural agricultural society, to grand country estates, and then refined suburban living of the Bartons.
Threatened with demolition in 2008, the house was purchased for $1 by the newly-formed Preservation Bloomfield. The upright and wing portions of the home were moved about two miles north from its original location off of Long Lake, to the Charles L. Bowers School Farm in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
1844-1901
1901-1920
1920-1937
James Darwin Benjamin came to Bloomfield, Michigan from New York in 1841. Three years later he bought 122 acres and built the farmhouse on Bloomfield Center Road (now Long Lake Road). Not long after, Benjamin married Clarinda Kneeland and started a family. Two generations of his family lived in the home spanning 48 years.
The home had a succession of owners included in this order: Mary Martin, Robert Heacock, and then Charles Kantor. During the time of Robert Heacock's ownership, the upright was extended, and a kitchen and side porch were added.
1937-2006
Jessie Hendrie acquired the farmhouse from Charles Kantor. The Bloomfield Open Hunt Club opened across the street, so Jessie fondly referred to the house as "The Covert," a hunting term meaning good cover for wild things.
Carl Barton, founder of the internationally known Barton Malow Construction Company, bought the farmhouse in 1937. He and his wife, Connie, raised their 2 daughters there and enjoyed the home for many decades.
