Parke Avery House in Syracuse, NY
475-0119

The failure of the California Art Union, Benjamin Parke Avery argued in the second issue (August 1868) of the newly founded Overland Monthly, should not be misinterpreted. It was primarily a matter of bad management, and not the result of the inability of San Franciscans to support art. The gallery should have been kept open no more than three months a year. Neither in terms of collections or ongoing productivity was San Francisco ready for such an ambitious year-long program.
On the positive side, some five hundred San Franciscans had subscribed to the California Art Union within the first three month of its existence. In the first month alone, $1400 has been raised in tickets and subscriptions. The Governor of California, Federick Low, had agreed to serve as president, and William Chapman Ralston of the Bank of California had volunteered as treasurer. The participation of these and other "solid men" underscored the growing taste of San Francisco's mercantile and banking elite. "Taste for Art is spreading rapidly here," Avery argued, "and the number who will buy poor pictures is smaller every year." While lasting only a year, the Art Union exhibition of paintings by Europeans, Atlantic Coast artists (among them, Gilbert Stuart, Rembrandt Peale, Albert Bierstadt) and painters resident in California had stimulated art coverage and criticism in the local press.

Himself diversely talented and occupied -- an art critic, a journalist and editor, a State official, the first United States Minister of China -- Benjamin Parke Avery found much cause for encouragement, despite the demise of the California Art Union. In 1862 alone, Avery pointed out, five energetic artists -- Juan Buckingham Wandesforde, Samuel Marsden Brookes, Thomas Hill, Enoch Wood Perry, and Virgil Williams -- had settled in San Francisco. Albert Bierstadt arrived two years later. By 1865 San Francisco supported thirty professional artists. Aside from the already mentioned Class of 1862, Avery cited such San Francisco-based artists as Charles Christian Nahl, Gideon Jacques Denny, Fortinnato Arriola, Federick Butman, William Marple, William Keith, Ransom Gillet Holdredge, Ernest Narjot, Norton Bush, George Henry Burgess, Stephen William Shaw, F. Guiterez, Charles Merck, and Harvey Otis Young as evidence that a vigorous artistic culture, centered in its premier city, was forming in California. In corroboration of Avery's hope, the very next year, 1869, the Snow & Roos Art Gallery at 21 Kearny Street offered 154 paintings, many of them by local artists, to the public.

[Parke Avery, (1710-96), was a member of the Assembly and on the Committee of Inspection of Groton, where he was born and died. His sons Parke, Jr., Simeon, Stephen, Ebenezer, Jasper and Elisha served in the war.

Digest/archive for AVERY | 11/24/96

1 From: PeterA5884(at)aol.com
Subject: The Hive of the Averys

Message #1
From: PeterA5884(at)aol.com
Subject: The Hive of the Averys
Date: Sun, 24 Nov 1996 08:35:01 -0500

The Averys of New London lived for eight generations in a Colonial home
called by the family "The Hive of the Averys."

Occupants/Owners of the Hive were:

Captain James Avery, b. 1620 in England
James Avery, b. Dec 15 1646
Ebenezer Avery, b. May 1 1677/8-1752
Elder Parke Avery (1710-1797)
Lt. Parke Avery
Youngs Avery
Parke Avery
James D Avery, the occupant in 1882. The Hive burned down in 1894.

Good hunting, Peter (PeterA5884(at)aol.com)
Here is the history of the Hive, with bios of the earlier owners:

About the same time that British jurist Sir Edward Coke was delivering the
eminently quotable line concerning " a man's home is his castle," Captain
James Avery bought large tracts of land at Groton and built his own castle,
the "Hive of the Avery's" in 1656. The Hive was located in the town of
Groton, across the river from New London, on the east side of the river. The
Avery mansion survived over 250 years and was illustrative of the times. The
house grew bit by bit. Ten years before his death, in 1684, the Captain was
too feeble to leave the house for church services, so for £6 he purchased his
old church on the west side of the river. This was the same church Reverend
Blinman preached in for thirty years. James had it dismantled and rebuilt
onto his own house, and used it for church services until his death.
The center of life for the American colonist was not the church or the
parlor, but
the kitchen, with its huge stone fireplace. In the other rooms the rafters
were bare beams and the floors raw boards, but in the kitchen, there was room
near the hearth for children to play and watch their mother cook in large
iron pots. In these kettles were hasty-pudding and cornmeal porridge, while
corn dumplings were baked on the side of the hearth. If the colonialist
travels, he takes with him no-cake or Indian corn, which is corn parched in
ashes and carried in a leather bag.
The dwelling houses of higher class people in those days always consisted of
at
least two stories, but the Hive also had two chimneys and for years the house
was called the "two chimney house" because it was the only one in town with
two chimneys. Building in those days consisted of exposed beams, second
stories overhanging the first and walls of clay with wooden siding on both
sides, called clap-boards ever since. House paint was never used in those
early days, and did not come into general use until about 1730. The Avery
house was never painted until a century later. Bread was made from rye and
Indian corn and only the very rich could afford wheat flour. The use of
coffee was unheard of until about 1770, until then people drank water and
roasted rye. Wallpaper came into use about 1783 and carpeted floors much
later.
The professions of the early Avery's are never stated in the history books
but we
can assume they were mostly farmers, probably everyone in these early
settlements
farmed, it was the only way to survive.
Our Ebenezer, the Captain's grand-son, who married Dorothy Parke, greatly
extended the Avery property, on which they lived. By the time of Ebenezer's
death in 1732, the colonial population had reached 655,000 by 1730, the grounds went
from Dunbar's Mill (which was still standing in 1892) north of the Stonington
turnpike to Eastern Point, and from the Great River to the Thames River. Dorothy and
Ebenezer had six children including Ebenezer Jr., who is our direct ancestor, and Parke Avery, who became the owner of the mansion. Parke continued the practice of holding church services in the mansion, often preaching himself, without collecting tithes.
Parke Avery was wounded at Fort Griswold during the attack by Benedict
Arnold, and nine other Avery's were killed in the same battle. Many Averys
were also wounded, but more on that fight elsewhere.
The family mansion remained occupied until it burned down on July 21, 1894,
when a spark from a passing train ignited its well seasoned timbers. Nothing
remained but its chimneys. A few years later the chimneys were taken down,
the lot graded and a monument erected by Avery descendants. The Avery
Monument was dedicated on July 20, 1900. Avery descendant John D. Rockefeller
helped fund the construction of the monument. Today it is called the "Avery
Memorial" and is located on US route #1 in Groton.

Souces:
Allyn, Charles, "The Battle of Groton Heights: A Collection of Narratives,
Official
Reports, Records, Etc. of the Storming of Fort Griswold, the Massacre of it's
Garrison, and the Burning of New London by British Troops Under the Command
of Brig.-Gen.Benedict Arnold," New London, The Riverside Press, 1882. (P. 256
records eight generations of owners of the Hive)

Hurd, D. Hamilton, "The Complete History of New London County, Connecticut,"
Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Company, 1882. (P. 453-456, history of the Hive
with drawings.)
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