A. Bedell Benjamin's summer cottage in Stratford, Long Island Sound, Connecticut, New England

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At 1135 West Broad Street in Stratford is an impressive Italianate villa, considered to be one of Connecticut’s best examples of the style. It was built in 1854 on the site of the oldBenjamin Tavern where Washington and Lafayette are said to have dined on September 19, 1780. They were served potatoes, which were then a rare delicacy. Col. Aaron Benjaminserved in most of the major battles of the Revolutionary War. His son, Frederick A. Benjamin, became a successful New York merchant. In 1852, Frederick A. Benjamin retired and returned to the old homestead in Stratford, which he soon replaced with a new mansion, designed by architect Frederick Schmidt. Benjamin’s son, Arthur Bedell Benjamin(d. 1914), was a prolific photographer and a yachtsman who owned the steam yacht Continental.