Relocated 1761 Colonial Home and its Blue Lady
307 Burnside Avenue, East Hartford, CT
Age
All Ages
Cost
$
Check with the Historical Society of East Hartford for current admission details.
Access
Limited Access
Historic residential property; uneven grounds likely
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1761 · Colonial Architecture · Connecticut Family History · Historic Preservation
The house at 307 Burnside Avenue in East Hartford's Martin Park carries two names. Officially it is the Makens Bemont House — named for the second-generation family member who made it prosperous. Informally, it has been called the Huguenot House for decades, though no evidence supports the idea that the Bemonts were French Protestants or that Huguenot families ever occupied the property. The origin of the nickname remains unexplained.
Edmund Bemont built the original structure in 1761. His son Makens inherited it and expanded the family's fortunes through saddlemaking, a trade that positioned him well in the agricultural economy of late Colonial and early Federal Connecticut. The property remained in the Bemont family for close to a century before passing through a series of owners.
In 1968, Adolph Rosenthal donated the house to the Historical Society of East Hartford. Three years later, the Society relocated the structure to its current position in Martin Park — a move that, according to persistent local accounts, disturbed whatever had been dormant inside the walls. Paranormal reports began surfacing shortly after the 1971 relocation and have continued since.
The Historical Society operates the house seasonally and uses it as a community historical resource.
Sources
The paranormal history at the Makens Bemont House is organized around two distinct reported presences, each with its own character and location within the structure.
The entity workers nicknamed Benny announced itself during the restoration process following the 1971 move. The name came informally from the crew — what began as inexplicable knocking escalated to what witnesses described as random rappings, unexplained bangs, and crashes without physical source. The phenomena were concentrated enough that workers began attributing them to a single presence.
The second reported figure is far more specific. Known as the Blue Lady, she has been observed in the upstairs windows of the empty house — a woman in a blue dress, glimpsed by passers-by before anyone is known to be inside. Within the house, accounts describe her walking the upper hallway at 2 a.m. with a consistency of timing that several investigators have noted.
Some researchers have proposed the Blue Lady is Abigail Bemont, Edmund's wife, who died in the house from illness. The theory holds that the 1971 relocation — physically uprooting a structure that had stood on the same ground for two centuries — triggered a disturbance in whatever residual presence the building carried. Visitors have also reported EVP recordings, unexplained pushing sensations, and orb photographs in the interior.
The identity of "Benny" remains unassigned to any historical figure. The name appears to have stuck simply because it was the label workers used during restoration, and no Bemont family member by that name has been identified in the historical record.
Notable Entities
The Historical Society of East Hartford operates the Huguenot House seasonally, June through August. Tour the 1761 Colonial structure relocated to Martin Park in 1971 — the move that reportedly activated the reported phenomena. The upstairs hallway, where the Blue Lady is said to walk at 2 a.m., is part of the interior tour.
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