Bench, and Bit of History, Restored

SHARON — If you didn’t know it was there you might well miss the iron bench at the north end of the Green, facing the classic brick King house on the curve across from the Methodist church.

And you probably didn’t realize that the arms and back of the bench had deteriorated and been removed, making it even less conspicuous — and less useful for sitting purposes.

A casual ambler on the Green, heading north and looking for a place to sit and watch the world go by, can do so now, with the aid of a backrest, thanks to Will Trowbridge’s restoration work on the bench, funded by a private donor.

Trowbridge, with the assistance of welder John Haas of Amenia, recreated the arrow motif on the struts on the bottom of the bench.

"It turned out nicer than I thought," he said.

The original parts are stamped industrial pieces. Trowbridge said he was unable to find replacements, so he had to recreate the top parts from scratch.

The bench was placed on the Green sometime in the 1960s, according to historian Ed Kirby. It was put there in honor of Admiral and U.S. Senator Thomas C. Hart, who retired to Sharon in 1945 after a naval career that spanned the Spanish-American War and both world wars.

Hart lived in the King house, so the bench was certainly handy.

The admiral retired from active duty in 1942, and wrote a series of articles in the Saturday Evening Post critical of U.S. planning prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. In 1944, he chaired a commission that conducted what became known as The Hart Inquiry into the circumstances leading up to the attack.

In 1945, Republican Governor Raymond E. Baldwin appointed Hart to fill the U.S. Senate seat of the recently deceased Francis T. Maloney. Hart served from Feb. 15, 1945, until Nov. 5, 1946, and declined to run for a full term.

Hart remained in Sharon until his death on July 4, 1971, at the age of 94.

— Patrick Sullivan