The 20 Horse Tavern Camden Lumberyard Volney G Bennett Lumber Company

20 Horse Tavern, Volney G. Bennett Lumber Company, Camden

The name 20 Horse Tavern comes from the number of teams of horses that were housed by the Volney G. Bennett Lumber Company which was located on this site during the late 19th and 20th centuries. The company began in 1890 as Camden started to develop. The business grew with the area and by 1904 the initial 4 teams of horses and wagons increased to 20. By 1906 they broke all series records for the company with a net profit of $20,318.64.

The lumberyard, sales office, stable, and associated yard building of the Volney G. Bennett Lumber Company, like other lumberyards of the era, changed over time as newer technologies became available. However, they still exhibit the essential characteristics of the commercial late 19th and 20th century lumber yard trade. They are significant because they embody the history of the origins, development, and eventual demise of Camden's lumber milling and lumberyard retail industries of that period in which Camden served as the regional center.

These stables are the last industrial stables left in the city of Camden. Once a ubiquitous structure in a city whose identity can not be separated from its industrial history, the Volney G. Bennett Lumber Company stables serve as the last link to a long forgotten past in a row troubled northeastern city. Mr. Harold Roberts and family are grateful that both the state and Federal Government recognized the significance of this site.

Aside from being a restaurant, the 20 Horse Tavern also serves as a museum for the business and time that the building has lived through. It displays historic tools, pictures, and information on the history of Camden water front trade.