Bethany James Manning was born in Connecticut in 1792 and began his career in Bethany in 1815 as a merchant. In 1818, he started the first newspaper in Wayne County, "The Wayne County Mirror". Manning married Charity Wilder, daughter of his next door neighbor, David Wilder, and in 1819 built this large brick house. Eleven children were born to the couple. James Manning served as Register and Recorder and was for several years an Associate Judge of Wayne County. He started the first Sunday school in the county, was active in business and in politics, being first a Whig, and later a Republican. In 1887 the property passed to the Mannings' daughter Charity, wife of Clayton Sweet, and later to other family members. Al and Cori Williamson did extensive work on this old house and then the Heinlys oprnrf it as a B & B. The fireplaces in each room, gleaming wood floors, and an open staircase from the first to the third floor are as beautiful as they were so long ago. This classic Adams style building with an elliptical fanlight over the center doorway and keystone lintels above the symmetrical windows, is a pristine example of early nineteenth century architecture.

This page was one month of the calendar and was made possible through the Wayne County Commissioners and a Tourism Promotion Committee’s Tourism Grant.