The Bradley Family circa 1886
(from left to right)
Amon Edward Bradley, Amon Bradley, Norman Barnes, Alice Bradley Barnes, Emma Bradley, Sylvia Bradley, Bradley Barnes, Julia Arnold Bradley, Franklin Bradley

Beginning as a six room Greek Revival style homestead, the Barnes Museum was built in 1836 for Amon and Sylvia Bradley and was lived in by the Bradley/Barnes family for 137 years.

Amon Bradley was born in Southington in 1812. His parent's homestead remains today and is privately owned and operated as Bradley Mountain Farm. Amon became a 'Yankee Peddler' and entrepreneur as a young man. In 1836, he married Sylvia Barnes (1818-1903), and together they raised their three children, Franklin, Alice, and Emma, in the homestead that serves as the museum today. After Amon died in 1906, Bradley Barnes, Amon's grandson, inherited the homestead and lived in the house till his death in 1973. The entrepreneurial ventures started by Bradley Barnes' grandfather and father and his investments gave Bradley the title of "richest man in Southington." Upon his death in 1973, Bradley willed his entire fortune to friends, employees, local schools, libraries, and hospitals. He then bequeathed his family homestead, along with all of its contents, to the Town of Southington to be run as a museum under the direction of the Board of Directors of the Southington Public Library and Museum.