SS Benwood SS Benwood The "Benwood" is a shipwreck off the coast of Key Largo, Florida. The Norwegian merchant freighter "Benwood" (360'x51') was under the command of Captain Torbjørn Skjelbred on the night of April 9, 1942. She was on a routine voyage from Tampa Bay, Florida to Norfolk, Virginia carrying a load of phosphate rock. That same evening, the "Robert C. Tuttle"(544'x70') was traveling to Atreco, Texas, under the command of Captain Martin Johansen. Rumors of German U-boats in the area forced the two ships to travel completely blacked out, each keeping the Florida coastal lights three miles abeam("Benwood")and one and
Benwood, West Virginia the city. Former neighborhoods Harmony Hill was a residential area of Benwood that was located on the hillside between the mouth of Boggs Run and Schad's Crossing (former entrance to the north end of Center Benwood at Fourth Street) along West Virginia Route 2. Kentucky Heights was another residential area located on the hillside along Route 2 between Schad's Crossing at Center Benwood and The Bellaire Bridge. The homes and businesses of both areas were all razed to make way for the relocation of West Virginia Route 2 through the construction of the present four-lane highway in 1966. Benwood was