Weir Farm National Historical Park | |
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Location | 735 Nod Hill Road Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States |
Nearest city | Wilton, CT |
Coordinates | 41°15′29″N73°27′17″W / 41.25806°N 73.45472°W |
Area | 60 acres (24 ha) [1] |
Established | 1990 |
Visitors | 34,802(in 2014) |
Governing body | National Park Service |
Website | Weir Farm National Historical Park |
Weir Farm National Historical Park is located in Ridgefield and Wilton, Connecticut. It commemorates the life and work of American impressionist painter J. Alden Weir and other artists who stayed at the site or lived there, to include Childe Hassam, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Singer Sargent, and John Twachtman.
Weir Farm is one of two sites in the National Park Service devoted to the visual arts, along with Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park. [2]
Both sites maintain ongoing artist-in-residence programs; to date, the Weir Farm Art Center (formerly the Weir Farm Trust) has hosted more than 150 artists for month long stays at the site. [3] Weir Farm also runs an ongoing "Take Part in Art" program, under which visitors can create their own works on site. [4]
Weir Farm was recognized on the 52nd quarter in 2020 as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program. [5]
After considering the Keene Valley area of New York's Adirondack Mountains for a rural retreat, [6] in 1882 Weir settled instead on hilly countryside in the Branchville section of Ridgefield, acquiring a 153-acre farm there from Erwin Davis in exchange for $10 and a painting. [7] Weir and artists he hosted subsequently produced a large number of paintings depicting Ridgefield landscapes and other nearby countryside. [8]
Weir's daughter Dorothy Weir, a noted artist in her own right, took over management of the property following her father's death in 1919. Sculptor Mahonri Young would build a second studio at Weir Farm after the couple married in 1931. [9]
Artist Sperry Andrews would befriend Mahonri Young and spent several years keeping him company while painting the site. After Mahonris death Sperry would purchase the property and his wife Doris Andrews lead efforts with Cora Weir Burlingham to preserve the Weir Farm site, resulting in the U.S. government designating it a National Historic Site in 1990. [10] Prior to its permanent protection, Weir Farm had been subdivided for housing development in the late 1980s. [11] The Trust for Public Land worked to reacquire the divided land through close to 2 dozen transactions. [11] The Trust for Public Land worked in partnership with the Weir Farm Trust and the State of Connecticut to advocate for its permanent protection. [11] Sperry and his wife Doris Andrews were given life tenancy, and would give impromptu tours of the studios to park visitors until after both had passed. [12]
Afterwards the site underwent extensive restoration to transform the park into a more visitor friendly experience. The two artist studios and house were restored to period, and in May 2014 were made accessible to the public again. [13]
The property today includes 16 buildings on 60 acres of land [1] with the grounds including a hiking trail. Tours are offered by National Park Service rangers. [14]
In 2007, the U.S. Department of the Interior sought Congressional approval for the National Park Service to acquire space in nearby Redding, Connecticut, for administration and operational support to Weir Farm. Under existing federal law at the time, the National Park Service was authorized to secure expansion space in Ridgefield and Wilton only. [15]
In 2021 it was redesignated from a National Historic Site to a National Historical Park. [16]
Georgetown is a census-designated place in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is located in the area where the towns of Wilton, Redding, Weston, and Ridgefield meet.
Redding is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 8,765 at the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region.
Wilton is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town population was 18,503. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region.
Ridgefield is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It consists of the primary central village in the town of Ridgefield and surrounding residential areas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the CDP was 7,596, out of 25,053 in the entire town.
Ridgefield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Situated in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains and on the New York state border, Ridgefield has a population of 25,033 as of the 2020 census. The town is part of the Western Connecticut Planning Region. The town center, which was formerly a borough, is defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place. The town was settled then quickly incorporated by 1709.
Julian Alden Weir was an American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony near Greenwich, Connecticut. Weir was also one of the founding members of "The Ten", a loosely allied group of American artists dissatisfied with professional art organizations, who banded together in 1898 to exhibit their works as a stylistically unified group.
San Juan Island National Historical Park, also known as American and English Camps, San Juan Island, is a U.S. National Historical Park owned and operated by the National Park Service on San Juan Island in the state of Washington. The park is made up of the sites of the British and U.S. Army camps during the Pig War, a boundary dispute over the ownership of the island. The camp sites were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. The park was created by an act of Congress in 1966 and expanded slightly in 2013.
Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park in Cornish, New Hampshire, preserves the home, gardens, and studios of Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848–1907), one of America's foremost sculptors. The house and grounds of the National Historic Site served as his summer residence from 1885 to 1897, his permanent home from 1900 until his death in 1907, and the center of the Cornish Art Colony. There are three hiking trails that explore the park's natural areas. Original sculptures are on exhibit, along with reproductions of his greatest masterpieces. It is located on Saint-Gaudens Road in Cornish, 0.5 miles (0.80 km) off New Hampshire Route 12A.
The This is the Place Monument is a historical monument at the This Is the Place Heritage Park, located on the east side of Salt Lake City, Utah, at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. It is named in honor of Brigham Young's famous statement that the Mormon pioneers should settle in the Salt Lake Valley. On July 24, 1847, upon first viewing the valley, Young stated: "This is the right place, drive on." Mahonri M. Young, a grandson of Brigham Young, sculpted the monument between 1939 and 1947 at Weir Farm in Connecticut. Young was awarded $50,000 to build the monument in 1939 and he was assisted by Spero Anargyros. It stands as a monument to the Mormon pioneers as well as the explorers and settlers of the American West. It was dedicated by George Albert Smith, president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on July 24, 1947, the hundredth anniversary of the pioneers entering the Salt Lake Valley. It replaced a much smaller monument located nearby.
Branchville is a neighborhood of the town of Ridgefield in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, and is also the name of a Metro North railroad station. Branchville was listed as a census-designated place (CDP) prior to the 2020 census.
The Trust for Public Land is a U.S. nonprofit organization with a mission to "create parks and protect land for people, ensuring healthy, livable communities for generations to come". Since its founding in 1972, the Trust for Public Land has completed 5,000 park-creation and land conservation projects across the United States, protected over 3 million acres, and helped pass more than 500 ballot measures—creating $70 billion in voter-approved public funding for parks and open spaces. The Trust for Public Land also researches and publishes authoritative data about parks, open space, conservation finance, and urban climate change adaptation. Headquartered in San Francisco, the organization is among the largest U.S. conservation nonprofits, with approximately 30 field offices across the U.S., including a federal affairs function in Washington, D.C.
The U.S. state of Connecticut is bordered on the south by Long Island Sound, on the west by New York, on the north by Massachusetts, and on the east by Rhode Island. The state capital and fourth largest city is Hartford, and other major cities and towns include Bridgeport, New Haven, Stamford, Waterbury, Norwalk, Danbury, New Britain, Greenwich, and Bristol. There are 169 incorporated towns in Connecticut, with cities and villages included within some towns.
The Georgetown Historic District is a historic district which covers the central portion the village of Georgetown, Connecticut. The district includes parts of Georgetown in the towns of Redding, Weston, Wilton, and Ridgefield and consists of the former Gilbert & Bennett manufacturing plant, institutional housing built for the plant workers, other private homes, and the Georgetown business district.
The Wilton Center Historic District in the town center area of Wilton, Connecticut, was established as a town historic district in 1970 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
This is a list of the properties and historic districts in Stamford, Connecticut that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The locations of National Register properties and districts for which the latitude and longitude coordinates are included below, may be seen in an online map.
This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Southington, Connecticut.
Dorothy Weir Young was an American artist. She was the daughter of the American Impressionist artist J. Alden Weir, and later married sculptor Mahonri Young. Dorothy Young was the primary author of The Life and Letters of J. Alden Weir, which was published posthumously.
Weir House may refer to:
Doris Bass Andrews (1920–2003) was an American artist and historic preservationist known for her efforts to protect Weir Farm in Connecticut, an important site for American Impressionism.
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