Posts Tagged With: Weir Farm National Historical Park

Providence, Rhode Island

This trip is primarily to visit family in Boston but of course we managed to squeeze in a National Park Service site we had not yet experienced. Weir Farm National Historical Park is in SW Connecticut, about 15 miles south of Danbury (which is along I-84) and about 10 miles north of Norwalk (which is along I-95 and the coast). Instead of just zipping along the Interstates from Boston’s Logan Airport, we took numerous two lane roads through the Connecticut countryside, enjoying the green trees and blooming flowers.

At Weir Farm, while the grounds are open year round, the buildings and visitor center are only open during warmer months of the year. Since we seem to usually be in New England during colder months, this was our first opportunity to visit the site while the buildings were open and rangers present.

We also lucked out in that one of the rangers here used to work at Mississippi National River and Recreation Area and a contact there put us in touch with Kristin Lessaard, the Weir Farm Visitor Experience Program Manager. Kristin signed us up for one of the tours, gave us an intro to the park, and was kind enough to send us on our way at the end with several mementos.

Weir Farm was the summer home of J. Alden Weir, one of the early American Impressionist painters and an energetic force in introducing America to Impressionism. Starting in 1882, he and his wife Anna (and after Anna died, his second wife Ella) moved into the farmstead, expanding the house, farm land, and buildings over the years. The Weirs were gracious hosts to many of the impressionists such as Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, and John Twachtman among others. Weir had a studio here, allowing him to use the soft light and pleasing landscape as the setting for many paintings.

Weir died in 1919 but his daughter, Dorothy, and her husband Mahonri Young continued the tradition of the farmstead as a legacy of art. Upon Mahonri’s death in 1957, artists C. Sperry Andrews and his wife Doris bought the property. It was Doris and J. Alden Weir’s youngest daughter Cora Weir Burlingham who were the moving forces that undertook the efforts that resulted in the property becoming part of the National Park Service. As such, it is the only NPS site dedicated to American painting.

The park not only tells about the artists, it offers an art experience also. The property is one of many NPS sites that hosts an Artist in Residence. Here at Weir Farm, they host six painters each year for a month at a time. In addition, classes are offered and visitors have the opportunity to include painting as part of their visit. Junior Ranger badges offer several art focuses.

Our time at the park included a short video, a walk around the grounds including some small gardens, visits to several buildings, and a 30 minute tour of the Weir homestead with a knowledgeable ranger. We even learned some of the history of Connecticut, how sheep farming was an important element of the early state economy. Timber was a first product but its removal also created grazing land for sheep as the rocky fields were not great for plowed crops. The removal of the rocks was time conuming but created the walls to manage the sheep. Over time, the stone walls, which have a character and style of their own, lined the narrow roads and define the boundaries of forests and residential properties.

We left Weir Farm with a greater appreciation for American Impressionism. For the next several days, we are spending time with family by relaxing at an Airbnb in Providence Rhode Island. We have been to Providence before, Roger Williams National Memorial. We took time out to walk along the Woonasquatucket River walk and to enjoy the architecture of various buildings in downtown Providence.

Tuesday we flew home with our next major trip being a 4-6 week late summer, early fall adventure to western Montana and Idaho.

Ed and Chris, Saint Paul May 17, 2023