Login
Login

Weir Farm National Historical Park

{{Short description|Historic site in Connecticut, US}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox protected area

| name = Weir Farm National Historical Park

| iucn_category = III

| map = Connecticut#USA

| relief = 1

| map_caption =

| location = 735 Nod Hill Road
Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States

| nearest_city = Wilton, Connecticut

| coordinates = {{coord|41.25806|-73.45472|region:US-CT|format=dms|display=inline, title}}

| area_acre = 60

| area_ref = http://www.nps.gov/wefa/historyculture/index.htm "Weir Farm National Historic Site Connecticut: History and Culture," Retrieved 2014-05-03.

| visitation_num = 34,802

| visitation_year = 2014

| established = 1990

| governing_body = National Park Service

| website = https://www.nps.gov/wefa/index.htm

}}

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.

File:StudioOfJAldenWierInRidgefieldCT10082008.JPG

Weir Farm is one of two sites in the National Park Service devoted to the visual arts, along with Saint-Gaudens National Historical Park.{{Cite web |last=Wilton |first=Mailing Address: 735 Nod Hill Road |last2=Us |first2=CT 06897 Phone: 203 834-1896 x0 Contact |title=History & Culture - Weir Farm National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/learn/historyculture/index.htm |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}

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.http://www.nps.gov/wefa/supportyourpark/artist-in-residence-program.htm "Artist-in-Residence program," National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-05-03. Weir Farm also runs an ongoing "Take Part in Art" program, under which visitors can create their own works on site.{{Cite web |last=Wilton |first=Mailing Address: 735 Nod Hill Road |last2=Us |first2=CT 06897 Phone: 203 834-1896 x0 Contact |title=Art in the Park - Weir Farm National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/planyourvisit/tpia.htm |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}

Weir Farm was recognized on the 52nd quarter in 2020 as part of the America the Beautiful Quarters Program.http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/atb/"America the Beautiful Quarters Program," U.S. Mint. Retrieved 2014-05-02.

History

File:Weir Farm National Historic Site - front of the house.jpg

After considering the Keene Valley area of New York's Adirondack Mountains for a rural retreat,{{Cite web |last=Wilton |first=Mailing Address: 735 Nod Hill Road |last2=Us |first2=CT 06897 Phone: 203 834-1896 x0 Contact |title=Stories - Weir Farm National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/learn/historyculture/stories.htm |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Wilton |first=Mailing Address: 735 Nod Hill Road |last2=Us |first2=CT 06897 Phone: 203 834-1896 x0 Contact |title=Julian Alden Weir - Weir Farm National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/learn/historyculture/jaldenweir.htm |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}} Weir and artists he hosted subsequently produced a large number of paintings depicting Ridgefield landscapes and other nearby countryside.http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/wefa/clr.pdf "Cultural Landscape Program for Weir Farm National Historic Site," Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation, National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-05-02.

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.{{Cite web |last=Wilton |first=Mailing Address: 735 Nod Hill Road |last2=Us |first2=CT 06897 Phone: 203 834-1896 x0 Contact |title=Dorothy Weir Young - Weir Farm National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/learn/historyculture/dorothyweiryoung.htm |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.nps.gov |language=en}}

Artist Sperry Andrews would befriend Mahonri Young and spent several years keeping him company while painting the site. After Young's 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.{{Cite news |last=Potts |first=Monica |date=2005-08-16 |title=Sperry Andrews, 87, Painter Who Preserved Weir Home, Is Dead |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/16/arts/design/sperry-andrews-87-painter-who-preserved-weir-home-is-dead.html |access-date=2022-08-12 |issn=0362-4331}} Prior to its permanent protection, Weir Farm had been subdivided for housing development in the late 1980s.{{Cite news|url=https://www.tpl.org/our-work/weir-farm-national-historic-site#sm.000001tw1n9rvrfo8u6y3v8zmk5xa|title=Weir Farm National Historic Site|work=The Trust for Public Land|access-date=2018-08-10|language=en}} The Trust for Public Land worked to reacquire the divided land through close to 2 dozen transactions. The Trust for Public Land worked in partnership with the Weir Farm Trust and the State of Connecticut to advocate for its permanent protection. 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/learn/historyculture/sperryandrews.htm|title=Sperry Andrews|date=2017-07-18|website=National Park Service Website|access-date=2017-07-18}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.nps.gov/wefa/learn/historyculture/restoration.htm|title=Restoration|date=2017-07-18|website=National Park Service Website|access-date=2017-07-18}}

The property today includes 16 buildings on 60 acres of land with the grounds including a hiking trail. Tours are offered by National Park Service rangers.http://www.nps.gov/wefa/photosmultimedia/historic-artwork.htm "Artwork Galleries," National Park Service. Retrieved 2014-05-02.

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.{{Cite web |date=2015-07-01 |title=Parks Bills: H.R. 1836 |url=https://www.doi.gov/ocl/hearings/110/HR1836_103007 |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=www.doi.gov |language=en}}

In 2021 it was redesignated from a National Historic Site to a National Historical Park.{{Cite web|last=Himes|first=James A.|date=2021-01-05|title=Text - H.R.5852 - 116th Congress (2019-2020): Weir Farm National Historical Park Redesignation Act|url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/5852/text|access-date=2021-01-15|website=www.congress.gov}}

Notable residents and visitors

File:Map of the grounds of Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut.jpg

See also

References

{{reflist}}

External links

  • {{commons category-inline}}
  • [https://www.nps.gov/wefa/index.htm Weir Farm National Historical Park]
  • [https://www.nps.gov/teachers/classrooms/22weir.htm Weir Farm: Home of an American Impressionist, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]

{{National Register of Historic Places}}

{{Protected areas of Connecticut}}{{National Historical Parks of the United States}}{{authority control}}

Category:Houses in Ridgefield, Connecticut

Category:Buildings and structures in Wilton, Connecticut

Category:National Historic Sites in Connecticut

Category:Museums in Fairfield County, Connecticut

Category:Artists' studios in the United States

Category:Biographical museums in Connecticut

Category:Art museums and galleries in Connecticut

Category:Farm museums in the United States

Category:Protected areas established in 1990

Category:Protected areas of Fairfield County, Connecticut

Category:1990 establishments in Connecticut

Category:National Register of Historic Places in Fairfield County, Connecticut

Category:Farms on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut

Category:Weir family