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Celebrate Historic Gardens Day At Weir Farm National Historic Site

RIDGEFIELD/WILTON, Conn. -- Do you have a green thumb? Do you enjoy painting colorful gardens? Celebrate Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day this weekend at Weir Farm National Historic Site, where gardens and art go hand-in-hand. 

Students paint in the sunken garden at Weir Farm National Historic Park in Wilton and Ridgefield.

Students paint in the sunken garden at Weir Farm National Historic Park in Wilton and Ridgefield.

Photo Credit: Weir Farm National Historic Site

Weir Farm National Historic Site, the only national park dedicated to an American painter, is a member of Connecticut’s Historic Gardens, an organization dedicated to preserving and promoting historic gardens throughout the state.

On Sunday, June 23, from 1 to 4 p.m., park staff and Garden Gang volunteers will offer short informal talks in the Sunken Garden and Secret Garden about each garden’s history, flowers, restoration and ongoing preservation.

In addition to the talks, visitors can spend the afternoon painting en plein air in a landscape that has inspired artists for more than 130 years. Watercolor supplies will be available for visitors to use at no charge from 1 to 4 p.m.

The colonial-revival Sunken Garden and the Secret Garden–which was created in 1915 and features a fountain, sundial and rustic cedar fence–appear today just as they did to Julian Alden Weir and the other artists who made this farm their home, according to a statement from the park.

Weir Farm National Historic Site was home to three generations of American artists. Julian Alden Weir, a leading figure in American art and the development of American Impressionism, acquired the property in 1882. After Weir, his daughter, painter Dorothy Weir Young, and her husband, sculptor Mahonri Young, followed by painters Sperry and Doris Andrews, continued the artistic legacy. Today, the 60-acre park is one of the nation’s finest remaining landscapes of American art.

For more information about how to become a Garden Gang volunteer or about Connecticut’s Historic Gardens Day or Weir Farm National Historic Site call 203-834-1896 or visit www.nps.gov/wefa. For more information about Connecticut’s Historic Gardens, visit www.cthistoricgardens.org.

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