Weir Farm National Historic Site, National Parks Service


735 Nod Hill Road, Wilton, CT 06897

203-834-1896

Weir Farm National Historical Park is a National Park for Art, a place that has been inspiring artists and visitors since 1882 when Julian Alden Weir made it his summer home. Today, visitors from around the world to come enjoy the stunning landscape, walk in the footsteps of American masters, and create art! 

Step back in time on a tour of the Weir House, Weir Studio, and Young Studio, where original art and furnishings tell the stories of the artists and their families. View exhibits at the visitor center and pick up Junior Ranger activities, self-guided tours, and art supplies. Enjoy a picnic in the historic gardens or hike to Weir Pond, exploring historic painting sites along the way.

Grounds open year-round. Buildings open and programs offered May through October. Park entry and activities are free for everyone. Visit the park website for virtual tours, hours, and information.

American Impressionist Julian Alden Weir in his studio with a dog at his feet, taken ca. 1900-1905. Credit: NPS Photo.
Mahonri Young working in his studio in Salt Lake City, Utah, ca. 1909. Collection Weir Farm Historic Site.

Julian Alden Weir was an influential and beloved presence in the art world. He was part of a distinguished family of artists, a founding member of The Ten American Painters, adviser to several major American art collectors, a president of the National Academy of Design, and a president and trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Born in 1852, he studied at the National Academy of Design in New York and in 1873 traveled to Paris and worked under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. A painter of great breath with a love for experimentation, Weir’s interest in landscape grew in the 1880s when he explored pastels in the outdoors at his home in Branchville, CT. There he adopted Impressionism in plein air paintings of his farm. His works include over 500 oil paintings, as well as pastels, watercolors, and lithographs. Weir’s art can be found in museums around the world and in private collections.

Autumn; J. Alden Weir; 1906; oil on canvas, 36 in. x 29 in.; National Park Service.
The interior of the Weir Studio, restored to ca. 1915. Credit: NPS Photo.
A plein air painting completed while looking toward the south façade of the Weir studio. Credit: NPS Photo.

Weir Farm National Historical Park, the only National Park Service site dedicated to American painting, 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. The farm became a source of artistic inspiration and experimentation for Weir and the numerous artists that came to visit Weir and his family; including Childe Hassam, Albert Pinkham Ryder, John Twachtman, and John Singer Sargent. Surrounded by reassuring rural scenes, which were favorite subjects for American Impressionists, Weir created numerous masterworks here including Idle Hours, Upland Pasture, the Truants, and The Laundry, Branchville.

After Weir, his daughter, painter Dorothy Weir Young and her husband, sculptor Mahonri M. Young, continued the artistic legacy. Young had his own studio built on site to sculpt the This is the Place Monument. The Young’s also entertained artists at the farm, much as Weir had, including the last generation of artists, New England painters Sperry and Doris Andrews.

Sperry and Doris Andrews acquired part of the property in 1958 and began a thirty-two-year process of actively preserving Weir’s farm. Today, the 68-acre park, which includes the Weir House, Weir and Young Studios, barns, gardens, and Weir Pond, is one of the nation’s finest remaining landscapes of American art.