Weir Farm National Historic Site
Welcome to Weir Farm National Historic Site. If this beautiful landscape feels familiar, perhaps you’ve seen it in the works of J. Alden Weir, Dorothy Weir Young, Mahonri Young, Sperry Andrews, and many others.
In 1882, Weir exchanged a $560 still life painting for 153 acres of Connecticut farmland. The farm became a country refuge for Weir and his family. Over 37 years, he expanded the property, adding an art studio where he produced paintings that reflected his surroundings.
Weir is remembered as one of the Ten American Painters who launched the American Impressionism movement. He was a leader in the art community who sat on the Board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
His farm was inherited by his daughter, Dorothy, and her husband, Mahonri Young, grandson of Brigham Young. Many of Young’s drawings and paintings feature scenes from Weir Farm. But he is best known for the sculpture he created here, including the statue of his grandfather in Washington, D.C., as well as the Sea Gull Monument and “This is the Place” in Salt Lake City.
Upon Young’s death, the farm was purchased by painters Sperry and Doris Andrews, who were friends of the family. Their desire to keep the farm, including Weir Pond, in its original state led them to become leaders in the local preservation movement.
Weir Farm National Historic Site welcomes visitors and artists, who can wander and paint the grounds that inspired so many great works of art. A museum houses correspondence, diaries, sketchbooks, and other items owned by the Weir family.
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Mario
June 19, 2013
Bartskid
May 21, 2012