🇺🇸 WEEKLY AMERICAN HERITAGE: Weir Farm National Historical Park

(Explore the history and landscape of the United States with us as we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution and American Independence. Get out your homeschool atlas and almanac and follow along!)

Connecticut is our homeschool state-of-the-week, so why not spend a few minutes today with your students learning about one of Connecticut’s most important historic and artistic places: Weir Farm National Historical Park, which commemorates the history of American art.

“Visit the home and studio of America’s most beloved Impressionist, J. Alden Weir, and walk in the footsteps of generations of world-class artists. Weir’s farm is a national legacy to American Impressionism, the creative spirit, and historic preservation.”

In 1882, the American artist Julian Alden Weir (1852–1919) traded a still life painting he had purchased for $560 for a 153-acre farm in Branchville, Connecticut. Here, amidst rocky fields and woodlands, Weir spent nearly four decades painting. His artist friends Childe Hassam, John Twachtman, Emil Carlsen, and Albert Pinkham Ryder often joined him. Together, they created masterpieces of light and color on canvas that came to define American Impressionism. After his death, Weir’s daughter Dorothy Weir Young, an artist in her own right, and her husband, sculptor Mahonri Young, carried on the artistic legacy at Weir Farm. They were followed by New England painters Sperry and Doris Andrews.

Today, the 68-acre site is the only National Historical Park to offer the home, studio, and grounds of an important late 19th-century American artist whose home and land were integral to his artistic vision and to the growth of a national style of painting. (nps.gov)

You can find a wealth of additional information about the park’s history, landscape, location(s), and visitor facilities on the Weir Farm National Historical Park website from the National Park Service.

Explore America’s National Parks, National Historical Parks, National Historic Sites, National Monuments, and more via Wikipedia and via the U.S. National Park Service’s website today.

What historical American treasures are you and your students exploring in your homeschool this Cygnus Term? 🇺🇸

❡ The great globe itself: This is one of our regular Homeschool Geography posts featuring important natural and historical sites in the United States. Print your own copy of our River Houses American Heritage Calendar and follow along with us, and add your name to our weekly mailing list to get great homeschool teaching ideas delivered right to your mailbox all through the year. 🌎

❡ Print this little lesson: Down at the bottom of this post you'll find a special "Print" button that will let you create a neat and easy-to-read copy of this little lesson, and it will even let you edit and delete sections you don't want or need (such as individual images or footnotes). Give it a try today! 🖨

❡ Books in the running brooks: You can always turn to your River Houses atlas and almanac for more information about any of our homeschool states-of-the-week. The almanac has detailed profiles of all the U.S. states and territories, and the endpapers of the atlas are indexes that will show you where all of the individual national and regional maps may be found. 📚

❡ Homeschool calendars: We have a whole collection of free, printable, educational homeschool calendars and planners available on our main River Houses calendar page. They will help you create a light and easy structure for your homeschool year. Give them a try today! 🗓

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❡ Join us! The aim of the River Houses project is to create a network of friendly local homeschool support groups — local chapters that we call “Houses.” Our first at-large chapter, Headwaters House, is now forming and is open to homeschoolers everywhere. Find out how to become one of our founding members on the Headwaters House membership page. 🏡