Burlingham Barn/Public Restrooms

The Burlingham Barn is one of the many historic farm buildings preserved by the National Park Service. Alterations were made in the 1990’s, creating a classroom space and public restrooms. It is a typical "English barn" built between the late 1700s and the early 1800s. Today the Burlingham Barn is a multi-use facility that houses seasonal restrooms.

• A gravel walkway that leads to a red building and white trim. A green door leads into a small room with a water bottle filling station and two accessible bathrooms. The side wall on the barn has three other small doorways.

Burlingham House Visitor Center

The Burlingham House, bears the name of Julian Alden Weir's youngest daughter, Cora Weir Burlingham, who lived in this house form 1931 to 1986. Today the Burlingham House serves as the park's visitor center and and museum store. The visitor center is open seasonally, and brochures, self-guided tours, Junior Ranger activities, and the National Park Passport Stamp are available year-round on the front porch.

• From the parking lot, cross the busy suburban street and walk along a gravel pathway through historic stone walls. Along the way you will pass trees, bushes and wide variety of flowers. At the end of the path you will reach a large stone patio surrounded by stone walls. In front of you, is a red house with white trim and a green door.

Secret Garden

Named because the outside hedges became so overgrown it hid the garden, the Secret Garden is located near the Weir and Young Studios. The Ridgefield Garden Club worked with the National Park Service and the Olmstead Center for Landscape Preservation to restore this area in the mid-1990s. With its quaint wood fencing, bubbling fountain, and historic sundial, this spot encapsulates beauty and blooms with a dazzling array of flowers that are sure to inspire!

• A wooden fence door leads you into a small garden. The garden is surrounded by large hedges and a wooden fence. Inside the fence is a water fountain, a sundial and a variety of shrubs, flowers, and other plants.

Sunken Garden

The Sunken Garden is a defining feature of the landscape of Weir Farm. Commissioned by Cora Weir Burlingham in the early 1930’s this small, intimate space is defined by the stone retaining walls and curving flowerbeds edged with dwarf boxwood. Blooms of irises, peonies, bleeding hearts, and many more dynamic garden plants offer beauty and inspiration in the Sunken Garden throughout the seasons. It is a favorite spot for painters, as is the nearby stone potting shed.

• A stone stairwell leads down into a garden. A stone wall surrounds the garden on all sides. The garden includes curving flowerbeds and large shrubs. In the spring and summer various flowers grow as well.

Terraced Gardens

Julian Alden Weir’s youngest daughter, Cora Weir Burlingham, was especially passionate about gardening and had an education in landscape design and horticulture. An artist of the landscape, she played a major role in completing the artistic vision of this tranquil retreat, designing and commissioning several of Weir Farm’s historic gardens, including the iconic Terraced Gardens. Today, the Terraced Gardens are a popular spot for plein air painting and picnicking.

• A large grassy meadow with a wooden wire trellis system on the edge. On the trellis is several vines with berries on the end. Along the sides meadows include stone walls and other plants and bushes.

The Caretaker's House and Artist-in-Residence Studio

Weir Farm was once a fully operating farm, but Julian Alden Weir knew little about farming. To help run the farm, Weir hired a farm manager, or caretaker. The farm manager lived in the Caretaker’s House often with their families. Today, the Caretaker’s House is used for housing the park’s Artists-in-Residence, and the adjacent studio serves as their creative workspace. The house and adjacent studio are closed to the public.

• A gravel parking lot leads you to a small patch of grass and then to a small stone step. From the step in a grey deck attached to a red building. The red building is a two story house with a white door and white trim. The windows also have white trim.

Truants' Meadow

As seen in Julian Alden Weir's painting The Old Rock, now known as The Truants, this meadow exemplifies the dynamic nature of a cultural landscape.

• A grassy meadow with a rocky path that goes through the center of the meadow. In the middle of meadow sits a small one room wooden house with white windows and a white. The house is sitting on stilts.

Visitor Parking Lot

The Visitor Parking Lot is open daily, sunrise to sunset, year-round. The self-serve kiosk in the parking lot includes information about the park, brochures, self-guided tours, and the National Park Service Passport Stamp. There is a pet waste station located near the parking lot entrance, please pick up after your pets.

• A gravel parking lot that includes about 20 individual park spots and two handicap parking spots. On the far end of the lot is a kiosk that has brochures and a small box that includes the National Park Service Passport stamp.

Weir Barn

Until the late 19th Century, much of Connecticut was comprised of family farms, often named for the families that owned them. The Weir Barn and its outbuildings - the tack house, chicken coop, ice house, and corn crib - were crucial to the working farm. Seasonally, visitors can view four historically furnished rooms of this rare, pre-1835 English-style barn.

• A large multiroom barn that has wooden panels. There are four rooms in the barn, a horse stable, an equipment room, a milking parlor, and a pony stall. There is a wooden fence that goes around the whole barn.

Weir House

Weir Farm was home to three generations of artists, beginning with Impressionist painter Julian Alden Weir in 1882, when he fell in love with the landscape and his “little house among the rocks.” Today, the wildly artistic Weir House contains many original paintings, furnishings, and decorative objects.

• A stone path leads you through a whole in the wooden fence line and then to a white porch attached to a red building. The red building is a two story house with a green door and white trim. The windows have white trim and green shutters.

Weir Pond

Weir Pond was a backdrop for many outings during Julian Alden Weir's lifetime, including fishing, painting, boating, swimming, and picnics. In the winter, the ice was harvested and stored in the ice house. Today the area is still used for artistic inspiration and as a hiking destination.

• A pond surrounded by trees on all sides. A hiking trail through the woods follows around the whole pond. At the edge of a pond is an earthen dam and several large rock boulders.

Weir Preserve

Weir Preserve is a privately owned parcel of land adjacent to Weir Farm National Historical Park and connects to the park’s trail system. Although it is not park of the park, the Weir Preserve is used by visitors to enhance their experience hiking the Connecticut landscape and has historical connections to the Weir family. Cora Weir Burlingham initiated the preserve with a gift of 37 acres to the Connecticut Chapter of The Nature Conservancy in 1969.

• A lush green forest with several hiking trails. In the winter time, the trails can be covered in snow.

Weir Studio

Julian Alden Weir often painted en plein air, or outside. However, he needed a place to paint inside as well. Built shortly after Weir purchased the farm in 1882, he used the Weir Studio to create some of his best masterpieces. Today, the studio is historically furnished, and visitors can view original and reproduction sculptures, paintings, etchings, artists tools, furnishings, and collections.

• A grassy path leads you a small hill to a red building. The red building is a two story studio with a green door and white trim. The windows are located on the north and south wall have white trim.

Young Studio

In the Young Studio, accomplished sculptor Mahonri Mackintosh Young worked on several masterpieces, including his largest commission, a monument entitled "This Is the Place". The studio was also used by Sperry Andrews, who continued the artistic tradition after the Weir and Young families. Today, the studio is historically furnished to include objects once owned by both Young and Andrews.

• A grassy path leads down a small hill to a red building. The red building is a two story studio with a green door and white trim. The windows are located on the north wall have white trim.

Burlingham House Visitor Center

• Burlingham House Visitor Center
• The Burlingham House Visitor Center bears the name of Julian Alden Weir's youngest daughter, Cora Weir Burlingham, who lived in this house from 1931 to 1986. Today the building serves as the park's visitor center where you can talk with Park Rangers, sign up for tours, obtain Junior Ranger program materials, explore museum exhibits, watch the park film, pick up free-to-use art supplies, and visit the Eastern National Park Store. Public restrooms are available seasonally in the nearby Burlingham Barn.

• Take a Guided Tour at Weir Farm
• Tour the landscape that inspired three generations of artists. Guided tours include historic painting sites, stone walls, and a pond in addition to tours of the wildly artistic Weir House, Weir Studio and Young Studio.

• Become a Weir Farm Junior Ranger
• Weir Farm National Historical Park is a fun place for kids to explore and learn! Complete one of the following activities during your next visit to the park to earn a Junior Ranger badge. Complete more than one to earn a special Junior Ranger patch. Junior Ranger activities can be picked up at the Burlingham House Visitor Center porch or at the Burlingham House Visitor Center Front Desk in season.

• Visit the Burlingham House Visitor Center
• When visiting Weir Farm National Historical Park, stop by the Burlingham House Visitor Center to talk with rangers, explore museum exhibits, watch the park film, or visit the Eastern National Park Store. There's something for everyone at the visitor center!

• Art in the Park
• Enjoy the artistic legacy that is that is the hallmark of Weir Farm. Or Take Part in Art by creating your own artwork in a place that has inspired thousands of painters for more than 130 years.

• Take a Self-Guided Tour of Weir Farm
• Stroll through gardens and grounds, complete with beautiful stone walls, and come away with ideas for landscaping your own corner of the world. Pick up self-guided brochures at the self-serve kiosks in the parking lot and on the visitor center porch. 

• Walk to Weir Pond
• Numerous hiking trails enable you to explore the woods, open fields, and pond at Weir Farm. You’ll quickly discover the painterly landscape that has attracted artists to this property for more than 130 years. Julian Alden Weir authorized the construction of Weir Pond in 1896 using prize money won from a Boston Art Club exhibition for his painting "The Truants".