By the 1890s, painters were boarding the train to Cos Cob and lodging at the Bush-Holley House, a circa-1730 colonial saltbox above the harbor. There John Henry Twachtman taught what are believed to be among the first American Impressionist painting classes in the country, and artists including J. Alden Weir, Theodore Robinson, and Childe Hassam gathered to paint the marshes, the harbor, and the light. Their Cos Cob Art Colony, Connecticut's first, ran into the 1920s and helped shape American art; the house is now a National Historic Landmark cared for by the Greenwich Historical Society. In the twentieth century Greenwich became the flagship town of Connecticut's Gold Coast — wooded estates above the Sound, a celebrated avenue of shops, and an elegance that has always preferred restraint to display.
Where American Impressionism found its light — a 1640 town on the Long Island Sound shore. Greenwich, Connecticut is the place where American Impressionism took root. From the 1890s into the 1920s, painters drawn to the harbors, tidal marshes, and winding rivers of the Greenwich shore gathered at the Bush-Holley House to form the first art colony in Connecticut, the Cos Cob Art Colony — a cradle of the American Impressionist movement. But the town's story runs much deeper than its painters: settled in 1640, Greenwich is among the oldest towns in Connecticut and the southwesternmost municipality in all of New England, and it carries a Revolutionary War legend on its very town seal.
Why People Visit Greenwich Connecticut
- Tour the Bush-Holley House and the Greenwich Historical Society to stand where Connecticut's first art colony painted American Impressionism into being.
- Visit Putnam Cottage (Knapp's Tavern) and the marker at Put's Hill, where General Putnam made his famous 1779 ride.
- See the Bruce Museum, Greenwich's museum of art and natural history near the downtown green.
- Walk the 2.2-mile loop at Greenwich Point (Tod's Point), a 147-acre peninsula with skyline views across Long Island Sound.
- Explore the trails and overlooks of the Greenwich Audubon Center and Mianus River Park.
- Stroll Greenwich Avenue, the downtown's celebrated hill of shops and galleries.
