The Famous Artists School opened in October 1948 in the old Sasco mill by the Saugatuck River, founded by twelve illustrators led by Albert Dorne with Norman Rockwell; two hundred dollars bought twenty-four lessons mailed out one at a time, and at its height the school had more than forty thousand students.
The Minute Man statue by Westport sculptor H. Daniel Webster was cast by Tiffany & Co. and unveiled June 17, 1910; it is one of only four known minuteman monuments in the United States.
Why People Visit Westport Connecticut
- Spend a day at Compo Beach, the town's Sound-front park, and find the Minute Man statue on the bluff above the 1777 landing site — the 1901 commemorative cannons stand nearby.
- Walk the Saugatuck River waterfront and the historic Saugatuck village, the colonial shipping center the town grew from, and cross the 1884 Cribari swing bridge.
- Catch a show at the Westport Country Playhouse, founded in 1931 in a converted 1835 tannery, or a summer concert at the Levitt Pavilion.
- Browse downtown Main Street and the river walk, with shops and galleries near the water.
- Kayak to Cockenoe Island off Compo, or walk Longshore's shoreline paths and public golf course.
- Drive a stretch of the Merritt Parkway for its celebrated 1930s bridges — no two are alike.
- Read up at the Westport Library before exploring the town's deep arts-colony history.
