Women Make Their Mark

Begin this getaway in Fairfield at the Birdcraft Museum & Sanctuary, where Mabel Osgood Wright was a pioneer in the field of environmental education. This is where, in 1914, she founded America’s first bird sanctuary.

Next, it’s up the coast to Old Lyme and the Florence Griswold Museum. In the late 19th century, Florence Griswold nurtured a generation of American Impressionist painters by hosting them in her home and encouraging them to interact with each other as they painted local scenes. Today, the museum, in its lovely setting on the Lieutenant River, is home to an outstanding collection of work by these Impressionists and others.

The drive out to Canterbury takes you to the Prudence Crandall Museum, site of the Canterbury Female Boarding School (1833-1834). When local opposition prevented principal Prudence Crandall from integrating her school by admitting Sarah Harris, a young Black woman, Crandall reopened her school for Black and Brown young women.  The museum shares the story of the tumultuous seventeen months during which the teachers and students defied local opposition and state laws, leaving a legacy that played a role in shaping the nation.

Hartford’s Harriet Beecher Stowe Center chronicles the life and work of this prominent 19th-century American writer (Uncle Tom’s Cabin) as well as the times she lived in. The Stowe Center is in part dedicated to make connections between the past and modern day problems of inequality for women.

The main house at the Hill-Stead Museum in Farmington, completed in 1901, was in great part the work of architect Theodate Pope Riddle for her parents’ new home. She was one of the first female architects in America, and much of her life’s work can be viewed here, along with her family’s wonderful collection of Impressionist art. There are extensive grounds and a sunken garden as well.