Take a Stroll Down Memory Lane at the Fairfield Museum and History Center This Summer

Feeling nostalgic? Take a trip down memory lane and stroll through Growing Up in Fairfield: Memories and Milestones, which will be on display through Oct. 2 at the Fairfield Museum and History Center.

The center also recently opened Picturing Fairfield: The Photographs of Mabel Osgood Wright, which will be on display through Sept. 16.

For more on those exhibits and other special events on tap at the center, see the press release below:

FAIRFIELD – The Fairfield Museum and History Center announces the opening of two new  exhibitions, Growing Up in Fairfield: Memories and Milestones and Picturing Fairfield: The Photographs of Mabel Osgood Wright, an early conservationist who establish the Connecticut Audubon Society, and founded Birdcraft Sanctuary as a refuge for birds in Fairfield.

Through her photography, Mabel Osgood Wright, provides a nostalgic and sentimental look at Fairfield’s homes, gardens, people and local countryside at the turn of the twentieth century, just as the United States was shifting from an agrarian to an industrial and urban country. From early on, photography was instrumental to Wright’s conservationist efforts, a means to document the disappearing landscape around her. The exhibition, on view through Sept. 16, showcases photographs Wright created for her lectures which were taken from hand-pointed, glass slides.

Take a trip down memory lane as you stroll through, Growing Up in Fairfield: Memories and Milestones, on view through Oct. 2. This exhibition looks back at the experience of growing up from the 1940s and 1950s—when the idea of the teenage years as a distinct phase of life first took shape—to the decades that followed. To provide more historical perspective, the exhibit also includes items from the 1800s, showing how 19th-century children’s lives compare to those we remember.

While each generation’s coming of age is shaped by the culture and events of its era, many elements of growing up in Fairfield have remained constant: the landscape of beach, woods, and hills; the schools and organizations focused on children; and the places and businesses that became part of daily life.

Several special events are also on tap, including a Museum After Dark wine and cheese event on July 31, free to the public from 6-8 pm and Romance in the Garden, the John Hancock and Dorothy Quincy wedding reenactment at the Burr Mansion on August 23 from 4-6 pm. Mark your calendars now!

For more information, visit Fairfieldhistory.org.

On Exhibit:

Growing Up in Fairfield: Memories and Milestones

July 3 – October 2, 2014

Explore how growing up in Fairfield has changed over the years with rare mementoes including yearbooks, letter jackets, and photographs.

Picturing Fairfield: The Photographs of Mabel Osgood Wright

July 3 – September 16, 2014

Mabel Osgood Wright is best-known as an early conservationist and author, but she was also a talented, self-taught photographer. Wright often turned her camera toward her hometown of Fairfield, documenting its countryside, homes, gardens, and people at the turn of the twentieth century, when effects of modernization and urbanization were beginning to infiltrate. At times nostalgic and sentimental, her photographs picture Fairfield as a traditional New England country town, emphasizing its natural beauty and historic character.

Events and Programs:

The 1750 Ogden House Tours

1520 Bronson Road, Fairfield

Open Sundays throughout the summer, June – September, 1pm – 4pm 

Members: Free; Non-members: $3

Enjoy docent-led tours of the 1750 Ogden House and see how people lived in the 18th century and stroll through the kitchen garden, generously maintained by the Fairfield Garden Club. The Ogden House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Town Green Walking Tours

Fairfield Museum, 370 Beach Road, Fairfield

July 19,  and August 23 from 2 – 3:30 p.m.

Members: Free; Non-members: $5

Learn the fascinating colonial history of Fairfield, including the establishment of the town’s original “four squares” in 1639 and the historic British invasion that took place in 1779. Learn about the “witch dunking experiment” at Edward’s Pond, the legacy of the Sun Tavern and more.

Museum After Dark: Fairfield’s Audubon Legacy

Fairfield Museum and History Center, 370 Beach Road

Thursday, July 31 from 6 – 8 p.m. FREE 

Co-sponsored with the CT Audubon Birdcraft Museum and Fairfield Living magazine

Enjoy a summer evening with wine and cheese at the Fairfield Museum to commemorate Mabel Osgood Wright’s legacy of preserving and protecting Fairfield’s natural landscape. 

Summer Romance at the Burr Homestead

Saturday, August 23 from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m., following the Town Green Walking Tour at 2 p.m.

Built in 1790 by Thaddeus Burr, the Burr Homestead was one of the cultural and social centers of Fairfield. Enjoy a special reenactment that will commemorate the graceful wedding ceremony of John Hancock and Dorothy Quincy, followed by lemonade and cookies in the Burr Gardens.

About the Fairfield Museum and History Center

Fairfield Museum and History Center is a community cultural arts and education center established in 2007 by the 103-year old Fairfield Historical Society.