This year, our annual Winter Lecture Series provides introspective insight into the diverse individuals who made the Holley Boarding House a groundbreaking hub of creative expression. Only 100 years after the Declaration of Independence, the Cos Cob area was a true melting pot of people, ideas, and creativity. The unique individuals who found their home in Cos Cob represent the wider cultural diversity of the United States at the turn of the 19th century and their lasting impact on our country’s culture. Explore the people behind the boarding house in this two-part lecture series complementing our newest exhibition in celebration of America 250, The Holley Boarding House: Inspiring American Impressionism, on view through March 8, 2026.
To kick off the Greenwich Historical Society’s Annual Winter Lecture Series, Peopling Greenwich at America’s Centennial, this exciting first lecture explores the people that made an impact on Cos Cob. Join speaker Amy Kurtz Lansing, Curator at the Florence Griswold Museum, as she brings to life the richness of the communities in and around Cos Cob’s Holley Boarding House.
From 1891 to 1920, the Holley Boarding House served as the center of the Cos Cob art colony, offering lodging to artists and facilitating their interaction with one another and the local population. Amy Kurtz Lansing takes the Holley House as a jumping off point for discussing the vibrancy fostered in Cos Cob by artists who met there and developed a lasting creative community in town during the early 20th century. How did artists visiting from the city relate to locals and what chosen communities did they form?
Attracting teachers, pupils, and exhibiting artists, the Holley House was the nucleus of a circle whose members introduced innovations into how art was taught and exhibited in that era. Kurtz Lansing will speak about the Holley House’s importance to leading American Impressionists such as J. Alden Weir, John Henry Twachtman, Theodore Robinson, and Childe Hassam, and to the role of painter Elmer Livingston MacRae in promoting modern art.
Exclusive Curator-led tour
In conjunction with this lecture, the Historical Society will host a special hour-long tour of the newest exhibition, The Holley Boarding House: Inspiring American Impressionism, led by exhibition curator Kathy Craughwell-Varda. Held from 12:30-1:30 pm prior to the lecture, the tour is an additional cost and can be purchased as a bundle with the lecture.
The curator-led tour is not included with general lecture tickets and must be purchased as a bundle. For docent led tours of the gallery visit our regular booking page here.
Capacity for the tour is limited and first come first served.
