Exhibits & Collections
From an 1841 farmhouse frozen at 1940s wartime, to a barn full of looms and farm tools, to seven historic sites scattered across town — here's what there is to actually see.
The Coley House
Guided tours run Thursdays and the first and last Sundays of the month at 1pm, 2pm, and 3pm, during current open hours. The first floor has been researched and restored to reflect 1941–1945, when three generations of the Coley family lived there together — no other historic house museum in Connecticut is interpreted to the 1940s specifically. On the tour: the parlor's home-front leisure life during WWII, an interactive dining-room conversation piece, and a kitchen showing how wartime shortages reshaped everyday appliances and food. Restoration was funded by the Daniel E. Offutt, III Charitable Foundation Trust, Connecticut Humanities, and the 1772 Foundation.
In the back parlor, enjoy the interactive exhibition "Life in the 40s" — compare architecture, food, communication and education in the 1840s (when the house was built), 1940s (when the last three generations lived in the home), and predict what life will look like in 2040.
Upstairs, in Jimmy Coley's former bedroom, "Let's Play!" looks at how Weston kids had fun before video games and TV — including toys from Weston's own toy company. The room's restored wallpaper was installed for Jimmy when he was a child, back in the late 1940s.
Across the hall is "Twelve Stories of Weston," which uses objects from the Weston Historical Society's collection, as well as reproductions, to highlight twelve important moments in Weston's history.
General admission: $5 for adults, $3 for children 5–17, free for children 4 and under and for WHCC members.
A brief history
Built around 1841 in the Greek Revival style and remodeled before 1872, the Coley House was lived in by five generations of the family, from 1841 to 1983. David Dimon Coley (1811–1894) purchased the home lot of one acre from his father-in-law in 1841. The remaining 104 acres were given to or inherited by Coley's wife, Mary Eliza Andrews (1817–1872), from her father in 1847 and 1867. Five generations occupied the homestead for 142 years, working it as a farm for much of that time. The house, barn, outbuildings, and 3.7 acres of property were deeded to the Weston Historical Society by Cleora Coley in 1978, and came to the Society on her death in 1983.
Coley Barn — Weston at Work
Weston at Work is a permanent exhibit in the historic Coley Barn, open the same hours as the Coley House. It explores the history of agriculture, manufacturing, and textile production in Weston and Connecticut during the 19th and early 20th centuries — including immigrant communities that grew up around a wire mill, and the experiences of African-descended and women workers in Weston's industrial past. Children can card wool, weave on a wall loom, use a rope and pulley to raise a hay bale, and more.
"Weston at Work" was curated by Dr. Daryn Reyman-Lock, with exhibit design by Scott Kuykendall and exhibit interactives by former executive director Samantha Fargione. Supported in part by grants and donations from CT Humanities, the Daniel E. Offutt, III Charitable Trust, the Twenty-Seven Foundation, the Elizabeth Raymond Ambler Trust, Flagstar Bank, the Kiwanis Club of Weston, and more than 25 private donors.
Barn history
Built by David Dimon Coley in early 1883 to replace a similar barn consumed by fire in December 1882. The barn reflects an "English" style once common along the New England coast — a simple gable roof with the ridge line running at right angles to the prevailing winds, an oversized cupola, and huge doors on the opposing long sides.
Current & Upcoming Exhibits
In the Visitor's Center exhibit hall and conference room, Thursdays and the first and last Sundays of the month, 1–4pm.
Sarah Treadwell: Connecticut Mom, American Patriot
Thursdays and First & Last Sundays 1pm - 4pm
Local Patriots & Loyalists of the American Revolution
Thursdays and First & Last Sundays 1pm - 4pm
Weston Middle School 8th Grade - Selections From The "Weston America 250 Art Show"
Thursdays and First & Last Sundays 1pm - 4pm
Past Exhibits
Three Women Who Made Weston "Weston" (2019–2020) told the story of Alice DeLamar, Eva Le Gallienne, and Katharine Ordway, three women born in the 1890s who each shaped Weston in different ways and never had children of their own.
- 2025 Images of a Forgotten Village - Valley Forge
- 2024 Weston...What Lies Beneath
- 2023 Weston Illustrated: Penned, Painted and Sculpted
- 2023 Rise Up, Sisters! Traveling Exhibit
- 2022 The Curious Case of Eleven O'Clock Road - How Weston Got Its Place Names
- 2021 Weston Slept While the Nation Roared: Life in the 20's
- 2020 Daniel E. Offutt III Exhibition
- 2019 Three Women Who Made Weston 'Weston'
- 2018 Life in the Sixties
- 2017 Honoring Weston’s Own Fire and EMS Volunteers
- 2016 Memories of World War II
- 2016 Mort Schindel’s Weston Woods Exhibit
- 2015 Landmark Homes of Weston Exhibit 2015
- 2014 World War I Remembrance Exhibit
- 2014 Historic Wedding Dresses - The Brides of Weston
Historic Sites
Seven places around town worth the trip.
All historic sites → Photo Gallery →
Cemeteries
Six historic burial grounds across town, including the Coley Cemetery (dating to roughly 1760) and the Lyons Plain/Emmanuel Cemetery, resting place of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan.
Devil's Den
1,756 acres donated to the Nature Conservancy starting in 1966 by Weston resident Katharine Ordway — the largest tract of protected land in Fairfield County, with evidence of human use going back roughly 5,000 years.
Jarvis Military Academy
Founded 1835 as the Weston Boarding School, later one of the top military prep schools in the country before closing in 1888.
Lachat Town Farm
A 42-acre working farm deeded to the town and the Nature Conservancy in 1997 by Leon Lachat, still run today by Friends of Lachat for community programs.
The Old Post Office
Built around 1790, became Weston's official post office in 1883; previously known as the Norfield Post Office.
The Onion Barn
Once stored the Southport Globe onions grown by Weston farmers, including the Coleys, before shipment to New York.
Saugatuck Reservoir
Built starting in the 1920s–30s, flooding the village of Valley Forge; holds over 12 billion gallons piped to Norwalk and Bridgeport.