Florence Griswold Museum

Honor Award

Analysis and Planning

Old Lyme, CT, USA
STIMSON
Client: Florence Griswold Museum

The Artists' Trail: History, Ecology and Sense of Place

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

Site Context

At the turn of the last century, Impressionist painters gathered at Florence Griswold's boardinghouse along the Lieutenant River in Old Lyme to capture the landscape on canvas. Today, the site remains a stopover for migrations along the Atlantic Flyway.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

American Impressionism

Forging an art colony that would become the nation's center of American Impressionism, the artists often occupied the edges of the estate, capturing their wild and agrarian subjects from these remote vantage points.

Photo Credit: Florence Griswold Museum
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

A Century of Land Planning

After fifty years, the original estate has been re-acquired. A pivotal acquisition in 2016 instigated the Landscape Master Plan and it received a $1M grant from the Schumann Foundation for its integrated approach to environmental sustainability, education and the arts.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

Guiding the Master Plan

An Ecological Impact Assessment involved the careful inventory of existing vegetation to preserve and enhance, as well as invasives to remove at each historic edge ecology at the Museum property.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

Unifying the Site

The Master Plan included site planning for a gallery addition, parking expansion, core landscape improvements and a new interpretive experience, ‘The Artists’ Trail’, that weaves through the outer edges of the property.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

Increasing Ecological Diversity

The Master Plan proposes a diversified landscape along The Artists’ Trail. Distinct zones of restoration, each with their own heightened ecological value, are critical to re-establishing avian habitat.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

A New Ecological Collection

An excerpt from the ecological matrix of the restoration planting plan and the target avian species of The Artists’ Trail. The restoration planting references historic plant communities found on the property and was directly informed by the Museum’s art collection.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The Ravine

New trees, understory, groundplane and bank stabilization provide a more authentic woodland experience, restored habitat and a new connection to the Lyme Art Association.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The Northern Hedgerow

New connectivity along previously fragmented patches of vegetation at the northern edge is reinterpreted as a dense, high-quality habitat hedgerow. Nesting boxes are strategically sited, and a historic plant community becomes an ecological conduit to the river.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The Emergent Wetland

An existing detention area is expanded and vegetated to cleanse runoff from the future gallery and parking expansion, a significant improvement over the existing conditions which allowed runoff to flow over a seedbank of invasives into the Lieutenant River.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The River's Edge

Invasive species and mown lawn along the Lieutenant River are replaced with a new habitat of water tolerant grasses, forbs and rhizomatic shrubs. This plant community re-establishes a familiar wildness and restores historic views to distinct landmarks.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The Ravine

The barren floor of the existing ravine woodland is restored with an indigenous collection of shade plants and rustic gathering spaces. Evergreens and understory provide a sense of enclosure and new avian habitat close to a water source.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The Orchard

Childe Hassam’s studio was famously situated within an aged orchard. Fruit trees reinterpret the lost agrarian pattern of the farm. Lawn is reduced in favor of tall grasses to encourage pollination and avian food sources.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The Meadow

Over six acres of meadowlands existed at the original estate and farm. As a counterpart to the hedgerow, the meadow will provide vital habitat and forage for nesting birds and a permanent site for the Chadwick Studio, a historic relic.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

The River's Edge

The Trail transitions to a boardwalk at the emergent wetland, allowing visitors to inhabit the restored River’s edge with new sensitivity. The Master Plan yields new opportunities to reinterpret historic traditions like the Harvest Moon Walk.

Photo Credit: STIMSON
Media: Please submit high-resolution image requests to images@asla.org.

"At the Connecticut home of American Impressionism, this master plan for museum grounds focuses on the creation of an Artists’ Trail as a way to honor the roots of the movement and the landscapes that inspired the artists. Paintings done on the site helped inform the re-creation of the landscape and the trail, which focuses on the site’s edges as defined by ravine, hedgerow, meadow, and river. Special care was taken to ensure sustainability as the museum expands, and to establish a thriving ecosystem plant and animal life that harkens back to the site’s origins as a special place capable of inspiring some of the nation’s most important art."

- 2019 Awards Jury

Project Credits

STIMSON (Landscape Architect)
Lead Designers:
- Lauren Stimson
- Stephen Stimson
- Sara Lawrence
- Jessica Alpert
- Julia Frederick
Centerbrook Architects, Architect
Great Ecology, Landscape Ecology
Nemergut Consulting, Civil Engineering
Connecticut Audubon Society
Robert F. Schumann Foundation

Project Statement

The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, Connecticut is the home of American Impressionism. The concept of The Artists' Trail and the ensuing Landscape Master Plan evokes the spirit of the historic site, integrated with a site-specific approach to restoration ecology. Landscape experiences will be choreographed along The Artists' Trail, providing visitors with a more authentic sense of the Lyme Art Colony and the site's cultural and environmental history. Overall, the project demonstrates a confidence and commitment to prioritizing the role of landscape in the Museum experience.

Project Narrative

"The topography of Lyme, composed of rolling hills, brooks, rock outcrops, and vegetation, has been referred to as 'a land of edges' - separations between fields, forests, watercourses, and roads - and therein lies much of its beauty."
-Impressionist, Benjamin Eggleston (1876-1937)

American Impressionism

Located on the east bank of the Lieutenant River in Old Lyme, CT, the Florence Griswold Museum is the home of American Impressionism. Positioned at the confluence of a tidal river, coastal plain hardwood forest, and the historic village of Old Lyme, the site is a stopover for migratory birds along the Atlantic Flyway. Originally a working farm and estate, as early as 1899, it was attractive to artists who came to the region in search of creative enlightenment. Bound by a wooded ravine, the Lieutenant River, hedgerows and stonewalls, pasture, hayfields, and working gardens, barns and outbuildings doubled as studio spaces. The Impressionists shared a mutual love of the wild and agrarian landscapes of the region, glorifying them in perpetuity through drawings, etchings, paintings and sculpture. After the death of Florence Griswold in 1937, the original estate was dismantled and it took over fifty years for the Museum to restore it to 11.8 acres. In 2016, a pivotal land acquisition initiated a Landscape Master Plan that provided the site planning for a gallery expansion and a new interpretive landscape experience.

The Artists' Trail

The Master Plan focuses on the creation of The Artists' Trail as a way to honor the roots of the American Impressionist movement and the 'land of edges' that originally inspired the artists. Conceived as an enclosed loop, the Trail unifies the previously divided parcels and weaves through the outermost edges of the property. It includes landscapes that the artists themselves had famously inhabited and documented, yet had been largely ignored for nearly a century. The edges offer a new opportunity to restore the site's inherent ecologies, and expand the visitor experience into the landscape by interpreting lost plant communities that are so famously depicted in the Museum's paintings.

Soon after this initial concept was derived, the Museum worked with the Landscape Architect to secure a $1M grant from the Schumann Foundation for the implementation of the Landscape Master Plan. The Museum was awarded the grant for the integrated approach to environmental sustainability, education and the arts conveyed through The Artists' Trail.

Restoration Ecology and Art History

The Master Plan was mainly guided by two bodies of research: An Ecological Impact Assessment (EIA) of existing site conditions and the Museum's collection of historic paintings. The EIA guided the restoration planting in relation to vegetation to preserve and enhance, as well as invasives to remove. The EIA concluded that the Landscape Master Plan "strives for balance between cultural and ecological interpretation of the Museum landscape while enhancing, diversifying, and restoring the native landscape." The Museum and Landscape Architect also worked closely with the Connecticut Audubon Society, who reviewed the Master Plan in detailand concludedthat the project "will provide significant ecological benefits to this critical site…benefit migratory birds and serve as a great demonstration area for techniques that visitors can take home with them to inspire conservation action."

The Museum paintings offered comprehensive plant identification through descriptions of the works and careful study of the paintings themselves (date, season, location and plant species). Lyme Art Colony painters often worked within the estate's edges, riverfront, brambles, and forgotten corners. The artwork clearly identified four key edge conditions: The Ravine, The Hedgerow, The Meadow and The River. The Master Plan activates these edges to tell the artists' story along The Artists' Trail, immersing visitors in a new interpretive exploration of the grounds. Visitors will learn about the site's history and restored and enriched ecology at new stations and landscape elementssuch as the Boardwalk, the River's Edge Overlook, and the Childe Hassam Studio. The Master Plan also includes the reestablishment of the Meadow, the Orchard, the creation of outdoor learning spaces, and an expanded parking "thicket" which will double as important bird habitat. The restoration of a historic hedgerow and the relocation of two small buildings to more suitable sites will all contribute to the purposeful enhancement of a thriving ecosystem for bird, plant, and animal life.

Conveying the cultural and environmental history to the visitor has become an important part of the Museum's mission to educate the public on how the artists inhabited the site and the way the wild landscapes inspired them. Each edge condition: Ravine, Hedgerow, Meadow and River, included an in-depth restoration planting plan which corresponds with a target list of Connecticut Species of Greatest Conservation Need provided by the Connecticut Audubon. A site-wide habitat plan was created in response to the target species with nesting boxes and platforms strategically sited. Interpreting the restoration planting through the various edge ecologies will be done through signage and integrated into the Museum programming. New educational opportunities related to seasonal birdwatching, nesting, and migrations will be woven into the Museum programs and exhibitions.

Progressive Planning

The Museum was forward-thinking by having the Landscape Architect re-design the parking and vehicular circulation, re-locate key buildings and provide innovative stormwater management to mitigate runoff in preparation for a future gallery expansion that has not yet been funded. The creation of an Event Lawn in close proximity to the Museum café for weddings and seasonal events brings increased revenue and opportunity to the Museum.

The concept of The Artists' Trail and the ensuing Landscape Master Plan is unique in its approach to using art history as a way to inform restoration ecology. The existing site conditions which were of low ecological value are completely diversified by reducing lawn and pavement, and restoring woodland, hedgerow, meadow and riparian edges. The Landscape Master Plan demonstrates a unique collaboration between the Landscape Architect, ecologist, Museum, Connecticut Audubon and the Schumann Foundation. The Artists' Trail will provide visitors with a more authentic sense of the Lyme Art Colony, as well as the site's cultural history and its environmental significance. Overall, the project extends beyond the gallery walls and demonstrates a confidence and commitment to prioritizing the role of landscape at the Florence Griswold Museum.

Products

Plant LIST

Florence Griswold Museum The Artists’ Trail | Select Plant Schedule
Stormwater Garden & Meadow

Trees

Amelanchier x grandiflora Princess Diana Serviceberry
Ilex opaca `Jersey Princess` Jersey Princess Holly

Shrubs

Cornus sericea `Artic Fire` Artic Fire Dogwood
Ilex glabra `Shamrock` Inkberry
Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite' Winterberry
Ilex verticillata 'Sparkleberry' Winterberry
Kalmia Angustifolia Sheep Laurel
Myrica gale Sweetgale
Myrica pensylvanica Northern Bayberry
Vaccinium angustifloium 'Top Hat'Lowbush Blueberry
Vaccinium corymbosum 'Bluecrop' Highbush Blueberry

Groundcovers, Grasses and Perennials

Aster cordifolius Blue wood aster
Achillea millefolium White Yarrow
Achillea 'Terracotta' Terracotta Yarrow
Allium sphaerocephalon Drumstick Allium
Asclepias tuberosa Butterfly weed
Asclepias tuberosa 'Ice Ballet' Butterfly weed
Andropogon virginicus Broomsedge Bluestem
Baptisia australis Blue False Indigo
Baptisia x variicolor 'Twilite' Twilite Prairieblues
Carex stricta Tussock sedge
Carex vulpinoidea Brown fox sedge
Dennstaedtia punctilobula Hay-scented fern
Eryngium planum 'Blue Glitter' Sea Holly
Echinops ritro Globe Thistle
Hibiscus moscheutos Rose Mallow, Pink
Iris siberica 'Gulls Wing' Iris
Iris siberica 'Caesar's Brother' Iris
Iris chrysographes 'Black Flowered' Iris
Juncus effusus Soft Rush
Knautia macedonica Crimson Scabious
Hedgerow & Orchard

Trees

Amelanchier x grandiflora Princess Diana Serviceberry
Betula papyrifera Paper Birch
Ilex opaca 'Jersey Princess'
Jersey Princess Holly
Malus x 'Donald Wyman' Crab Apple
Nyssa sylvatica Tupelo
Sassafras albidum Sassafras

Shrubs

Hamamelis virginiana Witch Hazel
Ilex opaca 'Maryland Dwarf' American Holly
Ilex glabra 'Shamrock' Inkberry Holly
Ilex verticillata `Red Sprite’ Red Sprite Winterberry
Ilex verticillata `Sparkleberry` Winterberry
Kalmia latifolia Mountain Laurel
Myrica gale Sweetgale
Myrica pensylvanica Northern Bayberry
Rhododendron x `Calsap’ Calsap Rhododendron
Rhus aromatica Fragrant Sumac
Syringa vulgaris 'Monge' Lilac
Syringa vulgaris 'Yankee Doodle' Lilac
Syringa vulgaris 'President Lincoln'Lilac

Groundcovers, Grasses and Perennials

Anemone x hybrida `Honorine Jobert’Japanese Anemone
Actaea racemosa Black Cohosh Anemone x hybrida `Wild Swan’ Japanese Anemone
Dennstaedtia punctilobula Hay-scented Fern
Lawn Seed Mix
Meadow Seed Mix / Wildflower mix
Matteuccia struthiopteris Ostrich Fern
Osmunda cinnamomea Cinnamon Fern
Polystichum acrostichoides Christmas Fern
Thelypteris noveboracensis New York Fern

Bulbs

Crocus tommasinianus Tommasinianus Crocus
Fritillaria Meleagris Checkered Lily Bulb
Narcissus x 'Heavenly all White Mix' Narcissus

Ravine

Trees

Abies balsamea Balsam Fir

Shrubs

Hamamelis virginiana Witch Hazel
Ilex verticillata `Sparkleberry` Winterberry
Rhododendron maximum `Great Laurel`
Rose Bay Rhododendron Rhododendron x `Cunningham`s White`
White Rhododendron

Groundcovers, Grasses and Perennials

Anemone canadensis
Canadian Anemone
Anemone x hybrida `Honorine Jobert’ Japanese Anemone
Matteuccia struthiopteris Ostrich Fern
Osmunda cinnamomea Cinnamon Fern
Polystichum acrostichoides Christmas Fern Thelypteris noveboracensis New York Fern

Bulbs

Galanthus woronowii Snowdrop
Narcissus x 'Heavenly all White Mix' Narcissus
River’s Edge Overlook Trees
Amelanchier x grandiflora `Princess Diana`Serviceberry

Shrubs

Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite' Winterberry
Myrica gale Sweetgale
Myrica pensylvanica Northern Bayberry
Rhus aromatica Fragrant Sumac

Groundcovers, Grasses and Perennials

Actaea racemose Black Cohosh
Andropogon virginicus Broomsedge Bluestem
Dennstaedtia punctilobula Hay-scented fern
Eupatorium maculatum 'Little Joe'Little Joe Pye Weed
Hibiscus moscheutos Rose Mallow, Pink
Juncus effuses Soft rush"