13 Best Sights in Southwestern Connecticut, Connecticut

The owner of this 19th-century home, wealthy textile merchant Robert Moffat Bruce, bequeathed it to the town of Greenwich in 1908 with the stipulation that it be used "as a natural history, historical, and art museum." Today this diversity remains, reflected in the museum's changing exhibitions—more than a dozen new ones each year—highlighting fine and decorative arts, natural history, and anthropology. On permanent display is a spectacular mineral collection. Kids especially enjoy the touchable meteorite and glow-in-the-dark minerals, as well as the fossilized dinosaur tracks. The gift shop is terrific, too!

Summer visitors congregate at this state park, Connecticut's first, which has a 1½-mile sweep of sandy beach, two picnic areas at the water's edge, sports fields, and several food stands (open seasonally). The on-site nature center offers various programs from bird-watching to nature walks.

Cutting-edge art is not necessarily what you'd expect to find in a stately, 18th-century structure that, by turns, served as a general store, a post office, and, for 35 years, a church. Nicknamed "Old Hundred," this historic building is just part of the vast facility, which includes a 17,000-square-foot exhibition space that puts its own twist on traditional New England architecture. The white-clapboard-and-granite structure houses 12 galleries, a screening room, a sound gallery, a 22-foot-high project space for large installations, a 100-seat performance space, and an education center. Outside is a 2-acre sculpture garden. 

This 5-acre waterfront center, the cornerstone of the city's SoNo district, explores the marine life and maritime culture of Long Island Sound. The aquarium's more than 20 habitats include some 1,000 creatures indigenous to the Sound, including sting rays, sea turtles, harbor seals, river otters, and jellyfish. You can see toothy bluefish and sand tiger sharks in the 110,000-gallon Ocean Beyond the Sound aquarium. The Maritime Aquarium also operates an Environmental Education Center, leads marine-mammal cruises aboard R/V Spirit of the Sound, and has the state's largest IMAX theater.

This 93-acre natural sanctuary is home to 13 gardens with more than 2,000 varieties of annuals, perennials, wildflowers, and trees. There's a greenhouse, marked ecology trails (dogs are welcome), a pretty pond, and a boardwalk through a red maple swamp. Brilliant, bold colors make the wildflower garden stunning in spring.

In the 1890s, visitors from New York's Art Students League journeyed to the Cos Cob section of Greenwich to take classes taught by American Impressionist John Henry Twachtman at a boarding house for artists and writers run by Josephine and Constant Holley. Thus, the Cos Cob Art Colony was born and flourished until 1920. Today, the circa-1730 house is known as the Bush-Holley House, which displays a wonderful collection of 19th- and 20th-century art by Twachtman, along with rotating art, history, and cultural exhibitions. The collection also includes personal papers, photographs, and records that reflect the long history of Greenwich and its inhabitants, from farmers to Gilded Age barons, politicians, artists and writers, and shopkeepers.

The indoor, walk-through South American rain forest alone justifies a visit to this zoo. It comes alive with dozens of species, some rare and endangered such as keel-billed toucans, broad-snouted caimans, and black-and-gold howler monkeys living in a lush environment of waterfalls, ponds, greenery, and bamboo. The zoo itself has 36 acres of exhibits featuring more than 300 animals: bison, tigers, leopards, timber wolves, sloths, a red panda, bald eagles---and proud peacocks that freely roam the property right along with you. There's also a colorful carousel and a New England farmyard.

Visitors young and old learn about science and technology through hands-on STEAM learning experiences and demonstrations that explore electricity, computers, sound, light, magnetism, and energy. Particular draws include the Hall of Space, where you can touch a real meteorite and Skylab artifacts, and Teddy Bear Triage, where little ones can apply first-aid treatments to their own stuffed animals. Don't miss the planetarium shows—some geared to young children and others to all age groups.

Bring a picnic to enjoy in adjacent Adventure Park.

Opened in 1943 as the National Audubon Society's first educational nature center, the sanctuaries and trails are the best location in the area for bird-watching. During the Fall Festival and Hawk Watch each September, you can spot large numbers of hawks and other migrating raptors. Other events include early morning bird walks, summer and winter bird counts, birding classes, and field trips. The center is filled with interactive exhibits, galleries, classrooms, a wildlife observation room, and a deck with sweeping views of wildlife activity. Outside are 7 miles of hiking trails passing through 285 acres of woodland, wetland, and meadow.

Sheffield Island is a prime spot for a picnic and some bird-watching; the lighthouse, built in 1868, has 10 rooms on four levels that you can explore. A ferry departs from the Sheffield Island Dock on N. Water Street for the 3-hour excursion, including 1.5 hours on the island. Clambakes are held Tuesday evenings June–August. 

Oxen, sheep, pigs, and other animals roam this 118-acre New England farmstead. Once the estate of Henri Bendel, the property includes a Tudor Revival stone mansion housing exhibits on natural history, art, and Americana. Nature trails wind through 80 acres of woods—perfect for a daytime hike year round or on a summer evening. Special experiences include maple sugaring in February, a farm market on summer Sundays, and apple cidering on fall weekends.

The ColorCoaster, a 27-foot-high kinetic structure in constant motion, is the centerpiece of this hands-on museum with exhibits organized by age. Visit the Energy Lab, where youngsters learn about wind, water, and solar power while splashing around the extensive water play area. The Light Gallery has colorful LED displays; Studio K has a green screen and video feed for real-time "newscasting"; and for babies and toddlers, Tot Town is a safe place where they can play with toys and puzzles, "cook" in a play kitchen, and learn about animals on Old MacDonald's Farm.

This ornate tribute to Victorian decorating, built in 1864 as the summer home of financier and railroad tycoon LeGrand Lockwood, remains one the oldest (and finest) surviving Second Empire–style country homes in the United States. It's hard not to be impressed by its octagonal skylighted rotunda and more than 50 rooms of gilt, frescoes, marble, intricate woodwork, and etched glass. Movie buffs will be interested in knowing that the mansion was used as the location of the Stepford Men's Association in The Stepford Wives—the original (1975) film.