The 2023 Country House Conference comes to Webb Deane Stevens the first weekend of November, with a daylong symposium and two days of touring house museums and private homes in Greater Hartford and along the Connecticut shoreline. The Webb, Deane, and Stevens Houses may not look much like country houses at a glance, situated at the center of Old Wethersfield, but the day’s speakers will explore a wider understanding of the “country” as a place of escape and imagination. During the 20th century, thanks to automobile travel and influencers like Wallace Nutting, historic towns and their houses became as much an escape as rural byways. The program includes a lecture by WDS Executive Director Brenton Grom.

This conference is an annual production of the American Country House Foundation and has been underwritten in 2023 by the Classical American Homes Preservation Trust.

November 3-5, 2023, with a symposium at the Webb Deane Stevens Museum on November 4. Registration cost: $65 per person. Ticket price includes lectures, lunch, a reception, and house tours. Purchase tickets here.

Full Schedule:

Day 1: House tours – Hill-Stead, Chick Austin, Russell House, Wetmore House

Day 2: Conference Day, Webb Deane Stevens

09:00 AM – Doors Open – Attendees register, coffee, and breakfast desserts (muffins, pastry etc.)

09:25 AM – Welcome

09:30 AM – Lecture 1 – Wetmore House and Early Connecticut Houses

10:15 AM – Lecture 2  – Asher Benjamin and Ithiel Town

10:45 AM – Lecture 3  – Lockwood-Mathews Mansion

11:30 PM – Lecture 4 – Hill-Stead

12:15 PM – Lunch Break

01:00 PM – Lecture 5 – Wallace Nutting and the Colonial Revival Movement

01:50 PM – Lecture 6 – Glass House

02:30 PM – Tour of. Webb House, Deane House, Stevens House,Buttolph-Williams House

05:00 PM – Evening reception

Day 3: Pardee-Morris, Florence Griswold, Hempstead Houses