Preservation

The Museum is furnished with period pieces reflecting its residents’ lifestyles from the early 18th to early 20th century.

The Archives include paintings, prints, samplers and sculpture. Among the most treasured pieces in the Collection are:

  • The original engraving of the Battle of Ridgefield published April 4, 1780;
  • The original T.Keeler’s Inn sign;
  • Portraits of early Keeler family members; and,
  • An original broadside of Columbus, a male elephant that appeared at the Keeler Tavern in the early 1800s.

In addition to furniture and household items, the Museum’s redware, as well as its blue and white Staffordshire, are especially noteworthy elements of its artifacts collection. Visitors to the gardens will discover hand-carved decorative urns recreated in Italy from Cass Gilbert’s original blueprints and images he imagined would complement his garden setting.