Westerly has always had a strong arts scene. Downtown galleries, live theater at the Granite Theatre, artists who have made this coastal town their home for generations. But in October 2025, something was added to that list that puts Westerly on a national map.
The Westerly Museum of American Impressionism opened its doors at 79 Watch Hill Road, and it’s worth knowing about. Whether you’re an art lover, a history buff, or just someone who appreciates a beautiful building with a great view of the Pawcatuck River, this museum is a five-minute drive from our New England bed and breakfast and an easy addition to any stay in Westerly.
What Is American Impressionism?
If you’re familiar with Claude Monet’s water lilies or Renoir’s sun-dappled scenes, you already know French Impressionism. American Impressionism grew directly from that tradition in the late 1800s, as American artists traveled to France, studied alongside the masters, and then brought those techniques home.
The same vibrant brushwork and emphasis on natural light remained, but what made American Impressionism distinctive was what these artists painted. Instead of French gardens and Parisian cafes, American Impressionists painted what they loved about home. New England coastlines with their particular silvery light. Rocky harbor scenes. Rolling hills in autumn. Beach communities in summer. Between roughly 1880 and 1920, artists gathered in small colonies up and down the East Coast, from Old Lyme, Connecticut, to Ogunquit, Maine, capturing the world around them in loose, luminous brushstrokes that convey feeling more than photographic detail.
It’s a movement that’s been somewhat overlooked compared to its French counterpart. That’s part of what makes this museum so interesting.
The Story Behind the Museum
The Westerly Museum of American Impressionism exists because of Dr. Thomas and Cynthia Sculco, Westerly High School sweethearts who never forgot where they came from. After distinguished careers in New York, Thomas as surgeon-in-chief emeritus at the Hospital for Special Surgery, Cynthia as an adjunct associate professor of nursing at NYU, they’ve been generous supporters of arts and education in both Rhode Island and New York for decades.
For forty years, they quietly built a remarkable collection of American Impressionist works, now 300 pieces strong. They were drawn to the artists’ use of color and light, and to the seascapes and landscapes that reflected the New England they grew up loving. Eventually, the collection outgrew their walls, and rather than store it, they decided to share it.
They purchased land next to their property, a former rehabilitation facility that closed during the pandemic, and hired Connecticut-based Centerbrook Architects & Planners to transform 75 patient rooms into eleven airy gallery spaces spanning 20,000 square feet. In 2023, they brought in Catherine Shotick as the museum’s inaugural director. Shotick, an American art specialist who previously worked at the Richard H. Driehaus Museum in Chicago and the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, took on the rare opportunity to build a museum from the ground up.
More than 550 people visited opening weekend amid a nor’easter. That tells you something about how much this museum means to the community.
What You’ll See Inside
The museum’s permanent collection of approximately 150 paintings includes some of the big names in American Impressionism, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, Edmund Tarbell, Jane Peterson, and Lilla Cabot Perry. But the real strength of the collection lies in what surrounds those well-known works: exceptional paintings by lesser-known artists whose contributions to the movement have gone underappreciated.
Director Shotick organized the eleven galleries around the artists’ colonies where these painters worked and lived. Each room focuses on a different community: Old Lyme, Connecticut; Rockport, Massachusetts; Cos Cob, Connecticut; Ogunquit, Maine. There’s also a gallery dedicated to American artists who worked alongside Monet himself in France. The effect is something like following a conversation across geography and time, watching how ideas about light and color traveled between communities and evolved as they went.
The museum overlooks Babcock Cove on the Pawcatuck River, and the views through those gallery windows look like paintings in their own right.
A Museum in Growth
The Westerly Museum of American Impressionism is building out its programs alongside its collection. On the horizon: a lecture series featuring experts on American Impressionism, docent-led gallery tours, an internship program for college students, and rotating loans from private collectors and other museums to keep the galleries fresh. A dedicated Library and Learning Center serves researchers, students, and curious visitors who want to go deeper.
The museum also aims to develop educational partnerships with local schools, making American art accessible to younger audiences. The goal is to become a genuine cultural anchor in the community, not just a destination for one visit.
How to Support the Museum
Every admission ticket helps sustain this remarkable collection and expand programming. If you find yourself wanting to support the museum beyond your visit, consider becoming a member or making a donation. Member support helps keep one of the only museums in the country dedicated entirely to American Impressionism thriving and growing.
Given how much the Sculcos have invested in bringing this treasure to Westerly, and how enthusiastically the community has embraced it, it’s an institution worth getting behind.
Part of a Broader New England Museum Tradition
New England museums have long been some of the best in the country, from the big institutions in Boston and Providence to smaller, more focused collections tucked into historic buildings and unexpected towns. What makes the regional museum scene special are the institutions built around a particular passion, a specific collection, a story worth telling.
The Westerly Museum of American Impressionism fits squarely in that tradition. It’s not trying to be everything. It’s doing one thing, American Impressionist art from 1880 to 1920, and doing it exceptionally well. For anyone who has spent time in New England museums and galleries and wondered why this particular movement didn’t have a proper home, the answer is now: it does, and it’s in Westerly.
Worth the Short Drive
If you’re staying at Margin Street Inn and looking for something to do on a rainy afternoon, or wanting to add a little culture after a day of exploring Watch Hill, this is an easy call. The building is beautiful, the collection is genuinely strong, and the setting on the Pawcatuck River connects nicely to the same river you can see from the Inn’s own grounds.
American Impressionism deserves more attention than it gets. This museum is a good reason to start paying it.
Plan your museum visit, and when you’re ready to experience the same coastal New England beauty that inspired these artists, book your stay at Margin Street Inn. We’re just five minutes away, with our own riverside views and the kind of peaceful setting that makes you understand why artists have always been drawn to this corner of Rhode Island.