At the turn of the 20th century, Connecticut played a leading role in the development of American Impressionism, as artists painted outdoor settings in places such as Old Lyme. William Chadwick (1879-1962) was inspired while still young by vivid Impressionist landscapes painted outdoors by older American artists including Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf, and Walter Griffin, and he adapted their bright colors and brushwork to the figures and interiors he had been painting. After summering in Lyme from 1902, he moved there year-round in 1915 and also turned to landscape painting, earning the admiration of fellow artists for his ability to capture the variety and spirit of the area. Because he arrived late to the Impressionist scene, fame long eluded him, and his sunny images and fine skills were not fully appreciated until American Impressionism was rediscovered in the 1980s. His studio can now be seen on the campus of the Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme. In Chadwick’s painting of a Connecticut River scene, probably made a bit farther downriver, the shoreline is emphasized rather than the river’s majesty, with foreground taking precedence over middle distance, movement and life valued above illusion, and bright sunlight, off-center focus, stippled brushwork, resonating color patches, and animated tree lines creating an intimate, natural-looking scene meant not to awe but to please and comfort. William Chadwick and other painters who developed American Impressionism in Connecticut probably knew this place, where the Chester-Hadlyme ferry has operated since 1769, first by long poles, then by a steam-powered barge introduced in 1879, under the Connecticut Transportation Department from 1917, and with a motor-driven vessel since 1949. In 1917, William Gillette, the Connecticut actor known for portraying Sherlock Holmes, was building his elaborate dream house on the hill above; acquired in 1943 by the State Park and Forest Commission, the house and grounds are open to the public, still containing his collection of American Impressionist paintings and domestic conveniences of his own devising. The surrounding park preserves views cherished by early 20th-century American Impressionists, and preservation efforts have recognized the scenic and environmental importance of the Connecticut River estuary for future generations.