Founded as the Darien Historical Society in 1953, the Museum of Darien is dedicated to telling the town's story through crafted objects, personal narratives, works of art, and collections that span from Darien's earliest days as a wilderness outpost along Long Island Sound to the prosperous suburban community of today. Its Bates-Scofield Homestead, an original 1700s center-chimney saltbox restored as a typical farmhouse of Middlesex Parish, was donated in 1964 and moved to its current location, while the 1827 Scofield Exhibition Hall was moved in 2009 to rejoin it and now serves as the main exhibition and programming space. The museum's collections include more than 10,000 books, original documents, and photographs in its Historical Research Library, more than 3,000 items in its Costume Collection, locally made antique quilts, flags, and fine art, and a Colonial Memorial Herb Garden created by members of The Garden Club of Darien since 1968 with flowers and herbs typical of 1700s kitchen gardens. The homestead stands on land tied to Robert Bates, who moved to Stamford from Wethersfield around 1640 and later received a grant in the eastern wilderness near the Norwalk line, though the area was first used mainly as woodlots and grazing lands until his great-grandson John Bates built a home there in 1736. That same year, after a harsh winter made the 10-mile trip to Sunday services in Stamford too difficult, John Bates hosted the first meeting that led residents to petition for a new parish, though he never joined the congregation after the nearby meetinghouse was built. After his death in 1759, the property changed hands many times until Joshua Scofield bought and renovated it after the Revolutionary War, and the house remained in the Scofield family for more than a century. During the Revolutionary War, the people of Middlesex Parish experienced the conflict directly on their roads, in their homes, and on their farms, as Loyalist raiders sailing from Long Island often targeted the small coastline town. Local mariners formed the area's first line of defense, patrolling the waters and fighting hand-to-hand to prevent enemy landings in the bitter Whaleboat Wars, which continued even after Cornwallis surrendered in 1781.