On Saturday, October 10, from noon to 3 p.m., the Greenwich Historical Society's campus at 47 Strickland Road hosts its Fall Harvest Festival. Too Blue plays bluegrass and swing, there's cider and a mashed potato bar with all the fixings, and families build scarecrows for prizes. This year adds something new. Festival admission includes guided tours of the Bush-Holley House, focused on David Bush and his family during the American Revolution.
That tour is part of a larger package with an end date. The Society built its 2026 programming around the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and its own booking page calls these tours "exclusive experiences" that are "available only for America's 250th." The fashion exhibition upstairs closes January 10, 2027. If you live in Cos Cob, the festival is the first of a few fixed dates to see this version of the campus before the exhibition closes.
The house tour now starts in 1777
The current Bush-Holley House tour covers the years 1777 to 1783. Visitors walk the first floor and hear how the Revolution affected the Bush household, and how the family's wartime decisions shaped their lives during and after the war.
The household in those years was large. In 1777 David Bush, then a widower, married Sarah Scudder Isaacs. Five of her six children joined his four, and the couple later had five more. According to the Society's house history, the household also included ten enslaved adults and children, the largest enslaver's household in town. The same history credits Bush with several changes to the house itself, including the entrance hall, the paneled parlor and parlor chamber, and the back-kitchen wing.
The grounds tell part of the same story. The America 250 heirloom garden shows 18th-century food and medicinal planting, with a Three Sisters bed and a bed based on Bush family recipes. The Society notes that the enslaved members of the household did most of the work in the Bush family garden. If you visited when the tour followed the house's later history, this is a different account of the same rooms.
Upstairs, 250 years of Greenwich clothes
The other half of the America 250 offer is Fashioning America: 250 Years of Greenwich Style. It's the third and final exhibition in the Society's America 250 series, and it uses clothing to trace changes in American society. Most pieces come from the Society's own collection, and some are on public view for the first time. Others are on loan from local museums and from local women who lent garments tied to important events in their lives.
Senior Curator Kathy Craughwell-Varda organized the show in the Frank Family Foundation Special Exhibitions Gallery, on the second floor of the Museum & Library building. According to Greenwich Sentinel coverage from April 24, 2026, it's arranged as seven installations. Among them:
- 18th and early 19th century. An embroidered English silk frock coat beside an American-made linen one, plus Josephine-inspired empire dresses and a brown silk gown donated by Oleva Mead that represents conservative New England dress.
- The First Fast Fashion, 1825–1850. Colorful dresses, collars and aprons that tell the story of industrialization and the economic growth after the Revolution.
- Bridal Customs, 1860–1940. Includes Lydia Ferris Lester's wedding gown and veil, worn June 11, 1938, which the Vanderbilt family acquired from her estate.
- Conspicuous Consumption, 1860–1900. Gilded Age day, tea and dinner dresses in silk, velvet, lace, glass beads and metallic thread.
- Fashion Forward, 1960–2026. Eight dresses and pantsuits by designers including Valentino, Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent and Adele Simpson. Several were bought at Razook's on East Putnam Avenue.
The 1960–2026 room is where the show feels closest to home, since some of what's on display was bought in town. The exhibition also connects to the festival. One of the five scarecrow categories is "Most Fashionable," and the Society suggests looking to Fashioning America for ideas.
The dates left before it closes
Today is October 5, and the exhibition runs another 14 weeks. Here's what's on the Society's calendar between now and closing day, along with a Cos Cob Library event the same afternoon as the festival.
| Date | What | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Wed, Oct 7 | Free admission, first Wednesday of the month | Historical Society |
| Thu, Oct 8, 5:30–6:15 p.m. | Fashioning America curator tour | Historical Society |
| Thu, Oct 8, 6:15–7:45 p.m. | Introduction to researching a historic house | Historical Society |
| Sat, Oct 10, noon–3 p.m. | Fall Harvest Festival, with house tours included | Historical Society |
| Sat, Oct 10, 3–4 p.m. | Ballet Folklórico de las Américas and BFA Dance Studio | Cos Cob Library |
| Thu, Oct 15, 6:30–7:45 p.m. | Trudy Coxe on Newport's Gilded Age mansions | Historical Society |
| Thu, Oct 22, 6:30–7:45 p.m. | David O. Stewart on the people who wrote the Constitution | Historical Society |
| Wed, Nov 4 | Free admission, first Wednesday | Historical Society |
| Thu, Nov 12 | Dr. Stacey Close on the Bill of Rights | Historical Society |
| Sat, Nov 21, 11–11:30 a.m. | Curator tour | Historical Society |
| Wed, Dec 2 | Free admission, first Wednesday | Historical Society |
| Sat, Dec 5, 11 a.m. | Curator tour | Historical Society |
| Thu, Dec 10, 5:30–7:45 p.m. | Lecture on Washington's Farewell | Historical Society |
| Wed, Jan 6 | Free admission, last first Wednesday before closing | Historical Society |
| Sat, Jan 9, 11 a.m. | Final curator tour | Historical Society |
| Sun, Jan 10 | Fashioning America closes | Historical Society |
Two of these listings disagree between pages. The Society's Book a Tour page still lists the October curator tour on Saturday, October 24 at 11 a.m., but the event page says it was moved to the evening of October 8. The November 12 Bill of Rights lecture is listed at 6:15 p.m. on its event page and 5:30 p.m. on the Society's America 250 page. Check both with the Society before you go.
What each way in costs
The festival and a regular visit come in at different prices. Regular admission is $15 for adults and $10 for seniors, students and youth ages 6 to 18. It covers the museum galleries, the special exhibition and a guided house tour. Members, children under five, and active military and Blue Star families get in free, and everyone gets in free on the first Wednesday of the month. The galleries are open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. House tours leave from the museum lobby at 11 a.m., 1, 2 and 3 p.m. on the same days.
Patch reports festival tickets at $25 for nonmember adults and $15 for children ages 3 to 18. Members pay $20 and $10, and children under 3 get in free. A scarecrow frame costs $25 and comes with all the building materials. You can bring your own clothes and accessories to dress it.
For a nonmember adult, the festival costs $10 more than a regular visit. The extra buys the music, the food, the crafts and the contest on top of the house tour. The cheapest way to see both the tour and the exhibition is one of the four free Wednesdays left before closing, from the October 7 date in the table to January 6. Families with young kids have another option on the second Sunday of each month. Time Travelers Family Sundays add guided activities at no extra cost beyond admission.
The scarecrow prizes come from businesses many Cos Cob families already know. The festival page lists Clay Art Center, Wildacre Rotisserie, Il Pastaficio, Athena Books, Fairfield and Greenwich Cheese Company, Roost Coffee and Kitchen, and Little Pub among the donors. Judges hand out awards at the end of the event.
The rest of October 10 in Cos Cob
The festival ends at 3 p.m., and that's when the Cos Cob Library's Hispanic Heritage Month performance starts. Ballet Folklórico de las Américas and BFA Dance Studio dance from 3 to 4 p.m. The library also has work by local artists Cal Nobay and Yachi Chen on display October 5 through 30. Fall Garden Storytime meets outdoors at 10 a.m. on Fridays October 9, 16, 23 and 30, and moves inside if it rains.
One errand still has to happen outside the neighborhood. The Cos Cob Post Office at 152 East Putnam Avenue has been closed for repairs since August 7. The Greenwich Sentinel reported on October 2 that it's expected to reopen but gave no date. Until then, retail service and P.O. boxes are at the Downtown Greenwich Post Office, 44 Amogerone Crossway, and retail service is also available at 29 Valley Drive.
The Society's Introduction to Historic House Research on October 8 covers archival records, maps, photographs, business records and town land records. If you'd like help connecting what you find in those land records to what your own Cos Cob house is worth today, Spencer Sodokoff is glad to pull the recent sales nearby. Request a Free Market Consultation.
