Annie Burr Jennings

Annie Burr Jennings (18551939) was an American philanthropist, socialite, and landscape designer. For much of her life, she was a prominent resident of Fairfield, Connecticut where she funded many local infrastructure improvements and preservation efforts. Jennings was a distant relative of Aaron Burr.

Biography Annie Burr Jennings was born September 20, 1855. The Jennings family were original colonists to the Connecticut area around 1645. Her father, Oliver Burr Jennings, had moved the family to San Francisco to profit off the gold rush of the 1850s. He invested in John Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company in the 1860s-1870s and received a wealthy payout that would last generations. In the 1860s, the Jennings moved back to Fairfield, Connecticut and split their time between homes in New York City and Fairfield. Annie had two brothers and two sisters, one of which was the financier and politician Oliver Gould Jennings. Although she did not receive a college education, she likely received private tutoring while growing up and became a lifelong supporter and donor of Yale University.

Philanthropy Using her family money, Annie Burr Jennings was a collector and philanthropist for most of her life. By the end of her life, the residents of Fairfield, Connecticut referred to her colloquially as the “First Lady of Fairfield.” Jennings was a member of the Connecticut Audubon Society and, alongside her friend Mabel Osgood Wright, funded the Birdcraft Museum and Sanctuary in 1914. She donated land to the town for the establishment of the first high school, an American Legion building, and Jennings Beach. In 1914, she opened the grounds of her private mansion, Sunnie-Holme, to the public. She was a lifelong supporter of Yale University and would travel by private rail car to Yale to attend sporting events. Jennings also served on the board of the Woodbury Glebe House Restoration Committee, the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, the National Council for Historic Sites and Buildings, the Landmarks Society of Connecticut, and the Hroswitha Club, among other affiliations.

Landscape Design

Annie Burr Jennings was a student of Gertrude Jekyll's garden writings as early as the 1910s. She designed some of the gardens at Sunnie-Holme in the style of Jekyll. At least five separately designed gardens existed on the grounds during Jennings’ life. The central formal rose garden was designed by Herbert Kellaway and Harriet Risley Foote. In 1916, the Olmsted Brothers visited the Sunnie-Holme gardens and advised on plantings. The gardens were open to the Fairfield public, although still privately owned and managed, in 1914. There are remnants of the gardens in place in what is now known as Sunnieholme Drive, but they were largely left to ruin after the Sunnie-Holme mansion was dismantled in 1940.