Author: Local History Archives

Disease and Quarantine in Lyme
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Disease and Quarantine in Lyme

The recent news of Ebola and measles epidemics raises the question of whether  a quarantine  has ever been implemented in Lyme to prevent the spread of contagious disease through isolation or confinement of contagious individuals. The answer is “Yes”.  There has been no shortage of contagious disease in the history of Lyme during the colonial…

The Record of Lyme’s Common Field
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The Record of Lyme’s Common Field

In 1748/49 six proprietors (landowners) of Lyme, Connecticut petitioned the New London County Court for permission to create a “common field”,  based on  the laws and practice of the Colony, to allow townspeople to share in its benefits, in this case good meadowland  at the edge of the Connecticut River for salt hay and animal grazing.The documents…

Remembering Our Friend,  “Doad” Jewett
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Remembering Our Friend, “Doad” Jewett

The Lyme Local History Archives lost our good friend, Doris “Doad” Reynolds Jewett,  who died December  10, 2013 at 100 years old.  She was a volunteer in the Archives for several years until just four years ago. She would walk over from  the home she grew up in on Hamburg Cove to the Lyme Public Hall, always…

Lyme’s Population Profile 1880-1930
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Lyme’s Population Profile 1880-1930

In the years between 1880 and 1930, there was a big change in Lyme, CT’s population profile. Overall, the population declined by almost one-half. Even more remarkably, the number of households headed by farmers, dropped by almost 70%. Connecticut as a whole at the end of the 19th century was experiencing strong growth in the cities, manufacturing, the railroads, and improved…

Lyme Libraries in the 18th and 19th Centuries?
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Lyme Libraries in the 18th and 19th Centuries?

Long before a Lyme Public Library was established in 1914, town residents in the 18th and 19th centuries organized a number of ways to lend and borrow books. A surprise? Not really. Although there were  books in print, they were not generally  accessible or affordable to the general population.  It was the case then, just as now,…

Historic Houses of Lyme, CT
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Historic Houses of Lyme, CT

Changes in Architectural Styles Within the last twenty-five years there have been several efforts to survey and document  Lyme’s historic houses. In 1976 the Lyme Bicentennial Commission produced a map showing the standing pre-Revolutionary period houses. In 1980 a survey was initiated by the Connecticut Historical Commission which documented structure, age, historical and architectural significance…