One of the advantages of living in a former artists’ colony is that these creatives have left their stamp on a number of local houses. One is the famous wood engraver and printer Thomas W. Nason’s custom built home at 282 Joshuatown Road. We know a lot about this house, designed by accomplished local architect…
Many people in Lyme today are unaware of Lyme’s World War II memorial monument . It is seated on the ledge opposite Town Hall and Consolidated School for almost 70 years now. I hope that some background will generate appreciation of its uniqueness and significance to Lyme. Private citizens of Lyme took the initiative to form a…
In 1918, Pvt. Harold Clark (1894-1963) was a new draftee in the U. S. Army during World War I from Lyme, CT. He was a rural, young man drawn into a world of places, types of people and cultures new to him, lonesome for home and the “beautifulest” place on earth, near the Connecticut River. He…
February 13, 2015 was the 350th anniversary of the signing of the Articles of Agreement in 1665 between representatives of the plantation area called East Saybrook on the east side of the Connecticut River from the parent Colony of Saybrook on the west side to amicably separate from each other. Two years later in 1667,…
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…
The Lyme Grange was established in 1896 as a chapter of the national Grange. Members took turns presenting a talk or short program on a topic of their own interest or current issues at the state or national level that had bearing on rural life. Grange member J. R. Warren wrote and read the following piece at…
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…
Sites and Uses In a colonial or even 19th century village, you were almost certain to find a water-powered grist or saw mill. Every village needed at least one. Where an old mill still stands now, it is usually considered a landmark for the town and its history. Lyme and Hadlyme had mills with water…