Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The main street of the town, Lyme Street, is a historic district with several homes once owned by sea captains. Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is located in Old Lyme and there is a thriving art community in the town.The town is named after Lyme Regis, England.
The Florence Griswold Museum is located in Old Lyme, as is the Lyme Art Association.Its neighboring town of Lyme is the namesake for Lyme disease.
The town of Old Lyme contains several villages, including Black Hall, Laysville, Soundview, and South Lyme. The total population of the town was 7,628 at the 2020 census.
Background and history
Old Lyme is a community of about 7,600 permanent residents, in addition to several thousand seasonal vacationers who occupy a seaside community of summer residences. It is located on the east bank of the Connecticut River at its confluence with the Long Island Sound, across the river from Old Saybrook on the west bank. Numerous examples of Colonial and Federal architecture can be found throughout the town.
The town of Lyme was set off from Saybrook (now known as Deep River), which is on the west bank of the river mouth, on February 13, 1665. South Lyme was later incorporated from Lyme in 1855, then renamed Old Lyme in 1857 because it contains the oldest-settled portion of the "Lymes". Old Lyme occupies about of shoreline, tidal marsh, inland wetlands and forested hills. Its neighbor to the north is the town of Lyme, and to the east is East Lyme. Other placenames from the same root are Hadlyme (between Lyme and East Haddam) and South Lyme (a beach resort area of Old Lyme). The placename "Lyme" derives from Lyme Regis, a small port on the coast of Dorset, England, from which it is believed the early settlers migrated in the 17th century. The picturesque Old Lyme Cemetery contains the graves of the original settlers. The Duck River flows through the cemetery and into the Connecticut River at Watch Rock Park.
Lyme disease was named after the town. It was discovered in 1975 after a mysterious outbreak of what appeared to be juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in children who lived in Lyme and Old Lyme.
Old Lyme Art Colony
The Florence Griswold House in Old Lyme housed an art colony for many years in the early 20th century to many prominent American Impressionist painters. The Lyme Art Colony included Childe Hassam, Edward Charles Volkert, Willard Metcalf, Wilson Irvine, and Henry Ward Ranger, among many others. These artists made Old Lyme a thriving art community, which still continues today.
The Griswold House was transformed into an art museum, the Florence Griswold Museum, or affectionately called "Flo Gris", by residents of Old Lyme. Many American Impressionist paintings of the era are of subjects in and around the Griswold House and are featured in the museum, along with many other works and personal possessions of the artists who frequented there. The building of the Old Lyme Congregational Church is known for the many paintings that have been made of it, most notably by Childe Hassam.
On the National Register of Historic Places
Bennett Rockshelter (added July 31, 1987)
Florence Griswold House and Museum – 96 Lyme St. (added May 19, 1993)
Lieutenant River III Site (added August 31, 1987)
Lieutenant River IV Site (added August 31, 1987)
Lieutenant River No. 2 (added August 31, 1987)
Natcon Site (added August 31, 1987)
Old Lyme Historic District – Lyme Street from Shore Road to Sill Lane, Old Boston Post Road from Sill Lane to Rose Lane (added November 14, 1971)
Peck Tavern – 1 Sill Lane (added May 12, 1982)
Springbank – 69 Neck Road (added September 17, 2001)
Notable people
Jim Calhoun (born 1942), head coach of the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, which won three national championships, and who was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005; began his career as a coach in town at Lyme-Old Lyme High School
Herb Chambers (born 1941), billionaire owner and President of Herb Chambers Companies auto dealerships
Elisabeth Gordon Chandler (1913–2006), sculptor, resident, and founder of the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
Lois Darling (1917–1989), artist and illustrator
Albert Einstein, who had a summer home on the Old Lyme shore
Chris Elliott (born 1960), actor and screenwriter, known best for his supporting role in the 1998 comedy There's Something About Mary
Walker Evans, photographer; lived nearby in Lyme until his death in 1975
Elsie Ferguson (1883–1961), actress
Ella T. Grasso (1919–1981), first female governor of Connecticut, first woman to be elected governor in the United States who was not the wife or widow of a governor, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993
Childe Hassam (1859–1935), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
Wilson Irvine (1869–1936), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
Peter Karter (1922–2010), founder of early recycling company
Susanne Katherina Langer (1895–1985), philosopher, writer, and educator, one of the first female academic philosophers
Ezra Lee (1749–1821), American colonial soldier known for commanding the Turtle submarine, is buried in Duck River Cemetery in Old Lyme
Willard Metcalf (1858–1925), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
Diana Muir, writer and historian
Roger Tory Peterson (1908–1996), naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator
Henry Ward Ranger (1858–1916), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
Luanne Rice (born 1955), novelist
Edwin J. Roland (1905–1985), Coast Guard admiral
Elizabeth Tashjian (1912–2007), artist and founder of the Nut Museum in Old Lyme
Edward Charles Volkert (1871–1935), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
Clark Voorhees (1871–1933), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
Morrison Waite (1816–1888), Chief Justice of the United States appointed by Ulysses S. Grant, was born and lived in Old Lyme until leaving for college at Yale
Ellen Axson Wilson (1860–1914), first wife of president Woodrow Wilson, came as an art student to the Florence Griswold House
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and , or 19.85%, is water. Old Lyme, along with neighboring Old Saybrook, enjoys a relatively mild temperate climate.
Principal communities
Black Hall
Laysville
Lyme Station
Old Lyme Center
Sound View
South Lyme
Edge Lea
Hatchetts Point
Point O'Woods
Other minor communities and geographic features in the town are Between the Rivers, Black Hall Pond, Brighton Beach, Ferry Road, Flat Rock Hill, Four Mile River, Griswold Point, Hall's Corners, Hawk's Nest Beach, Homestead Circle, Johnnycake Hill, Miami Beach, Mile Creek, Neck Road, Old Colony Beach, Old Lyme Estates, Old Lyme Shores, Rogers Lake, Sill Lane, Smith's Neck, Tantummaheag, Tuttles Sandy Beach, Whippoorwill, and White Sands Beach.
Rogers Lake
Rogers Lake is located in the towns of Old Lyme and Lyme and is formed by a dam along Town Woods Road in Old Lyme. The lake's surface area is . Mill Brook, Grassy Hill Brook and Broad Swamp Brook feed into the lake. The lake's watershed is of woodland. The outlet below the dam is Mill Brook, which is a tributary of the Lieutenant River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.
There are five small islands on Rogers Lake, the largest of which has a small cottage built on it.
Rogers Lake is stocked every year with brook and rainbow trout.
A street that runs along the north side of Rogers Lake is called Blood Street; it has lent its name to the town's rowing team, the Blood Street Sculls. Rogers Lake is also bordered by Grassy Hill Road and Town Woods Road. There is also a small lakeside neighborhood off of Rogers Lake Trail.
Demographics
As of the census of 2010, there were 7,603 people, 2,958 households, and 2,153 families residing in the town. The population density was 320.6 people per square mile (123.8/km). There were 4,570 housing units at an average density of 197.8 per square mile (76.4/km). The racial makeup of the town was 97.37% White, 0.26% African American, 0.28% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.32% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.95% of the population.
There were 2,958 households, out of which 30.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 63.2% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. 22.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 2.93.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 24.0% under the age of 18, 3.6% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 29.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.
The median income for a household in the town was $68,386, and the median income for a family was $75,779. Males had a median income of $52,110 versus $39,158 for females. The per capita income for the town was $41,386. About 2.2% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.9% of those under age 18 and 1.8% of those age 65 or over.
Voter registration
First Selectman and Board of Selectmen
First Selectman; Tim Griswold; Republican
Selectman; Matt Ward, Republican
Selectwoman; Martha Shoemaker, Democrat
Schools
From the towns of Old Lyme and Lyme, 1,450 children were enrolled in the five schools of Regional District 18 at the start of the 2011–2012 academic year. The students are enrolled based on age and location. Lyme Consolidated School is for grades Pre-K through 5, Mile Creek School is for grades K through 5, Center School is for Pre-K the rest of the building is being used for office space, Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School is for grades 6 through 8, and Lyme-Old Lyme High School is for grades 9 through 12. Regional School District 18 has a 13:1 student to faculty ratio, and spent $17,454 per pupil in the 2007–2008 school year. The district's girls' soccer and boys' basketball teams won the Shoreline Conference Championship during the 2010–2011 school year.
Old Lyme also has a number of students who travel to private schools, including nearby parochial schools such as Xavier High School, Mercy High School, and Saint Bernard School, and some students who go to college preparatory schools such as The Williams School in New London.
Colleges
Founded in 1976 by Elisabeth Gordon Chandler as a figurative art academy for the teaching of sculpture, drawing, illustration and painting, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the disciplines of painting and sculpture. The college also offers a post-baccalaureate and a three-year certificate program. It is known for its focus on teaching techniques and the history and tradition of representational art, centered on the study of nature and the figure. According to The New York Times, "many in the art world believe [Lyme Academy] has contributed to a renaissance of representational art."
Transportation
The Estuary Transit District provides public transportation throughout Old Lyme and the surrounding towns through its 9 Town Transit Service. Services include connections to the Old Saybrook Train Station, served by Amtrak and Shore Line East railroads, as well as the New London Transportation Center, served by train and ferry service.
