A Walking Tour of Old Lyme, Connecticut

By Doug Gelbert

There is no better way to see America than on foot. And there is no better way to appreciate what you are looking at than with a walking tour. This walking tour of Old Lyme, Connecticut is ready to explore when you are. Each walking tour describes historical, architectural landmarks, cultural sites and ecclesiastic touchstones and provides step-by-step directions.

Every tour also includes a quick primer on identifying architectural styles seen on American streets.

The English first settled on the western side of the mouth of the Connecticut River but it did not take long for the settlers to wander to the east bank. The town of Lyme was set off from Saybrook on February 13, 1665. The first settler, Matthew Griswold, took the name from the port in England from which he had sailed, Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire. Or so it is assumed.

Old Lyme has always been shaped by the sea. Among the early industries were fishing, shipbuilding and the manufacture of salt, of which Old Lyme was the state’s only supplier. At one time, it was said, every house in Old Lyme was occupied by a sea captain.

Those industries are all gone from Old Lyme, which was separated from its fellow Lymes in 1855. The sea captains are all gone, too. In their place are artists and tourists. The artists first came when Miss Florence Griswold opened her boarding house doors to a group of artists in 1899 and founded the Lyme Art Colony. The tourists come every summer when the year-round population of the town doubles.

Our walking tour will travel down Lyme Street and come back again, all under leafy circumstances; if we have to see a town twice we could do no better than the classic New England town of Old Lyme...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Doug Gelbert
• Release date: Mar 2, 2011
• ISBN: 9781458036766

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A Walking Tour of Old Lyme, Connecticut

a walking tour in the Look Up, America series from walkthetown.com

by Doug Gelbert

published by Cruden Bay Books at Smashwords

Copyright 2010 by Cruden Bay Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Publisher.

The English first settled on the western side of the mouth of the Connecticut River but it did not take long for the settlers to wander to the east bank. The town of Lyme was set off from Saybrook on February 13, 1665. The first settler, Matthew Griswold, took the name from