East Lyme was settled in the 1650s and became incorporated as a town in 1839. Records from 1840 indicated that 1,412 people lived in this 34.8 square mile town. An important settlement in the area was the Thomas Lee house, built in 1660 and held by the Lee family for 250 years. Now listed as one of the oldest houses in the United States, the Lee House was restored to its original condition. East Lyme was visited by many travelers during the colonial period, including George Washington and General Lafayette at the Caulkins Inn and Tavern at Flanders Four Corners. From the mid 1800s to the early 1900s, Niantic was a thriving port because of its protected location on Long Island Sound, and commercial fishing was a prominent industry that supported work at wharves, ice houses, packing houses, and shipyards. Boarding houses and hotels were built for workers and visitors, and the Morton House at the junction of Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue was an important hotel that remains a link to the past and a symbol of East Lyme's prosperous history.