East Lyme

East Lyme was settled in the 1640's in an area that had been part of Lyme and New London, and it became a separate town in 1839 by act of the Connecticut General Assembly. Originally a farming area along the Old Post Road, it later developed a cottage textile industry similar to that in Belgium, giving the district the name Flanders. Before settlers arrived, the Nehantic Indians fished and hunted along the shoreline, and afterward lived amicably among the newcomers, who gave the district the name Niantic, a variant of the tribal name. The Thomas Lee House (1660) and the Smith Harris House (1840) are fine examples of the architecture of their times. Bride Brook on Route 156 is associated with a romantic marriage in 1646 and marked the boundary between what was then Saybrook and New London. The town now encompasses 34.8 square miles of beaches, ponds, streams, woodland, and fields, is a noted summer resort, and is home of the famous Niantic scallop, a popular seafood.

Niantic, Connecticut · United States