East Lyme

EAST LYME Settled in the 1640's in part of Lyme and New London, East Lyme was made a separate town in 1839 by the Connecticut General Assembly. In what was originally a farming area along the Old Post Road, a cottage textile industry developed similar to that in Belgium, which gained for the district the name of Flanders. Prior to the arrival of the settlers, the Nehantic Indians fished and hunted along the shoreline, and afterward lived amicably among the newcomers, who gave the district its name of Niantic, a variant of the tribal name. The Thomas Lee House (1660) and the Smith Harris House (1840) are both fine examples of the architecture of their times. A plaque at Bride Brook on Route 156 tells of a romantic marriage there in 1646 and marks 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. It is a noted summer resort and the home of the famous Niantic scallop, a popular seafood.