Lyme

LYME These lands were first settled in 1664 after the Connecticut General Assembly had approved establishment of a plantation on the east side of the Connecticut River in 1663. The "Loving Parting" between Saybrook and East Saybrook was signed on February 13, 1665 setting off the Lyme area as a separate community. By 1667 there were thirty families in East Saybrook when the Connecticut Legislature named the new community Lyme, after Lyme Regis in Dorset County, England. In April, 1669, William Lord of Saybrook purchased an eight square mile tract, including the Eight Mile River Valley, from the Indian Chapeto. Lyme later bought this land from Lord. The Joshuatown area, owned by Joshua, third son of the Indian sachem Uncas, was sold to Richard Ely after Joshua's death in 1676. Around 1700 these lands were divided up and the Sterling City and Pleasant Valley areas were settled. Hadlyme was made a separate ecclesiastical society in 1742.