Photographs: Setting the Holiday Table
Photographs: Setting the Holiday Table by Carolyn Wakeman [...]
Photographs: Painted Gardens, Part 2—The Ludington Estate
The gardens that surrounded Old Lyme’s Meetinghouse for more than a century trace the changing needs, tastes, and financial circumstances of a prominent local family. A series of images taken in 1925 by photographer Edna Leighton Tyler (1879–1970) captures the sweeping lawns and luxuriant flowerbeds on Katharine Ludington’s estate. But the land behind her elegant Colonial Revival home had once served more practical uses.
Photographs: Civil Defense Training, Old Lyme, 1942
Civil defense efforts in Old Lyme during World War II included preparations for a possible enemy air raid. At the Town Hall volunteers and rescue vehicles responded to a hypothetical attack on March 29, 1942.
Photographs: Sleighing in Lyme
In winters past when rivers froze and heavy snowfalls made roads impassable for carriages and wagons, sleighs provided transportation for Lyme’s wealthier residents. Local families used sleighs for travel to church on Sundays, for business and farm work, and for winter outings and journeys. But not everyone had access to sleigh rides. Less affluent townfolk had to walk through the bitter cold when they ventured outside.
Photographs: Election Day, 1900
Election day in 1900 fell on Tuesday, November 6, and Old Lyme’s eligible voters cast their ballots at the town hall starting “at 9 o’clock in the forenoon.” Above the polling place a Republican campaign banner declared: “Our Candidates McKinley & Roosevelt.”
Photographs: The Great Hurricane of 1938
As Old Lyme works to recover from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, scenes from around town recall images like this photograph from the archives. Taken on September 22, 1938, the day after the category-3 “Great Hurricane” of 1938 struck Old Lyme, the image focuses on the upturned roots of a monumental tree that dwarfs the wood-framed house behind it.
Photographs: Shad Nets
Shad nets stored on wooden reels were once a familiar sight along the Connecticut River. This photograph, taken ca. 1885 near the Reuben Champion house at Ferry Point, recalls the days when “shadding” was an important source of local income.
