Exhibition Notes: Missing Pieces
by Carolyn Wakeman Featured image (above): James Martin (English, active [...]
by Carolyn Wakeman Featured image (above): James Martin (English, active [...]
A simple hand-stitched notebook, its marbled paper cover faded over the centuries, records the religious, educational, and charitable purposes of Lyme’s earliest women’s organization. Mid-way through the construction of a new Meetinghouse at the foot of what is now Lyme Street, ten ladies from the town’s prominent families gathered in 1816 to establish a reading group.
The pastel portrait of Abigail Leverett Noyes drawn by itinerant British artist James Martin ca. 1798 lets us picture a young woman from Lyme who moved as a bride to the Hudson River Valley. The marriage contributed one strand to an expanding web of connections linking Albany and Lyme.