Name: Pansy Sale
Start: 2026-04-01T00:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-04-01T23:59:59-04:00
Location: Florence Griswold Museum

Documents: Griswold Family Letters, Part 1

By Amy Kurtz Lansing|2019-04-16T15:46:31-04:00August 12, 2015|

An extensive collection of letters at the Florence Griswold Museum chronicles the relationship between a successful packet ship captain who spent months at sea and his often disconsolate wife. Written from 1840 to 1858, the correspondence between Captain Robert Harper Griswold (1806–1882) and Helen Powers Griswold (1820–1899) provides fascinating glimpses of community life in Lyme while tracing the journey of a captivating young “belle” from courtship and marriage through the joys and trials of motherhood. The earliest of Helen’s collected letters, written soon after their engagement, pours out her devotion but also hints at lingering uncertainty.

Landmarks: The Disappearance of a Lyme Street House

By Amy Kurtz Lansing|2014-08-11T16:22:32-04:00August 4, 2014|

Carolyn Wakeman Featured Photo: Joseph Perkins house, ca. 1890, showing apple [...]

Landmarks: Old Lyme’s Meetinghouse, Part III—The Controversy

By FGM_admin|2014-07-28T20:40:28-04:00July 28, 2014|

The Independence Day holiday in 1907 passed without celebration in Old Lyme. Ashes still smoldered from the fire that demolished the Meetinghouse on July 3, and the community united in a sense of shared loss. But when the newly arrived minister proposed replacing the elegant white clapboard structure that had graced the village for almost a century with an “up-to-date” red brick church, controversy flared.

Photographs: Painted Gardens, Part 2—The Ludington Estate

By FGM_admin|2014-06-25T18:41:35-04:00June 12, 2013|

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.

Profiles: Elsie Ferguson (1883–1961)

By FGM_admin|2014-06-25T17:53:17-04:00March 22, 2013|

Elsie Ferguson, a celebrated Broadway actress and star of the silent screen during the World War I era, settled in Old Lyme in 1955. The gabled front addition to an historic tavern became her final home.

Photographs: Sleighing in Lyme

By FGM_admin|2022-07-28T16:55:44-04:00December 20, 2012|

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.

Letters: To Phoebe Griffin Lord, 1812-1814

By FGM_admin|2020-11-16T10:24:52-05:00April 18, 2012|

The War of 1812, whose 200th anniversary is being commemorated this year, brought the threat of attack to Lyme’s shores. Letters to Phebe Griffin Lord (1768-1841) from her brother in New York reveal how wartime conditions affected a local family.

“The variety in the landscape would drive an artist to distraction. It is a singular mixture of the wild and the tame, of the austere and the cheerful . . .”

—Martha Lamb, 1876

JOIN OUR ART COLONY

Enjoy FREE general admission and many other perks when you become a Member.

During the first summers of the Lyme Art Colony the artists began to paint scenes on the door panels of the boardinghouse.

MISSION STATEMENT
In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony, the Florence Griswold Museum welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to get up close and personal with the art of Connecticut.

Please consider including the Museum in your estate plans and join a very special group of donors.

Don’t miss our latest news, events and exhibits.

In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony, the Florence Griswold Museum welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to get up close and personal with the art of Connecticut.

Florence Griswold Museum

860.434.5542

96 Lyme Street | Old Lyme, CT 06371

AFFILIATES:

video detail: Courtney Mattison, Malum Geminos, 2019. Glazed stoneware and porcelain, 84 x 250 x 22 in.; Courtney Mattison, Afterglow (Our Changing Seas VI), 2018. Glazed stoneware and porcelain, 90.5 x 102 x 19.5 in., Courtesy of the artist; Photograph by Paul Mutino

© 2025 Florence Griswold Museum. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t miss our latest news, events and exhibits.

In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony, FloGris welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to get up close and personal with the art of Connecticut.

Florence Griswold Museum

860.434.5542

96 Lyme Street | Old Lyme, CT 06371

AFFILIATES:

© 2025 Florence Griswold Museum. All Rights Reserved.

“The variety in the landscape would drive an artist to distraction. It is a singular mixture of the wild and the tame, of the austere and the cheerful . . .”

—Martha Lamb, 1876

JOIN OUR ART COLONY

Enjoy FREE general admission and many other perks when you become a Member.

During the first summers of the Lyme Art Colony the artists began to paint scenes on the door panels of the boardinghouse.

MISSION STATEMENT In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony, the Florence Griswold Museum welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to get up close and personal with the art of Connecticut.

Please consider including the Museum in your estate plans and join a very special group of donors.

Don’t miss our latest news, events and exhibits.

In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony, the Florence Griswold Museum welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to get up close and personal with the art of Connecticut.

Florence Griswold Museum

96 Lyme Street | Old Lyme, CT 06371

AFFILIATES:

video detail: Courtney Mattison, Malum Geminos, 2019. Glazed stoneware and porcelain, 84 x 250 x 22 in.; Courtney Mattison, Afterglow (Our Changing Seas VI), 2018. Glazed stoneware and porcelain, 90.5 x 102 x 19.5 in., Courtesy of the artist; Photograph by Paul Mutino

© 2025 Florence Griswold Museum. All Rights Reserved.

Don’t miss our latest news, events and exhibits.

In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony, FloGris welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to get up close and personal with the art of Connecticut.

Florence Griswold Museum

96 Lyme Street | Old Lyme, CT 06371

AFFILIATES:

© 2025 Florence Griswold Museum. All Rights Reserved.

MISSION STATEMENT
In the spirit of the Lyme Art Colony, the Florence Griswold Museum welcomes people of all ages and backgrounds to get up close and personal with the art of Connecticut.