LYME

A short history of Lyme

This was once a home to Abenaki Indians, including a band of Sokokis near Post Pond at a place they called Ordanakis. Later, it would be among the many towns granted by colonial Governor Benning Wentworth along the Connecticut River in 1761. Many of the 63 grantees lived in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but virtually none of them ever settled in Lyme, and they instead sold or assigned their grants to others. However, those settlers who did arrive in 1764 were mostly from those states. The town encompasses land that, prior to the Lyme's founding, was called Tinkham town. In the late 1770s, Lyme petitioned (ultimately unsuccessfully) to join Vermont.

The scenic town common is surrounded with houses and public buildings dating from the late 1700s to the early 1900s. Stagecoaches traveling the old "Boston Turnpike" from Montreal in the 1830s passed through Lyme, stopping at the Lyme Inn, built in 1809 and recently renovated. Next door to the inn is the 200-year-old Congregational church. Its original 1815 steeple bell was cast by Paul Revere. It was later replaced with a bell cast by Henry N. Cooper & Co., Boston. A hand-wound clock mechanism from E. Howard & Co. strikes the hour. Behind the church is a row of horse sheds dating from 1810. The row of 27 sheds standing today is the longest line of contiguous horse sheds in New England, and possibly in the United States. Originally each shed had the name of the owner on a sign above the door. The signs are still there, though not necessarily over the original shed.

Adapted (trimmed) from the Wikipedia article Lyme, New Hampshire, revision 1378747378 by its contributors, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.