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Montville, Connecticut

Montville is a town in New London County, Connecticut in the United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 18,387 at the 2020 census.

The villages of Chesterfield, Mohegan, Oakdale, and Uncasville are located within the town; the latter two have their own ZIP Codes. Town residents often identify with these villages more than the Town of Montville as a whole. The Mohegan Sun casino resort is located in the village of Uncasville.

History
In the 17th century, when English settlers arrived, southeastern Connecticut was the scene of rivalry between the Pequot people, the dominant Native American group in the New London area, and the newly independent Mohegan. The latter became friendly to the English. For defense against the Pequot, the Mohegan sachem Uncas had established a fortified village on a promontory above the Thames River within what is now the town of Montville. The Mohegan village, now known as Fort Shantok, was protected on the inland side by palisades first built in about 1636 at the time of the Pequot War, rebuilt during wars with the Narragansett people c. 1653–1657, and rebuilt again at the time of King Philip's War (1675–1676).

When the boundaries of New London (then called "Pequot") were first defined in 1646, the Oxoboxo River formed the northern boundary. Parts of the modern town of Montville lying south of the river were included in New London, while the area north of the river was treated as Mohegan land. Over time the settlers assumed control of the Mohegan lands. The first grants were made by Uncas in 1658 to Richard Houghton and James Rogers, consisting of valuable farms along the river. Some Mohegan grants were gifts of friendship or by fair trade, while others were openly fraudulent. By 1703 the area between the Oxoboxo River and Norwich (now part of the town of Montville) was annexed by New London.

In 1786 Montville was separated from New London and incorporated as a separate Town. Before incorporation, it was known as the North Parish of New London. In 1819 the adjacent Town of Salem was formed from parts of the towns of Montville, Lyme, and Colchester. The name "Montville" signifies "mountain village".

National Register of Historic Places
Four properties in town are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:
 * Bridge No. 1860 on Massapeag Side Rd. (Rt. 433) over Shantok Brook, Fort Shantok SP (added August 29, 1993)
 * Fort Shantok Archeological District (added April 20, 1986)
 * Raymond-Bradford Homestead on Raymond Hill Rd. (added May 16, 1982)
 * Uncasville School, which now serves as the Montville Town Hall, at 310 Norwich-New London Turnpike (added March 23, 2001)

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 114.4 km2, of which 108.7 km2 is land and 5.8 km2, or 5.06%, is water.

Principal communities

 * Chesterfield
 * Kitemaug
 * Massapeag
 * Mohegan
 * Oakdale
 * Palmertown
 * Uncasville

Town residents often identify with these villages more than the Town of Montville as a whole. The center of Oakdale is small, consisting of only a few private residences and the post office. The Mohegan Sun casino resort is often referred to as being in Uncasville, although the village is three miles to the south. The Mohegan refer to Uncasville as it is named for a prominent sachem of theirs from the 17th century.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 18,546 people, 6,426 households, and 4,678 families residing in the town. The population density was 441.4 PD/sqmi. There were 6,805 housing units at an average density of 162.0 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 86.03% White, 5.49% African American, 1.46% Native American, 1.89% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 2.23% from other races, and 2.86% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.45% of the population.

There were 6,426 households, out of which 34.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.6% were married couples living together, 9.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were non-families. 21.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.63 and the average family size was 3.05.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.6% under the age of 18, 8.5% from 18 to 24, 34.2% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 117.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 119.7 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $55,086, and the median income for a family was $61,643. Males had a median income of $40,922 versus $30,206 for females. The per capita income for the town was $22,357. About 3.1% of families and 4.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.3% of those under age 18 and 4.5% of those age 65 or over.

Part of Montville is also treated by the U.S. Census Bureau as a census-designated place called Oxoboxo River.

American Indians
The Mohegan Native American Tribal Nation has been a presence in this area of Connecticut since the 16th century, and descended from indigenous cultures in the area for thousands of years. In the seventeenth century, the colony of Connecticut granted them a 700 acre reservation, located north of the present-day village of Uncasville. Although the reservation is within the borders of the town of Montville, the tribe is federally recognized as a sovereign nation not subject to local or state laws. In addition to operating the Mohegan Sun, a casino resort that opened in 1996, the tribal nation also provides educational programs about their nation's heritage and history.

Residents of Chinese descent
Since at least the 1990s, people of Chinese descent have moved into the area drawn either by the work available at Mohegan Sun and the rising prices in the Northeast's Chinatowns. Their presence, the subject of an exhibition that travelled from the Lyman Allyn Museum in New London to New York City's Museum of Chinese in America, has sparked at least one allegedly racist incident.

Education
Public schools in Montville are overseen by Montville Public Schools, the town's public school system, operated by a board that includes nine elected members and two high school student representatives. The school system operates a regular high school, an alternative high school, a middle school, and three elementary schools.

Montville High School serves grades 9 through 12. Enrollment is approximately 800 students.

Power plant
NRG Energy Inc., based in La Jolla, California, operates an oil and natural gas-powered electricity generating plant in Montville, labeled by environmentalists as one of the "Sooty Six", the dirtiest power plants in the state. The plant was required to install pollution controls to comply with the state's 2002 power plant pollution law. In June 2006 the company proposed building a new type of coal-powered plant on the site for $1.6 billion.

In return for building the plant, the company demanded that the state guarantee NRG long-term contracts for buying the electricity it generates and pick NRG's proposal over other plans for building new power plants in the state. At the time of NRG's proposal, only 18 plants in the world and two in North America used the Integrated Gasification Combined-Cycle technology which the company suggested. Contracts were to be awarded by the DPUC in early 2007. The company said the new plant could open in 2012. NRG Energy announced plans on August 5, 2013, to add fuel cells, solar and biomass conversion to the plant

Notable people

 * George Miller Beard (1839–1883), neurologist who coined the term "neurasthenia" in 1869
 * Charles W. Comstock (1857–1917), United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut and former Connecticut Judge
 * Sidney E. Frank (1919–2006), billionaire businessman who promoted Grey Goose vodka and Jägermeister
 * Ned Hanlon (1857–1937), member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
 * James Hillhouse (1754–1832), real estate developer who constructed significant areas of New Haven. He was a congressman, U.S. senator and, for many years, treasurer of Yale University
 * David Jewett (1772–1842), 19th Century naval commander
 * Samson Occom (1723–1792), Mohegan minister and preacher
 * Oliver Hillhouse Prince (1787–1837), represented Georgia in the U.S. Senate for less than a year

title: Montville, Connecticut


text:
Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Groton and Stonington, Connecticut.

Mystic was a significant Connecticut seaport with more than 600 ships built over 135 years starting in 1784. Mystic Seaport, located in the village, is the largest maritime museum in the United States and has preserved a number of sailing ships, such as the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan. The village is located on the Mystic River which flows into Fishers Island Sound. The Mystic River Bascule Bridge crosses the river in the center of the village. The name "Mystic" is derived from the Pequot term "missi-tuk" describing a large river whose waters are driven into waves by tides or wind. The population was 4,348 at the 2020 census.

History
View of Mystic River & Mystic Bridge, Conn. 1879. LOC 74693238.jpg Before the 17th century, the Pequot people lived in this portion of southeastern Connecticut. They were in control of a considerable amount of territory, extending toward the Pawcatuck River to the east and the Connecticut River to the west.

To the northwest, the Five Nations of the Iroquois dominated the land linked by the Great Lakes and the Hudson River, allowing trading to occur between the Iroquois and the Dutch. The Pequots were settled just distant enough to be secure from any danger that the Iroquois posed. The Pequot War profoundly affected the Mystic area between 1636 and 1638. In May 1637, captains John Underhill and John Mason led a mission through Narragansett land, along with their allies the Narragansetts and Mohegans, and struck the Pequot Indian settlement in Mystic in the event which came to be known as the Mystic massacre. On September 21, 1638, the colonists signed the Treaty of Hartford, officially ending the Pequot War.

English settlement
Pequot control of the Mystic area ended after the Pequot War, and English settlements increased. By the 1640s, Connecticut Colony began to grant land to the Pequot War veterans. John Winthrop the Younger was among those to receive property, much of which was in southeastern Connecticut. Other early settlers in the Mystic area included Robert Burrows and George Denison, who held land in the Mystic River Valley.

Settlement grew slowly. The Connecticut government and Massachusetts Bay government began to quarrel over boundaries, thus causing some conflicting claims concerning governmental authority between the Mystic River and the Pawcatuck River. In the 1640s and 1650s, "Connecticut" referred to settlements located along the Connecticut River, as well as its claims in other parts of the region. Massachusetts Bay, however, claimed to have authority over Stonington and even into Rhode Island.

Connecticut did not have a royal charter that separated it from the Massachusetts Bay Colony; the Connecticut General Court was formed by leaders of the settlements. The General Court claimed rule of the area by right of conquest, but the Massachusetts Bay Colony saw matters differently. The Bay Colony had contributed to the war by sending a militia under captains John Underhill and Thomas Stoughton, which they argued gave territorial rights and authority to the Massachusetts Bay Colony rather than the Connecticut Court.

Both colonies turned to the United Colonies of New England to resolve the dispute. The United Colonies of New England was formed in 1643, established to settle disputes such as this one. They voted to establish the boundary between the claims of Massachusetts Bay and Connecticut at the Thames River. As a result, Connecticut would be positioned west of the river, and Massachusetts Bay could have the land to the east, including the Mystic River.

Throughout the next decade, colonists were beginning to settle around the Mystic River. John Mason was one of the captains who led the colonists against the Pequots, and he had been granted 500 acre on the eastern banks of the Mystic River. He also received the island that now bears his name, though he never lived on the property. In 1653, John Gallup, Jr. was given 300 acre approximately midway up the east part of the Mystic River.

Within the same year, others joined John Gallup and began to settle around the Mystic River. George Denison, a veteran of Oliver Cromwell's army, was given his own strip of 300 acre just south of Gallup's land in 1654. Thomas Miner had immigrated to Massachusetts with John Winthrop and was granted many land plots, the main one lying on Quiambaug Cove, just east of the Mystic River. Other families granted land were Reverend Robert Blinman, the Beebe brothers, Thomas Parke, and Connecticut Governor John Hayne.

Not all these men actually lived on their land. Many sold it to profit from or employed an overseer to cultivate their property. Many men, however, actually brought their wives and children, which indicated their plans on forming a community in the Mystic River Valley.

There was one recorded case of a woman who did not come to the Mystic River Valley as a wife. Widow Margaret Lake received a grant from the Massachusetts Bay authority and was the only woman to receive a land grant in her own name. She also did not live on her land but hired other people to maintain it. She took up residence in Lakes Pond. Her daughter was married to John Gallup, while her sister was married to Massachusetts Bay Governor John Winthrop.

By 1675, settlement had grown tremendously in the Mystic River Valley, and infrastructure was beginning to appear as well as an economy. The Pequot Trail was used as a main highway to get around the Mystic River and played a vital role in the settlers' lives, allowing them to transport livestock, crops, furs, and other equipment to and from their farm lands. However, those families living on the east side of the Mystic River were unable to make any use of the Pequot Trail. As early as 1660, Robert Burrows was authorized to institute a ferry somewhere along the middle of the river's length. This earned his home the name of "Half-way House".

The Pequot Trail also connected the settlers to their church. Stonington residents found it difficult to attend church in Mystic or Groton, and this led to the creation of their own church. The town of Stonington was then established as separate from Mystic in regards to church attendance and was granted leave to build a church of their own. The building became known as the Road Church.

Colonists began public schools in this area around 1679, and John Fish became the first schoolmaster in Stonington, conducting classes and lessons in his home. Education was a very important thing to the New England colonists, enabling children and servants to learn literacy skills. Most families throughout New England had six or more children in each household, giving Fish plenty of students.

18th century

By the first decade of the 18th century, three villages had begun to develop along the Mystic River. The largest village was called Mystic (now Old Mystic), also known as the Head of the River because it lay where several creeks united into the Mystic River estuary. Two villages lay farther down the river. One was called Stonington and was considered to be Lower Mystic, consisting of twelve houses by the early 19th century. These twelve houses lay along Willow Street, which ended at the ferry landing. This is now the Stonington side of the village of Mystic. On the opposite bank of the river in the town of Groton stood the village that became known as Portersville. This is the Groton side of the village of Mystic.

National Register of Historic Places
Mystic has three historic districts: the Mystic Bridge Historic District around U.S. Route 1 and Route 27, Rossie Velvet Mill Historic District between Pleasant Street and Bruggeman Place, and the Mystic River Historic District around U.S. Route 1 and Route 215. Other historic sites in Mystic are:
 * Joseph Conrad (ship) at Mystic Seaport Museum
 * Charles W. Morgan (ship) at Mystic Seaport Museum
 * Emma C. Berry (sloop) at Mystic Seaport Museum
 * L. A. Dunton (schooner) at Mystic Seaport Museum
 * Pequotsepos Manor on Pequotsepos Road
 * Sabino (steamer) at Mystic Seaport Museum

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.08 sqmi, of which 3.65 sqmi is land and 0.43 sqmi, or 10.6%, is water. The village is on the east and west bank of the estuary of the Mystic River. Mason's Island (Pequot language: Chippachaug) fills the south end of the estuary. Most of the bedrock of Mystic is "gneissic, crystalline terrane extending from eastern Massachusetts through western Rhode Island and across southeastern Connecticut north of Long Island Sound," according to geologist Richard Goldsmith.

Tourism

The village is a major New England tourist destination. It is home to the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, known for its research department, concern with marine life rehabilitation, and its popular beluga whales. The business district contains many restaurants on either side of the bascule bridge where U.S. Route 1 crosses the Mystic River. Local sailing cruises are available on the traditional sailing ship Argia. Short day tours and longer evening cruises are available on the 1908 steamer Sabino departing Mystic Seaport.

Mystic Seaport is the nation's leading maritime museum and one of the premier maritime museums in the world, founded in 1929. It is the home of four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, the oldest merchant vessel in the country. The museum's collections and exhibits include over 500 historic watercraft, a major research library, a large gallery of maritime art, a unique diorama displaying the town of Mystic as it was in the 19th century, a working ship restoration shipyard, a planetarium, and a recreation of a 19th-century seafaring village.

Mystic Museum of Art at 9 Water Street features works by members of the Mystic Art Colony along with other contemporary American art. The 2013 Moondance International Film Festival was held in Mystic.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,001 people, 1,797 households, and 995 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,192.7 PD/sqmi. There were 1,988 housing units at an average density of 592.6 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 95.8% White, 0.8% African American, 0.4% American Indian, 1.3% Asian, 0.0% Pacific Islander (i.e. 1 person), 0.3% from other races, and 1.30% from two or more races.

There were 1,797 households, out of which 20.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.6% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.6% were non-families. 35.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.10 and the average family size was 2.76.

In the CDP, the age distribution of the population shows 16.7% under the age of 18, 5.4% from 18 to 24, 31.1% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 19.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.1 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $62,236, and the median income for a family was $70,625. Males had a median income of $50,036 versus $32,400 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $33,376. About 1.6% of families and 3.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 5.9% of those age 65 or over.

Government
Mystic is a census-designated place (CDP) that spans the towns of Groton and Stonington, Connecticut. It is not a municipality in the state of Connecticut, and so it has no independent government.

Transportation
Amtrak stops at the Mystic station. Bus service is provided by Southeast Area Transit. Groton-New London Airport serves private and chartered flights to the area.

Notable people

 * Mary Jobe Akeley, naturalist
 * Matt Harvey, Baltimore Orioles pitcher
 * Sam Lacy, sportswriter
 * Stephen Macht, actor
 * William Ledyard Stark, Nebraska politician
 * Paul Menhart, former Major League Baseball pitcher
 * Asa Packer, railroad pioneer
 * Jonathan Skrmetti, Attorney General, Tennessee

In popular culture

The title of the film Mystic Pizza was inspired by a pizza shop in Mystic. Screenwriter Amy Holden Jones spent summers in the area and chose the Mystic Pizza restaurant as the focus of her story about the lives of three young waitresses.

In 1997, Steven Spielberg shot various scenes for the film Amistad at Mystic Seaport. One commercial was filmed in 2005 at Mystic Seaport for FedEx. It was based on the lobster business in New England. The commercial was aired during the Orange Bowl.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Mystic, Connecticut


text:
Niantic, Connecticut

Niantic is a census-designated place (CDP) and village in the town of East Lyme, Connecticut in the United States. The population was 3,114 at the 2010 census. It is located on Long Island Sound, the Millstone Nuclear Power Plant in nearby Waterford is visible on the bay's eastern horizon line, Rocky Neck State Park is also located in the area. Niantic was once famous for its Niantic River scallops, but the scallop population has been in decline for a number of years.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.5 square miles (9.1 km2), of which 1.5 square miles (3.8 km2) is land and 2.1 square miles (5.4 km2), or 58.64%, is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,085 people, 1,404 households, and 835 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 2,110.3 PD/sqmi. There were 1,756 housing units at an average density of 1,201.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.63% White, 0.49% African American, 0.16% Native American, 1.23% Asian, 0.42% from other races, and 1.07% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.11% of the population.

There were 1,404 households, out of which 24.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.3% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.5% were non-families. 33.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.20 and the average family size was 2.81.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 20.3% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 29.0% from 25 to 44, 27.0% from 45 to 64, and 17.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.7 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $54,872, and the median income for a family was $65,077. Males had a median income of $46,887 versus $35,811 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $27,306. About 1.9% of families and 3.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.2% of those under age 18 and 1.8% of those age 65 or over.

According to www.city-data.com, the median income for a household in 2008 was $74,348, higher than the median income for the entire state of Connecticut ($68,595 in 2008). The median of all housing units in Niantic was $337,612 in 2008.

Notable residents

 * William Bryden (1880–1972), U.S. Army major general
 * William Colepaugh (1918–2005), Nazi sympathizer who grew up on Black Point and traveled to Germany in 1944 to be trained as a spy
 * Tom Danielson (1978–), former professional road bicycle racer
 * Rajai Davis (1980–), baseball player with multiple ball clubs
 * Charles Drake (real name "Charles Ruppert") (1917–1994), actor in over 80 films and numerous television shows
 * Otto Graham (1921–2003), Hall of Fame professional football player
 * John McDonald, Major League Baseball player with multiple ball clubs
 * Jeremy Powers, professional racing cyclist riding for Jelly Belly (cycling team)
 * Priscilla Presley, actress and businesswoman; spent early childhood in Niantic
 * Jay Allen Sanford, author and cartoonist best known as the co-creator of the comic book Rock 'N' Roll Comics, and for his work with Revolutionary Comics, Carnal Comics, and the San Diego Reader
 * William N. H. Smith (1812–1889), congressman from North Carolina; attended schools in East Lyme
 * Ed Toth, professional musician currently with The Doobie Brothers, formerly with Vertical Horizon and Jennifer Culture
 * Vladimir Peter Tytla (1904–1968), known as Bill Tytla, one of the original Disney animators
 * Pete Walker, professional baseball player with several teams; currently a Toronto Blue Jays coach

title: Niantic, Connecticut


text:
Noank, Connecticut

Noank is a village in the town of Groton, Connecticut. This dense community of historic homes and local businesses sits on a small, steep peninsula at the mouth of the Mystic River with a long tradition of fishing, lobstering and boat-building. The village is listed as a historic district on the National Register of Historic Places and is the home of multiple seaside lobster shacks and oyster aquaculture operations. The population was 1,796 at the 2010 census.

History
In 1614, the area was known as Nauyang (meaning "point of land") and was a summer camping ground of the Pequot people, but they were driven out in 1655 following the Pequot War. The land comprising Noank Peninsula was acquired by James Morgan through a lottery in 1712.

The community grew from a tradition of fishing, lobstering, and boat-building. In 1861, Charles Mallory and Elihu Spicer, Jr. established the C. H. Mallory and Company Steamship line. In 1879, Robert Palmer put steam railways into his shipbuilding plant in Noank. His company became one of the largest in the United States at the time for making wooden ships, building one thousand vessels ranging from fishing boats to sound steamers. The fishing sailboat type known as the "Noank Smack" is indigenous to this village, such as the Emma C. Berry preserved at the Mystic Seaport. Around 1912, the Connecticut State Lobster Hatchery was established in Noank. Today, the village has several marinas, including one with 158 slips.

Noank hosts one of the longest running continuous Memorial Day parades in the country, held annually since 1876. The majority of the community was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 as a historic district, including houses and businesses dating back to 1840. The significance of the historic district is primarily in the domestic architecture preserved in about 260 houses. Scenes for the movie Mystic Pizza were filmed at Ford's Lobsters in Noank.

Demographics

According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 2.2 square miles (5.7 km2), of which 1.5 square miles (4.0 km2) is land and 0.7 square miles (1.7 km2) (30.32%) is water. It includes areas as far west as Palmer Cove and as far north as U.S. Route 1.

As of the census of 2000, there were 1,830 people, 846 households, and 501 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,187.7 PD/sqmi. There were 911 housing units at an average density of 591.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 96.45% White, 0.98% African American, 0.16% Native American, 1.31% Asian, 0.55% from other races, and 0.55% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.79% of the population.

There were 846 households, out of which 21.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.8% were married couples living together, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.7% were non-families. 35.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 16.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.78.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 20.3% under the age of 18, 3.4% from 18 to 24, 24.9% from 25 to 44, 29.5% from 45 to 64, and 21.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 85.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $61,250, and the median income for a family was $77,596. Males had a median income of $59,091 versus $48,333 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $41,355. None of the families and 2.5% of the population were living below the poverty line, including no persons under 18 and 2.9% of those over 64.

Notable residents

 * Artist Henry Ward Ranger lived in Noank.
 * Painter Robert Brackman (1898–1980) lived and worked here.
 * Aviator Amelia Earhart married George Palmer Putnam in Noank on February 7, 1931.
 * Arctic explorer Peter Freuchen (1886–1957) lived in Noank.
 * Painter Lars Thorsen (1876–1952) lived and worked in Noank.
 * Vocal percussionist for Rockapella Jeff Thacher (1967–present) was born in Noank.

title: Noank, Connecticut


text:
North Stonington, Connecticut

North Stonington is a town in New London County, Connecticut which was split off from Stonington in 1724. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 5,149 at the 2020 census.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 55.0 sqmi, of which 54.3 sqmi is land and 0.7 sqmi, or 1.20%, is water.

Principal communities

 * Clarks Falls
 * Laurel Glen
 * North Stonington Village
 * Route 49

On the National Register of Historic Places

 * John Randall House – southeast of North Stonington on Route 2 (added 1978)
 * North Stonington Village Historic District – Route 2, Main Street, Wyassup, Babcock, Caswell, and Rocky Hollow Roads (added April 17, 1983)
 * Samuel Miner House – north of North Stonington off Route 2 on Hewitt Road (added July 18, 1976)

Before the mid-17th century
The land of North Stonington is located at the southeast corner of the state of Connecticut. Until the 17th century, the Pequots, the Niantics, and the Narragansetts were the residents in this area of southeastern Connecticut and adjacent parts of Rhode Island. Little is known about Native American activities in North Stonington prior to English colonization in the area.

The Pequots' imprint remained in the town, however. The first white settlers kept a number of their names for the town's main geological features, including the town's main water course of Shunock Brook, as well as Assekonk Swamp and Wintechog and Cossaduck hills. Further, colonial authorities eventually allotted two reservations to the Pequot tribe, including a plot of land on the eastern bank of Long Pond adjacent to Lantern Hill in the southwestern corner of the town, established in 1683.

Colonial era and Revolutionary War: 1670s–1770s
For much of the 17th century, North Stonington was thinly populated by the Pequots and European settlers. Starting in the 1630s and 1640s, the English established coastline settlements in Wequetequock, which is now Old Mystic, and Pawcatuck. However, the pressure of a growing population and continued immigration in succeeding decades caused homesteading to steadily push northward. The end of hostilities following King Philip's War of 1676 and a partial resolution of border disputes among Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts colonies also encouraged enterprising pioneers to move inland to stake claims.

The first settlers to North Stonington were Ezekiel Main and Jeremiah Burch in 1667, who established settlements in the areas which became the village of North Stonington and Clark's Falls, respectively. Main was formerly of Massachusetts; he had served in King Philip's War and received a land grant in return for his military service. Burch had been a blacksmith in England before making the crossing to America and establishing a land stake. Other pioneers soon followed; families arrived during the 1670s and 1680s who formed the backbone of the town. They were the Mains, Miners, Wheelers, Browns, Palmers, Hewitts, and Averys, to name a few. Among those were John Swan and his family in 1707, for whom Swantown Road is named.

For most of the 18th century, the town's inhabitants focused on carving out homesteads and farms from virgin forests. This was a slow, generations-long process, as pioneers girdled massive, centuries-old trees until they rotted and fell to the ground, and then began the difficult work of clearing ground and moving boulders. Roads began to be forged through the receding wilderness, beyond just cattle paths and old Pequot trails. Colonial surveyors in 1753 marked out the future route of the Pawcatuck-Voluntown Road (today known as Route 49). One of those who worked on this project was 16-year-old Silas Deane, who later represented Connecticut during the First and Second Continental Congress and served briefly as one of the United States' first diplomats in France. In 1768, a weekly stagecoach was opened between Norwich, Connecticut and Providence, Rhode Island via North Stonington and Pawcatuck; this road became the Norwich-Westerly Road, today known as Route 2.

The reluctance of settlers to walk the great distance every Sunday to the Road Church in Stonington led to the establishment of a northern Congregational society in 1717, in which the northern part of Stonington aimed to build its own meeting house. This "North Society" defined a boundary line that is identical to the border today between North Stonington and Stonington, although disagreements lasted until 1723 concerning this line and the location of the northern meeting house, requiring the colonial assembly's intervention several times. In 1724, North Stonington gained its name by decree of the Connecticut Assembly. A church was finally erected in 1727 located on a knoll at the junction of Wyassup and Reutemann roads. It gained a permanent minister in 1731, when the Rev. Joseph Fish arrived, newly ordained from Harvard; he served until his death at 76 in 1781. This meeting house stood for about a century and became known as the "Black Church", perhaps because its board walls were never painted and became dark with age.

The Great Awakening swept through the American colonies in the early- to mid-1740s. One of the main results of this revivalist movement was the rapid growth of the Baptist Church in America, and North Stonington became a bastion of this denomination in Connecticut. Much of the congregation for this church came from Rev. Fish's flock, and the new Baptists established their own meeting house in 1743. This was the first Baptist church for both Stonington and North Stonington; today it is located at Pendleton Hill in the town's northeastern corner, but the original building sat a short distance to the south. A stone marker is now at the site.

Turmoil within Rev. Fish's congregation culminated in the departure of another group that formed a "Strict Congregationalist Church" in 1746 more than a mile west of the Village. This schism was deeply traumatic for the Rev. Fish, who later wrote that the "order of families as well as of churches and religious families, is vilely broke, dissolved and lost… the reins of government are thrown upon the neck, and nothing but anarchy and confusion reigns." During 1817–1827, the Congregationalist and Strict Congregationalist churches reunited and built a common church, which is the current location of the town's Congregational Church.

The establishment of the other two Baptist churches was considerably less dramatic. The Rev. Waite Palmer organized the Second Baptist Church in 1765, located at the intersection of Pendleton Hill Road and Stillman Road. The third Baptist Church was established in 1828 to serve the rapidly growing population of millworkers in the village of North Stonington.

Men from the town participated in the French and Indian War of the 1760s; some marched as far as the siege of Montreal. But it was the Revolutionary War that garnered the town's enthusiasm. It is difficult to determine the precise number of townsmen who joined the fight, given that North Stonington still formed part of Stonington and clerks did not distinguish between the two locales. However, pension records and other documents from the 19th century indicate that numerous men joined various Continental and militia units, particularly the 6th and 8th Militia Regiments, the latter of which joined Gen. George Washington's army in the Battle of Long Island in the autumn of 1776. Three North Society men assumed notable roles in the war:
 * Thomas Wheeler served first as a junior officer in the militia during a successful standoff against a British naval raiding party against Stonington Borough in August 1775, then served as a company commander in the Eighth Regiment of Militia during the following year's campaign in New York.
 * Elias Sanford Palmer served as a lieutenant in Wadsworth's Brigade during the Long Island campaign in late 1776 and remained in the militia service during the war and beyond; by the 1790s, he was commander of the 30th Militia Regiment.
 * Charles Hewitt, an enlisted man, was part of a 40-member raiding party that captured General Richard Prescott at his home in Newport, Rhode Island during the night of July 10, 1777. Prescott was the British commander of a large occupation force of Hessian soldiers. In contrast to Wheeler and Palmer, Hewitt died young, perishing of yellow fever while at sea in 1779.

Mills and incorporation: Late 18th century to mid-19th century
As early as the first part of the 18th century first- and second-generation farmers in North Stonington began harnessing the power of the town's rivers and streams to establish grist mills and sawmills. For example, Samuel Richardson, one of the first settlers in what is now the village, already had a mill in use along the Shunock River by 1702. However, it was only in the 1790s, after the United States had gained its independence, that mills began to emerge throughout the town in a serious way. The primary reason for this was that the town's farmers were no longer focused on clearing land and subsistence cultivation, and were now producing ever-larger crop and livestock yields that could be exported to markets, either in Connecticut or as far away as in Boston and the West Indies. Second, during this period the country was emerging into a period of economic prosperity after the deprivations and uncertainty of the war years.

Mills during the late 18th century quickly began to proliferate in the village along the Shunock River to such an extent that the locale took the name of "Milltown", and the Avery family and other landowners began to sell lots along what is now the western end of Main Street to house businesses and dwellings for workers in the mills. Smaller communities, with their own churches, post offices, mills, and stores, emerged in Burch's Falls (renamed Clark's Falls in the 1860s) and Laurel Glen, both in the eastern end of town, and Ashwillet and Pendleton Hill (known as Pauchunganuc until the 1840s), located respectively in the northwestern and northeastern corners of the town. Individual mills also emerged throughout the town to meet the grain and lumber milling needs of local communities at a distance from the five towns within the town.

By the early part of the 19th century North Stonington's residents began to regard themselves as possessing a character separate from the communities of the southern part of the town to which they were still connected. The communities of Mystic, Stonington Borough, and Pawcatuck were far away—by the standards of the pre-automobile era—and, being of a seafaring nature, the "southerners" possessed significantly different needs and interests. Efforts by the southern communities from the late 18th century to build a number of relatively expensive construction projects along the coastline, such as a new road from Stonington Borough to Mystic and a bridge over Lambert's Cove, at first led residents of the northern end of the town to oppose budgeting monies for these projects, and eventually caused the northerners to secede and form their own town. At a town hall meeting at Stonington's Road Church in April 1807, a small majority of voters decided for division, using the old dividing line between the North and South societies of the Congregationalist Church as the demarcation line. The new town then sent a request for the State Assembly to approve the measure.

The Assembly, which met the following month, approved the new town's independence, but did not endorse the town's proposed new name of Jefferson, and instead directed that the town would be named "North Stonington", citing as justification that for almost a century the northern part of Stonington had been known by that name. While the Assembly's reasoning is superficially logical, its rejection of the name "Jefferson" almost certainly was motivated by the considerable antagonism held by dominant Federalist politicians in Hartford, who led New England in their opposition to President Jefferson and his policies. We do not know the reason why the country's third president—then midway through his second term—was so popular among North Stonington residents, although perhaps Jefferson's public criticism of the Congregational Church's domination of politics and religion in Connecticut earned him the loyalty of the local Baptist community, which perhaps regarded him as a champion of their rights in a state that still enshrined preferential rights to the Congregational Church.

An inventory of the town's taxable assets in the following year, 1808, provides a snapshot of the town's economic profile. The town was still predominantly devoted to agriculture. 53 percent of the town's area was given over to cultivation or pasture, the remainder being taken up by wooded land, much of it in rocky outcrops or in swamps. The town's roughly 2,500 residents lived in about 750 dwellings and possessed about 445 mature oxen and bulls, 1,354 cattle, and 388 horses. There were 3,335 sheep, a reflection of the prodigious wool business in the town as a result of trade barriers erected by the United States against British textile imports that spurred considerable domestic demand for woolen products.

At the same time, this same inventory shows the growing affluence in the town, a reflection of the town's agricultural wealth and growing mill activity. Five stores—including one with two floors—had sprung up. Two eminent citizens owned chaises: Revolutionary War veteran Elias Sanford Palmer of Pauchunganuc Hill, and Thomas Prentice, who lived in the northwest part of town. Shopkeepers Daniel and Saxton Miner in Milltown owned the sole other vehicle mentioned, a "carriage on springs". Nine leading citizens, including Elias Sanford Palmer and Thomas Prentice, also possessed another status symbol: clocks with "steel and brass parts". Serving not just the thirst of the townspeople but also of the many millworkers were nine taverns, five of which were connected with stores.

North Stonington and its older sister Stonington played an enthusiastic role in the War of 1812, even if the war itself was deeply unpopular in Connecticut and elsewhere in New England. During the war North Stonington resident Lieutenant Colonel William Randall, the great-grandson of original settler John Randall, commanded the 30th regiment of Connecticut militia, which was mobilized twice. The first time was in June 1813, when Randall's regiment—which consisted of about 300 men, equally from Stonington and North Stonington—force-marched overnight in driving rain to Groton to help defend the city against a feared landing by British naval forces. The 30th Regiment returned to the colors again in August 1814, when a squadron of British warships bombarded Stonington Borough in preparation for a raid on the town. It was during this battle that Lantern Hill obtained the nickname "Tar Barrel Hill", because, in anticipation of an attack on Stonington, soldiers had moved pitch in barrels to its summit to set them alight to serve as an alarm if British forces appeared in the Sound. The flames and smoke from this hill alerted Randall and his men to react and move quickly to Stonington Point to repulse the attempted raiding party that intended to put Stonington Borough to the torch.

The 1820s and 1830s saw continued growth of Milltown as a commercial center, to include the building of two fulling mills to process the town's prodigious wool production, as well as a tannery, an iron works, cabinetmaking shops, and multiple grain mills and stores to serve the large factory workforce. The town's overall population rose from 2,500 shortly after incorporation to over 2,800 by the 1830s, and commercial activity during this period was facilitated by the opening in 1820 of the New London-Providence Turnpike, which today is known as Route 184.

It was also during this period that the Wheeler family accumulated much of its mercantile wealth through its stores and trading connections. Maj. Dudley Wheeler (1796–1888) was the most prominent member of the family at this time; in addition to owning two stores in town, he also was extensively involved in the wool export business and during mid-century worked out of an import-export office in New York City. Over the next century, the Wheelers left their mark on the town through a number of legacies including providing large donations to the Congregational Church and the school system. Wheeler's son Dwight donated one of the family's stores to become the town hall in 1904 (today this building is the Old Town Hall). Unfortunately, the impressive Wheeler home located across the street from the town hall was destroyed by fire in 1938 and never rebuilt; today the location is occupied by a parking lot.

Another leading businessman during this period was Stephen A. Main (1805–86) who like Dudley Wheeler established himself as a local businessman and mill owner before moving to New York City to work in various commercial enterprises. After the Civil War Main returned to North Stonington and bought one of Dudley Wheeler's stores in Milltown; Main's home today houses the North Stonington Historical Society. The commercial boom in the town was by no means limited to just a few families, and permitted the construction of many ornate homes in Milltown and elsewhere, many of which have survived to this day.

Almost as soon as the town established itself as a commercial center larger, even, than Westerly, however, it was quickly bypassed by the effects of the Industrial Revolution, which favored larger towns astride similarly larger rivers to erect huge mills. North Stonington's population plummeted from the late 1830s as people left to work in Westerly and Norwich. By 1840 the town's population had dropped to 2,269, and by 1870 it was down to 1,759. Adding to North Stonington's decline in population was that an increasing number of the town's youth were joining the wave of migrants heading west to try their fortunes on the frontier. Adventuresome townspeople had been attempting this before the Revolution—an early attempt to settle the then-wild Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania in the 1760s ended in disaster—but in the 1790s small groups began leaving to help settle new towns in upstate New York and, later, Ohio. Out-migration through the late 19th and early 20th centuries ensured that the town's population would remain on a gradual, downward slope, despite the fact that the families still tended to be large.

Civil War era: Last hurrah for mills
While men from North Stonington joined several Connecticut regiments during the Civil War, the best-known of these was the 21st Regiment of Connecticut Volunteers because its "G" company consisted completely of North Stonington residents. The 21st, arriving in Virginia, saw its first major combat in late 1862 during the Battle of Fredericksburg, endured heavy casualties at Drewry's Bluff in 1863, and participated in Grant's drive on Richmond in mid- to late 1864. Attrition was so high among officers in the regiment that North Stonington resident James F. Brown, who entered the war as commander of "G" company, ended the war as a lieutenant colonel and commander of the regiment. William S. Hubbel, who enlisted in the regiment from North Stonington, earned the Medal of Honor for capturing a large number of Confederate soldiers while leading a small raiding party in 1864.

The Civil War created a large market for woolen products for the Army, leading to a temporary resurgence in mill activity in North Stonington. Jumping at the new commercial opportunity, Alfred Clark built a large carding factory to process wool in Burch's Falls, costing him $34,000. The factory existed only until 1895, but the change in the community's name to Clark's Falls was permanent. The foundation of the old factory remains, a short distance southwest of the center of Clarks Falls, which is at the intersection of Route 216 and Clark's Falls Road. A few other mills in Milltown (North Stonington village) and Laurel Glen survived until the early part of the 20th century.

Rural quiet: 1870s to 1930s
After the Civil War, the population of North Stonington—like most of rural New England—continued to dwindle, so that by 1910, after just over a century since its incorporation, the number of residents stood at only 1,100, less than two-fifths than at the town's height during the mill era. The town's youth continued to migrate to the big cities to earn their fortunes, or to join the wave of pioneers flocking west to settle the frontier. As people left the town, land prices steadily deflated, enabling some farmers with means to buy up large tracts throughout North Stonington and adjoining towns. One such land baron and renowned town character, Lafayette Main, amassed such large holdings through the western end of town (as well in adjoining towns) that when asked how many acres he owned, would reply, "I really don't know. I have never been over half of it." Depopulation and the growing mechanization of agriculture caused a gradual reduction in the number of farms and acreage devoted to cultivation and pasturage, which beginning in the latter half of the 19th century led to a gradual but inexorable return of the forest, to the point where today the town is largely under trees.

Some of the people who left North Stonington during this era went on to become leading citizens elsewhere in New England. Samuel Prentice, born in 1850, attended Yale University and served as Connecticut's Chief Justice during 1913–1920. Otis Randall, born in 1860 and a scion of one of the town's founding families, become a professor of mathematics at Brown University and was that institution's dean during 1913–1930. Finally, Ellen Fitz Pendleton was the sixth president of Wellesley College, presiding at that institution during 1911–1936.

The Wheeler School and Library, with a building erected in 1901, offered free secondary education to town youngsters and also took in outside boarders. The library was on the second floor. In 1950, North Stonington replaced the 15 one-room schools with a consolidated school for the primary grades. Secondary students attended Stonington High for a time, then in 1956 a new Wheeler High School opened. In succeeding years a junior high and elementary school were built nearby. Today the original building still serves the town as its library.

In the early 20th century progress arrived to re-stitch the town economically with the outer world, first in 1906 in the form of a trolley line that traversed North Stonington on its way from Westerly to Norwich. The trolley line ran for 15 years, until bankrupted by the opening of the Route 2 highway for automobiles on the old Westerly-Norwich stage road. In 1933–1934 Route 184 was put through along the route of the old New London-Providence Turnpike. Its extra heavy underlayers of gravel has never required repair. For a generation this highway was the primary automobile route to Providence and Boston along the southern coast of New England.

North Stonington and modern challenges: 1940s and beyond
The establishment of paved highways through the town in the 1920s and 1930s laid the foundation for the rapid population growth and dramatic economic changes wrought after World War II in North Stonington and elsewhere in New London County. During the 1950s and 1960s, North Stonington became a bedroom community for the postwar defense industry and military community of southeastern Connecticut, including such companies as Electric Boat, Pfizer, and Underwater Sound Laboratory. As a result, the town added 600 inhabitants during the 1950s (with the construction of the Cedar Ridge development) and three times that amount in the 1960s (with the opening of the Kingswood/Meadow Wood development near The Village). The town became readily accessible to anywhere in late 1964, when Interstate 95 was built and two exits were opened in North Stonington. Starting in the 1970s, a number of "tech parks" opened in North Stonington's southeastern corner, adjacent to I-95. The dramatic growth in the town's population had a direct impact on the size of the school system; whereas in the late 1950s the average graduating class ran in the teens, by 1965 it had more than doubled to 42, and was 51 in 1968. School population since then has mirrored that of the town's gradual increase, and the graduating class of 2006 was 65, although Wheeler remains one of the smallest high schools in Connecticut.

The town's rapid residential growth led to the development in 1963 of planning and zoning restrictions and guidelines as citizens became increasingly anxious about the potential for overdevelopment destroying the rural nature of the town. Population growth in the past thirty years has continued, but at nowhere near the break-neck pace of the 1950s and 1960s; today, the main challenge to preserving North Stonington's historically rural character comes less from housing subdivisions and more from big commercial development ideas. The town, because of its access to I-95, rural charm, and after 1992 its proximity to the Mashantucket casino in the adjacent town of Ledyard, has attracted numerous would-be developers who have advanced as-yet unsuccessful entertainment park schemes for the town.

North Stonington residents and visitors cherish the town for its beauty and historic value. In 1983 the village was added to the National Register of Historic Places, based on 58 existing homes and other buildings from the late 18th and early 19th centuries within its environs. Two houses located elsewhere in the town, for their age and historic value, are also on the register: the homes of Luther Palmer and John Randall.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,991 people, 1,833 households, and 1,424 families residing in the town. The population density was 91.9 PD/sqmi. There were 2,052 housing units at an average density of 37.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 94.31% White, 0.60% African American, 2.06% Native American, 1.06% Asian, 0.22% from other races, and 1.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.44% of the population.

There were 1,833 households, out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.7% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 22.3% were non-families. 16.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.03.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 25.1% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 29.8% from 25 to 44, 28.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 101.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 101.2 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $57,887, and the median income for a family was $61,733. Males had a median income of $45,625 versus $29,133 for females. The per capita income for the town was $25,815. About 3.3% of families and 4.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.1% of those under age 18 and 1.5% of those age 65 or over.

title: North Stonington, Connecticut


text:
Old Lyme, Connecticut

Old Lyme is a coastal town in New London County, Connecticut, United States, bounded on the west by the Connecticut River, on the south by the Long Island Sound, on the east by the town of East Lyme, and on the north by the town of Lyme. The town is part of the Lower Connecticut River Valley Planning Region.

The main street of the town, Lyme Street, is a historic district with several homes once owned by sea captains. The town has had for many years a thriving art community. Its principal institutions include the Florence Griswold Museum, the Lyme Art Association, and the Lyme Academy of Fine Arts. Several seasonal beach communities are in Old Lyme, such as Point O' Woods, Hawk's Nest, and Miami Beach. The town is named after Lyme Regis, England.

The town of Old Lyme contains several villages, including Black Hall, Laysville, Soundview, and South Lyme. The total population of the town was 7,628 at the 2020 census.

Background and history

Old Lyme is a community of about 7,600 permanent residents, in addition to several thousand seasonal vacationers who occupy a seaside community of summer residences. It is located on the east bank of the Connecticut River at its confluence with Long Island Sound, across the river from Old Saybrook on the west bank. Numerous examples of Colonial and Federal architecture can be found throughout the town.

The town of Lyme was set off from Saybrook (now known as Deep River), which is on the west bank of the Connecticut River mouth, on February 13, 1665. South Lyme was incorporated from Lyme in 1855, then renamed Old Lyme in 1857, because it contains the oldest-settled portion of the Lymes. Old Lyme occupies about 27 sqmi of shoreline, tidal marsh, inland wetlands, and forested hills. Its neighbor to the north is the town of Lyme, and to the east is East Lyme. Other place names from the same root are Hadlyme, a neighborhood in the town of Lyme and the town of East Haddam, and South Lyme, a beach resort area of Old Lyme. The place name "Lyme" is derived from Lyme Regis, a small port on the coast of Dorset, England from which some of the early settlers immigrated in the 17th century. The picturesque Old Lyme Cemetery contains the graves of the settlers. The Duck River flows through the cemetery and into the Connecticut River at Watch Rock Park.

Lyme disease was named after the town. It was discovered in 1975 after a mysterious outbreak of what appeared to be juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in children who lived in Lyme and Old Lyme.

Old Lyme Art Colony
The Florence Griswold House in Old Lyme housed an art colony for many years in the early 20th century to many prominent American Impressionist painters. The Lyme Art Colony included Childe Hassam, Edward Charles Volkert, Willard Metcalf, Wilson Irvine, and Henry Ward Ranger, among many others. These artists made Old Lyme a thriving art community, which still continues today.

The Griswold House was transformed into an art museum, the Florence Griswold Museum, or affectionately called "Flo Gris", by residents of Old Lyme. Many American Impressionist paintings of the era are of subjects in and around the Griswold House and are featured in the museum, along with many other works and personal possessions of the artists who frequented there. The building of the Old Lyme Congregational Church is known for the many paintings that have been made of it, most notably by Childe Hassam.

On the National Register of Historic Places

 * Bennett Rockshelter (added July 31, 1987)
 * Florence Griswold House and Museum – 96 Lyme St. (added May 19, 1993)
 * Lieutenant River III Site (added August 31, 1987)
 * Lieutenant River IV Site (added August 31, 1987)
 * Lieutenant River No. 2 (added August 31, 1987)
 * Natcon Site (added August 31, 1987)
 * Old Lyme Historic District – Lyme Street from Shore Road to Sill Lane, Old Boston Post Road from Sill Lane to Rose Lane (added November 14, 1971)
 * Peck Tavern – 1 Sill Lane (added May 12, 1982)
 * Springbank – 69 Neck Road (added September 17, 2001)

Geography and climate
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 28.8 sqmi, of which 5.7 sqmi, or 19.85%, is water. The southern section of Old Lyme has a mostly flat topography, intersected with tidal marsh and swamp, while the northern sections of the town have a rocky and hilly terrain. Old Lyme lies in the Köppen climate classification zone Cfa, or mild temperate climate. The summers have highs in the 80s °F (and 90's F on occasion) and the winters have highs in the upper 30s to low 40s °F. The average annual precipitation is about 40 inches (100 cm), and about 28 inches of snow falls on average each winter. Snowcover is normally brief.

Principal communities

 * Black Hall
 * Laysville
 * Lyme Station
 * Old Lyme Center
 * Sound View
 * South Lyme
 * Edge Lea
 * Hatchetts Point
 * Point O'Woods

Other minor communities and geographic features in the town are Between the Rivers, Black Hall Pond, Brighton Beach, Ferry Road, Flat Rock Hill, Four Mile River, Griswold Point, Hall's Corners, Hawk's Nest Beach, Homestead Circle, Johnnycake Hill, Miami Beach, Mile Creek, Neck Road, Old Colony Beach, Old Lyme Estates, Old Lyme Shores, Rogers Lake, Sill Lane, Smith's Neck, Tantummaheag, Tuttles Sandy Beach, Whippoorwill, and White Sand Beach.

Rogers Lake
Rogers Lake, located in the towns of Old Lyme and Lyme, is formed by a dam along Town Woods Road in Old Lyme. The lake's surface area is 265 acre. Mill Brook, Grassy Hill Brook and Broad Swamp Brook feed into the lake. The lake's watershed is 4833 acre of woodland. The outlet below the dam is Mill Brook, which is a tributary of the Lieutenant River, a tributary of the Connecticut River.

Five small islands are on Rogers Lake, the largest of which has a small cottage built on it. Rogers Lake is stocked every year with brook and rainbow trout. A street that runs along the north side of Rogers Lake is called Blood Street; it has lent its name to the town's rowing team, the Blood Street Sculls. Rogers Lake is also bordered by Grassy Hill Road and Town Woods Road, with a small lakeside neighborhood off of Rogers Lake Trail.

Roger: The Rogers Lake Monster
Roger is the name given to a reputed lake monster living in Rogers Lake, a natural freshwater lake located in Old Lyme Connecticut. Like the Loch Ness Monster and Lake Champlain’s famed Champ, many locals regard Roger as pure myth while some believe in his existence, possibly being a relative of the plesiosaur, an extinct group of aquatic reptiles. While there is no scientific evidence for the cryptid's existence, there have been over 200 reported sightings. The legend of the monster is considered a draw for tourism in the Old Lyme and Lyme areas.

Connecticut Native American tribes referred to the creature as "Caca-togo".

Based on a report by the Connecticut Association of Cryptozoology (CAC), famed local artist Florence Griswold reported the very first documented sighting of Roger in 1878. According to their report, Ms. Griswold was setting up a canvas on the northeast side of the shore when she witnessed a large long-necked grey-skinned dinosaur-like creature emerge 20 feet above the surface and quickly submerge. She recounted to her family that she did not sense Roger as a threat but was merely intrigued by the beastie. For years after the incident, Florence Griswold painted Roger into several backgrounds in some of her paintings. Humored by her work, Lyme Art Academy Professor Herbert A. Strekel said, “If Picasso had his red period and Monet had his blue period, then that would have been Griswold’s Lake Monster period.”

Demographics
As of the census of 2010, 7,603 people, 2,958 households, and 2,153 families resided in the town. The population density was 320.6 PD/sqmi. The 4,570 housing units had an average density of 197.8 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 97.37% White, 0.26% African American, 0.28% Native American, 1.16% Asian, 0.33% from other races, and 0.59% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 0.95% of the population.

Of the 2,958 households, 30.2% had children under 18 living with them, 63.2% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.2% were not families. About 22.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.50, and the average family size was 2.93.

In the town, the age distribution was 24.0% under 18, 3.6% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 29.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.0 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 94.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $68,386, and for a family was $75,779. Males had a median income of $52,110 versus $39,158 for females. The per capita income for the town was $41,386. About 2.2% of families and 3.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.9% of those under age 18 and 1.8% of those age 65 or over.

Schools
From the towns of Old Lyme and Lyme, 1,450 children were enrolled in the five schools of Regional District 18 at the start of the 2011–2012 academic year. The students are enrolled based on age and location. Lyme Consolidated School is for prekindergarten through grade 5, Mile Creek School is for kindergarten through grade 5, Center School is for prekindergarten, Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School is for grades 6 through 8, and Lyme-Old Lyme High School is for grades 9 through 12. Regional School District 18 has a 13:1 student-to-faculty ratio, and spent $17,454 per pupil in the 2007–2008 school year. The district's girls' soccer and boys' basketball teams won the Shoreline Conference Championship during the 2010–2011 school year.

Old Lyme also has a number of students who attend private schools, including nearby parochial schools such as Xavier High School, Mercy High School, and Saint Bernard School, and some students go to college preparatory schools such as the Williams School in New London.

Colleges
Founded in 1976 by Elisabeth Gordon Chandler as a figurative art academy for the teaching of sculpture, drawing, illustration, and painting, the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts offers a bachelor of fine arts degree in the disciplines of painting and sculpture. The college also offers postbaccalaureate and three-year certificate programs. It is known for its focus on teaching techniques and the history and tradition of representational art, centered on the study of nature and the figure. According to The New York Times, "many in the art world believe [Lyme Academy] has contributed to a renaissance of representational art."

Transportation
The Estuary Transit District provides public transportation throughout Old Lyme and the surrounding towns through its 9 Town transit service. Services include connections to the Old Saybrook Train Station, served by Amtrak and Shore Line East railroads, as well as the New London Transportation Center, served by train and ferry service.

Old Lyme has sought to block attempts to update rail infrastructure in the Northeast, such as building high-speed rail.

Notable people

 * Jim Calhoun (born 1942), head coach of the University of Connecticut's men's basketball team, which won three national championships, and who was enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2005; began his career as a coach in town at Lyme-Old Lyme High School.
 * Herb Chambers (born 1941), billionaire owner and president of Herb Chambers Companies auto dealerships
 * Elisabeth Gordon Chandler (1913–2006), sculptor, resident, and founder of the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts
 * Lois Darling (1917–1989), artist and illustrator
 * Albert Einstein, who had a summer home on the Old Lyme shore
 * Chris Elliott (born 1960), actor and screenwriter, known best for his supporting role in the 1998 comedy There's Something About Mary
 * Walker Evans, photographer; lived nearby in Lyme until his death in 1975
 * Elsie Ferguson (1883–1961), actress
 * Ella T. Grasso (1919–1981), first female governor of Connecticut, first woman to be elected governor in the United States who was not the wife or widow of a governor, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Ronald Reagan in 1981, inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1993
 * Childe Hassam (1859–1935), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
 * Wilson Irvine (1869–1936), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
 * Peter Karter (1922–2010), founder of early recycling company
 * Isabella Kirkland (born 1954), visual artist and biodiversity researcher
 * Susanne Katherina Langer (1895–1985), philosopher, writer, and educator, one of the first female academic philosophers
 * Ezra Lee (1749–1821), American colonial soldier known for commanding the Turtle submarine, is buried in Duck River Cemetery in Old Lyme
 * Willard Metcalf (1858–1925), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
 * Diana Muir, writer and historian
 * Roger Tory Peterson (1908–1996), naturalist, ornithologist, artist, and educator
 * Henry Ward Ranger (1858–1916), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
 * William S. Reyburn (1882-1946), U.S. Congressman
 * Luanne Rice (born 1955), novelist
 * Edwin J. Roland (1905–1985), Coast Guard admiral
 * Elizabeth Tashjian (1912–2007), artist and founder of the Nut Museum in Old Lyme
 * Edward Charles Volkert (1871–1935), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
 * Clark Voorhees (1871–1933), American Impressionist, stayed in the Florence Griswold House as part of the Old Lyme Art Colony
 * Morrison Waite (1816–1888), Chief Justice of the United States appointed by Ulysses S. Grant, was born and lived in Old Lyme until leaving for college at Yale.
 * Ellen Axson Wilson (1860–1914), first wife of president Woodrow Wilson, came as an art student to the Florence Griswold House.

title: Old Lyme, Connecticut


text:
Old Mystic, Connecticut

Old Mystic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) located in the town of Groton, Connecticut. The population was 3,554 at the 2010 census.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 4.4 sqmi, of which 4.3 sqmi is land and 0.1 sqmi, or 2.29%, is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,205 people, 1,205 households, and 880 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 750.5 PD/sqmi. There were 1,249 housing units at an average density of 292.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.11% White, 2.43% African American, 0.66% American Indian, 3.43% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.50% from other races, and 2.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.62% of the population.

There were 1,205 households, out of which 34.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.9% were non-families. 19.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 25.7% under the age of 18, 5.5% from 18 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 25.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.2 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $63,036, and the median income for a family was $68,500. Males had a median income of $50,095 versus $31,536 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $27,988. About 1.5% of families and 3.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.6% of those under age 18 and 3.8% of those age 65 or over.

title: Old Mystic, Connecticut


text:
Oxoboxo River, Connecticut

Oxoboxo River is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Montville in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,938 at the 2000 census, 3,165 at the 2010 census, and 2,955 at the 2020 census. The statistical area encompasses the town center of Montville, as well as the adjacent villages of Palmertown and Uncasville. The name of the statistical area is from the river of the same name running through the CDP.

The U.S. Postal Service includes the entire area of the CDP in ZIP code 06382, for which the USPS uses "Uncasville" as the place name. The Uncasville ZIP code also encompasses the Mohegan reservation, including the Mohegan Sun casino complex, and other parts of Montville.

Geography
The CDP takes its name from the Oxoboxo River, a tributary of the Thames River that flows through the CDP. According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 11.6 km$2$ (4.5 mi2), of which 11.0 km$2$ (4.3 mi2) is land and 0.6 km$2$ (0.2 mi2) (5.1%) is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,938 people, 1,245 households, and 776 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 266.3/km$2$ (689.6/mi2). There were 1,356 housing units at an average density of 122.9/km$2$ (318.3/mi2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 90.50% White, 1.60% African American, 1.29% Native American, 2.55% Asian, 1.09% from other races, and 2.96% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.51% of the population.

There were 1,245 households, out of which 26.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 46.0% were married couples living together, 11.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.6% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 23.0% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 24.6% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.2 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $43,714, and the median income for a family was $51,987. Males had a median income of $37,775 versus $29,028 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $23,310. About 5.3% of families and 6.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.5% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.

title: Oxoboxo River, Connecticut


text:
Pawcatuck, Connecticut

Pawcatuck is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Stonington which is located in New London County, Connecticut. The population was 5,624 at the 2010 census. It is located across the Pawcatuck River from Downtown Westerly, Rhode Island. The Mechanic Street Historic District of Pawcatuck is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and includes sites of shipbuilding, mills, and worker housing in a 147 acre area.

Demographics
The village of Pawcatuck has a total area of 8.87 km2 bordered to the east by the Pawcatuck River. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,474 people, 2,427 households, and 1,439 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,479.9 PD/sqmi. There were 2,598 housing units at an average density of 702.4 /sqmi. The racial makeup was 93.53% White, 0.75% African American, 0.69% Native American, 2.12% Asian, 0.05% Pacific Islander, 0.69% from other races, and 2.16% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.44% of the population. The median income for a household in Pawcatuck was $39,799, and the median income for a family was $53,087, and 9.3% of the population was below the poverty line.

title: Pawcatuck, Connecticut


text:
Poquonock Bridge, Connecticut

Poquonock Bridge is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Groton in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 1,686 at the 2020 census.

The village is located just east of the head of the Poquonnock River near the intersection of U.S. Route 1 and Connecticut Route 117. The village was first settled in 1652–53 by James Morgan, James Avery, and Nehemiah Smith. The Groton Town Hall is located in the village.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 3.7 km2, of which 3.5 km2 is land, and 0.2 km2 (5.07%) is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,592 people, 588 households, and 415 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 1,165.8 PD/sqmi. There were 630 housing units at an average density of 461.3 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the CDP was 65.45% White, 14.13% African American, 3.83% Native American, 8.04% Asian, 0.25% Pacific Islander, 1.76% from other races, and 6.53% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.16% of the population.

There were 588 households, out of which 38.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.8% were married couples living together, 22.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.3% were non-families. 23.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household was 2.71 person, and the average family size was 3.14.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 29.8% under the age of 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 19.3% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.4 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $33,652, and the median income for a family was $35,592. Males had a median income of $24,219 versus $21,250 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $14,664. About 11.2% of families and 15.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 23.5% of those under age 18, and 5.4% of those age 65 or over.

title: Poquonock Bridge, Connecticut


text:
Preston, Connecticut

Preston is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 4,788 at the 2020 census. The town includes the villages of Long Society, Preston City, and Poquetanuck.

History
In 1686, Thomas Parke, Thomas Tracy, and several others petitioned for and were granted by the Connecticut General Court authority to establish a plantation seven miles square to the east of Norwich and north of New London and Stonington. Owaneco, son of the Mohegan sachem Uncas, gave a confirmatory deed for the land in 1687. In October of that same year, the town was formally incorporated as Preston, named for the English city of Preston, Lancashire.

Early trades in the area included shoe making, metal smithing, shipbuilding, and brickmaking.

The Ecclesiastical Society of Preston was first organized in 1698, with the first meetinghouse located in present-day Preston City. At the request of residents in the northern part of Preston (now the town of Griswold), the North Society was established in 1716. A splinter group, the Separate Church of Preston, was established in 1747 and continued until 1817. The Preston City Baptist Church (now the Preston City Bible Church) was established in 1812. The town of Griswold separated from the town of Preston in 1815.

On August 4, 1954, an Air France Lockheed L-1049C Super Constellation flying from Orly Airport, Paris, to Idlewild Airport, New York City, crash-landed in a farm field in Preston. There were no deaths.

Preston has a large number of properties on the National Register of Historic Places including the Preston City Historic District and the Long Society Meeting House.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 31.8 sqmi, of which 30.9 sqmi is land and 0.9 sqmi, or 2.71%, is water.

Principal communities
There were three distinct settlements in the town when it was first established:
 * Long Society
 * Preston City
 * Poquetanuck

Other minor communities and geographic locations in the town are Hallville, Happyland, and Preston Plains.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 4,688 people, 1,837 households, and 1,359 families residing in the town. The population density was 151.7 PD/sqmi. There were 1,901 housing units at an average density of 61.5 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 95.63% White, 0.75% African American, 0.83% Native American, 1.15% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.51% from other races, and 1.11% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.39% of the population.

There were 1,837 households, out of which 30.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.9% were married couples living together, 7.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.0% were non-families. 21.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 4.95.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 22.4% under the age of 18, 5.9% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 28.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 41 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.1 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $54,942, and the median income for a family was $62,554. Males had a median income of $44,053 versus $28,226 for females. The per capita income for the town was $24,752. About 1.6% of families and 3.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.5% of those under age 18 and 5.5% of those age 65 or over.

Education
According to the Preston Historical Society, "Schools were built in 'districts' to serve the local children, until two central schools, one on Poquetanuck and one in Preston City were built between 1938 and 1940." Currently, public education in Preston is administered by Preston Public Schools, which operates the Preston Veterans' Memorial School (Pre-K to Grade 5) and the Preston Plains Middle School (Grades 6–8). For high school, students go to multiple school districts of surrounding towns, including the Norwich Free Academy, Ledyard High School, Grasso Tech, Norwich Tech, Saint Bernard High School, Marine Science Magnet High School, and Science and Tech Magnet High School in New London, CT.

Notable locations

 * Strawberry Park is located within Preston.
 * Pachaug State Forest
 * Amos Lake
 * Foxwoods Resort Casino is located just outside of Preston.

On the National Register of Historic Places

 * Hallville Mill Historic District – Hallville Road, Hall's Mill Road, and Route 2A on Hallville Pond (added September 22, 1996)
 * Long Society Meetinghouse – built in 1819 on the site of an earlier meetinghouse and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
 * Poquetanuck Village Historic District – Roughly along Main Street between Route 117 and Middle Road and along School House and Cider Mill Road (added September 22, 1996)
 * Preston City Historic District – Amos and Old Shetucket Roads, Northwest Corner Road, and Route 164 (added August 31, 1987)

Notable people

 * Nathan Belcher (1813–1891), lawyer, Connecticut state senator, and US congressman, born in Preston
 * Jonathan Brewster (1593–1659), buried in Preston
 * Isaac E. Crary (1804–1854), the first elected congressman from the state of Michigan, born in Preston
 * William Howard Doane (1831–1915), industrialist and composer
 * Beriah Green (1795–1874), abolitionist and author born in Preston
 * Clarence Ellis Harbison (1885–1960), animal psychologist who lived his later life and died in Preston
 * John Haskell Hewitt (1835–1920), classical scholar and professor born in Preston
 * George D. Prentice (1802–1870), controversial newspaper editor born in town
 * Henry Brewster Stanton (1805–1887), abolitionist, social reformer and husband of Elizabeth Cady Stanton; born in town
 * George A. Starkweather (1794–1879), congressman for New York, born in Preston
 * Henry H. Starkweather (1826–1876), postmaster and congressman born in Preston
 * Joseph Steward (1753–1822), artist who studied and lived in Preston

title: Preston, Connecticut


text:
Salem, Connecticut

Salem is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The town is part of the Southeastern Connecticut Planning Region. The population was 4,213 at the 2020 census.

Pre-incorporation
The area was originally inhabited by the Mohegan people. The first settlement of European origin in present-day Salem (then part of the town of Montville) was deeded in 1664. The settlers were of English origin. In the early 18th century, more settlements appeared in what was then Colchester. During this time period, the area was called "Paugwonk". The small neighborhood around the Gardner Lake Firehouse on Route 354 is sometimes still referred to by that name.

Because of the remote location of these settlements and the considerable distance to churches, the people petitioned the Connecticut General Court for a new parish in 1725. It was named New Salem Parish, in honor of Colonel Samuel Browne, the largest landowner at the time, who was from Salem, Massachusetts. Recent archaeological evidence suggests that Colonel Browne owned slaves and operated one of the largest slave plantations in New England. The people of New Salem strongly supported the Patriot cause in the Revolution. Salem was the first town in the state of Connecticut to have a plantation, owned by the Browne family.

1819 to the present
Salem was incorporated as a town in 1819 from lands of Colchester, Lyme, and Montville. The rocky and craggy land that constituted much of the town kept the population low and new settlement at a minimum. Salem has always been a crossroads town; the old Hartford and New London Turnpike (now Route 85) was a toll road, traveled frequently by legislators during the winters of the 19th century when the Connecticut River was impassable. The Turnpike provided stage coach service until the 1890s.

Music Vale Seminary
Salem became a well-known location upon the founding of Oramel Whittlesey's Music Vale Seminary in 1835. Students of the school not only learned music, but also provided self-sustenance through farming, as did most Salem households at the time. Pianos were manufactured up the Hartford and New London Turnpike about two miles (3 km) north from the seminary, at the present location of the firehouse and Maple Shade General Store. The seminary burned down and was rebuilt. However, when Whittlesey died in 1867, it was the beginning of the end for the school; when it burned down again shortly thereafter, it was never rebuilt. Today, all that remains of the seminary is a barn and a state historical marker.

Early rural electrification in the United States
Salem is the site of one of the first rural electrification projects in the country, at the farm of Frederick C. Rawolle Jr. Rawolle was an engineer from New York who retired at the age of 32 after he sold to a major manufacturer the patent rights of an explosive device he had invented to fracture oil wells. His net worth at this time was approximately $50,000,000, an enormous sum for the time period. He decided to settle in the remote woods of Salem and build a farm, purchasing 2800 acre of land between 1917 and 1924, completely surrounding Mountain Lake and Fairy Lake. This land, once called Paugwonk, had been jointly owned by a Niantic sachem named Sanhop, a Mohegan named Chappattoe and another kinsman from Uncas. The combined area became known as Fairy Lake Farm, located near the lake of the same name. Carr Pond, which today supplies water to the city of New London, was created by Rawolle in 1920 from Fairy Lake as a means of docking his boat near the turnpike.

Rawolle decided to generate his own electricity when he learned that bringing transmission lines to his farm from the city of New London, about 12 mi away, would be virtually impossible. At a cost of about one million dollars, extremely expensive at the time for a single project, a hydroelectric system was completed in 1922. Airplanes flying from New York to Boston used the glimmering lights of Fairy Lake Farm as guidance. Rawolle also opened a store in New London to sell produce from the farm. This endeavor collapsed, however, when the stock market crashed in 1929 and Rawolle lost all of his money. He died in 1954; the large stone mansion he lived in at the farm is still standing at the end of Horse Pond Road, though it is abandoned.

Hiram Bingham III and IV
Hiram Bingham III, from Salem, was an adventurer, U.S. senator, and explorer who rediscovered Machu Picchu in Peru in 1911. He retrieved artifacts for Yale University, which in 2011 returned many items to Cusco, Peru, pursuant to an agreement with the Peruvian government. His son, Hiram Bingham IV, was the Vice Consul in Marseilles, France, during World War II, and rescued thousands of Jews from death at the Nazi concentration camps. Much of the Bingham family still lives in Salem and is active in town politics and local issues. Hiram IV died in 1988, and a U.S. Postal Stamp was issued in his honor on May 30, 2006. In 2011 the Simon Wiesenthal Center produced a film tribute to Hiram ("Harry") Bingham IV concerning his life-saving actions during the war.

Salem today
Over the decades, Salem has slowly progressed from a small and remote farming town to a bedroom community of about 4,000; in the 1990s, it was one of the fastest growing municipalities in the state. However, it is still a small town by Connecticut standards. It did not even have its own ZIP code until the mid-1990s; before then, it was shared with Colchester.

During its early years, Salem had several schoolhouses scattered throughout town, like most New England communities of the time; one is still visible on White Birch Road. Salem School was built in 1940 near the town green as little more than a large schoolhouse. Several additions have been built since then, the most recent opening in 1994. Today, Salem School is one of the largest K–8 schools in the state, with about 600 students. Students in grades 9 through 12 attend high school in the neighboring town of East Lyme; this will be the case until at least 2039 , when the current co-op agreement between the two towns expires.

Connecticut Route 85 was commissioned from the old turnpike in 1932. Traffic increased considerably over the next several decades, and the Route 11 expressway was proposed as an alternate through route. Lack of funding and bureaucratic issues caused construction to halt in 1972 in Salem at Route 82. The project was revived in the mid-1990s, and in August 2004, Route 11 was announced as a federal high priority project under President Bush's Executive Order 13274, during a surprise visit by U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to Salem. The new highway was to be accompanied by a "greenway" of preserved land, a first in the nation. However, the State of Connecticut halted work on the project in 2009, citing funding issues. Most Salem residents favor completion because it would remove through traffic from local roads. Though effectively canceled, the highway project remains a frequently discussed political issue in the town.

Salem has very little commercial and industrial development, which has not kept pace with the rapid residential growth; the "four corners" area, at the busy junction of Route 85 and Route 82, is virtually all that exists. As a result, taxes in the town are generally high.

The last operating dairy farm in Salem, near Gardner Lake, which was an official supplier of Cabot cheese, closed in 2004, though there remains a small dairy goat farm, Syman Says Farms, that produces goat milk bath and body products.

In 2006 Salem Boy Scout Troop 123 was one of the largest in the state of Connecticut. In 2006 this troop sent more scouts to summer camp than any other Connecticut troop. Most years more than 50 percent of second grade boys are enrolled in the Salem Cub Scouts.

Salem traditions
Salem is host to several long-standing traditions. Some annual traditions include:
 * Memorial Day Parade
 * Salem 5K Road Race
 * Salem Apple Festival, held at the end of October on the town green. It features everything from apple pies to apple fritters to hot dogs with apple sauerkraut. Today we also sell pies and apple merchandise across the street from the town Green. In concert with the festival, the Salem Public Library holds its annual book sale at Salem School.

On the National Register of Historic Places

 * Abel H. Fish House – Buckley Hill and Rathbun Hill Roads (added 1982)
 * Salem Historic District – state Route 85 (added 1980)
 * Ebenezer Tiffany House – 460 Darling Road (added 1983)
 * Woodbridge Farm – 29, 30, and 90 Woodbridge Road (added 1997)

Salem Town Green
As in many New England towns, Salem's town green was originally centered around a church. The current church, Salem Congregational Church, was built in 1840. The Music Vale Seminary was about a half mile south of the green itself. The town hall, library, recreational fields, and Salem School are all located nearby. A grange and historical society are built around the green.

The green has changed little over the past two hundred years, the most changes being in the last two decades. Salem School has undergone many additions since its original construction in 1940. The townspeople in 2003 voted overwhelmingly in a referendum to build a new library, which opened in 2004. The new structure replaced the original library, a tiny structure donated by the Bingham family in 1928, which is now vacant. Also in 2004, construction began on expanded recreational fields.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 29.8 square miles (77.2 km$2$), of which 29.0 square miles (75.0 km$2$) is land and 0.8 square miles (2.1 km$2$), or 2.79%, is water.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 3,858 people, 1,358 households, and 1,075 families residing in the town. The population density was 133.2 PD/sqmi. There were 1,655 housing units at an average density of 57.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the town was 95.49% White, 0.83% African American, 0.60% Native American, 1.48% Asian, 0.29% from other races, and 1.32% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.22% of the population.

There were 1,358 households, out of which 43.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 68.9% were married couples living together, 6.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.8% were non-families. 15.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.20.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 29.4% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 32.8% from 25 to 44, 25.9% from 45 to 64, and 6.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $68,750, and the median income for a family was $75,747. Males had a median income of $48,173 versus $36,364 for females. The per capita income for the town was $27,288. About 0.6% of families and 1.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.3% of those under age 18 and 2.8% of those age 65 or over.

Education
The Salem School District operates a Pre-K–8 school that serves the town.

Residents in grades 9 through 12 are zoned to East Lyme High School in East Lyme, which is a part of East Lyme Public Schools.

Miscellaneous
There is a Witch Meadow Lake and Witch Meadow Campground in Salem, perhaps a tongue-in-cheek homage to the infamous witch trials of Salem, Massachusetts.

Notable People

 * Hiram Bingham III (1875–1956), Connecticut governor, U.S. Senator, adventurer, discovered Machu Picchu; long-time town resident
 * Hiram Bingham IV (1903–1988), American Vice Consul in Marseilles, France, during World War II; rescued thousands of Jews from the Nazis during the Holocaust; hometown and lengthy resident
 * Daryl Blonder (1981–2012), television actor and author
 * Samuel M. Hopkins (1772–1837), lawyer and congressman for New York; born in Salem
 * Rachel Robinson (born 1922), widow of baseball great Jackie Robinson and civil rights activist; lengthy resident

title: Salem, Connecticut