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Essex and Old Lyme As a living and working yachting and shipbuilding town, the Essex waterfront is a center of activity. For yachtsmen, it holds some of the same cachet as Marblehead, Mass., or Oxford, Md. The historic downtown is loaded with interesting shops. Connecticut River Museum, 67 Main St., Essex. Restored in 1975 from an 1878 steamboat warehouse, this interesting structure at Steamboat Dock is a living memorial to the Connecticut River Valley in an area from which the first American warship was launched. The main floor has changing exhibits. Upstairs, where windows on three sides afford sweeping views of the river, the permanent shipbuilding exhibit shows a full-size replica of David Bushnell's first submarine, the strange-looking American Turtle, plus a model of a Dutch explorer ship that sailed up the river in 1614. (860) 767-8269. Open Tuesday-Sunday, 10 to 5.
Adults, $5. The museum property also includes a small waterfront park with benches and the 1813 Hayden Chandlery, now the Thomas A. Stevens maritime research library. Just to the south off Novelty Lane are the historic Dauntless Club, the Essex Corinthian Yacht Club and the Essex Yacht Club. The historic structures here and elsewhere in town are detailed in a walking map, available at the Connecticut River Museum. Uptown Essex. Besides the waterfront area, Methodist Hill at the other end of Main Street has a cluster of historic structures. Facing tiny Champlin Square is the imposing white Pratt House (circa 1648), restored and operated by the Essex Historical Society to show Essex as it was in yesteryear (open June-Labor Day, weekends 1 to 4, $2). The period gardens in the rear are planted with herbs and flowers typical of the 18th century. The society also operates the adjacent Hill's Academy Museum (1833), an early boarding school that now displays historical collections of old Essex. Next door in the academy's former dormitory is the Catholic Church and, next to it, the Baptist Church, one of only two Egyptian Revival structures in this country. Old Lyme. One of Connecticut's prettiest
towns has a long main street lined with gracious homes from the 18th and
19th centuries, including one we think is particularly handsome called
Lyme Regis, the English summer resort after which the town was named.
Lyme Street, over the years the home of governors and chief justices, is
a National Historic District. This is the pillared 1817 landmark in which the daughter of a boat captain ran a finishing school for girls and later an artists' retreat, with most of the rooms converted into bedrooms and studios in the barns by the river. Now run as a museum interpreting its early status as a boarding house for artists and the home of American Impressionism, it has unique painted panels in every room. Especially prized is the dining room with panels on all sides given over to the work of the Old Lyme artists, who included Childe Hassam. Across the mantel the artists painted a delightful caricature of themselves for posterity. The arts colony thrived for twenty years and its works are on permanent display in the second-floor galleries. They include major works by Childe Hassam and John Henry Twachtman, and the largest collection of Willard Metcalf paintings in the world. Also on view are selections from the priceless Hartford Steam Boiler Collection of American art, recently donated to the museum by the insurance company. Changing exhibitions are produced in the striking new Krieble Gallery, a modernist, white and silvery series of barn-like buildings backing up to the Lieutenant River. Three soaring, skylit galleries were showing variations of a world-class exhibit called “The American River” at our latest visit. Both the building and its contents elicited a pertinent comment in the guest book: “Wonderful views, inside and out.” (860) 434-5542. www.flogris.org. Open
Tuesday-Saturday 10 to 5 and Sunday 1 to 5. Adults, $7. Deep River, just above Essex and reached most rewardingly via the River Road, is a sleepy river town best known for its annual ancient muster of fife and drum corps. Up river are the delightful town of Chester, an up-and-coming area of restaurants and shops; the restored Goodspeed Opera House at East Haddam, where lively musicals are staged in a Victorian structure beside the river, and actor William Gillette's eccentric stone Gillette Castle on a hilltop above the river at Hadlyme. All are well worth a visit. Shopping. The choicest shopping opportunities for visitors are in Essex. The Talbots store confronting visitors head-on as they enter the downtown section of Essex sets the tone. Also fashionable in different ways are Silkworm, J. Alden Clothier, Stonewear Clothing, J. McLaughlin and a colorful place called Equator. A Pocketful of Posies, billed as a shabby chic boutique, opened in 2004 in the former quarters of the famed Clipper Ship Bookstore. Pillows and tableware are featured among home accessories at Portabella. Fenwick Cottage stocks unusual gifts and decorative accessories. Another concentration of stores is farther down Main Street at Griswold and Essex squares. Red Balloon offers precious clothes for precious children. Lilly Pulitzer is featured at The Yankee Palm. At Red Pepper, we saw items we had never seen anywhere else, among them interesting glasses and goblets in all kinds of colors made in Upstate New York, and cat pins by a woman who lives on a farm with seven cats. The shop carries clothing from small designers, almost all made in this country – which is unusual these days. Hattitudes stocks more kinds of hats than we ever expected to see. The Essex Coffee & Tea Company dispenses fancy beverages. Behind it is Sweet P’s, a candy and ice cream shop. Nearby is Olive Oyl's for carry-out cuisine and specialty foods. Extra-Special
Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, 1 Railroad Ave., Essex. Its whistle tooting and smokestack spewing, the Valley Railroad’s marvelous old steam train runs from the old depot in the Centerbrook section of Essex through woods and meadows to the Connecticut River landing at Deep River. There it connects with a riverboat for a 90-minute cruise past Gillette Castle to the Goodspeed Opera House and back. The two-and-one-half-hour trip into the past is rewarding for young and old alike. Themed excursions, including the Santa Special and Polar Express, run some weekends in the off-season. Railroad buffs enjoy the working railroad yard, vintage rail cars and exhibits gathered around the National Register landmark depot. The Essex Clipper dinner train runs two-hour excursions on weekends in a vintage luxury dining car, Friday at 7:30, Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 4, June-October. The fare with dinner is $60. (860) 767-0103 or (800) 377-3987.
www.essexsteamtrain.com. Train and Riverboat trips run five times daily
in summer, Wednesday-Sunday in late spring and early fall. Adults, $24
train and riverboat; $16 train only. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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