Editing Old Lyme, Connecticut (section)

==Background and history==
[[File:Railroad Bridge over Four Mile River view facing Old Lyme Seaview Road shore line.jpg|right|thumb|500x500px|Railroad Bridge over the Four Mile River's mouth, which connects East Lyme to Old Lyme's easternmost shoreline]]

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

The town of [[Lyme, Connecticut|Lyme]] was set off from Saybrook (now known as [[Deep River, Connecticut|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.<ref>Burton, K. ''Old Lyme, Lyme, and Hadlyme.'' Arcadia Publishing,Charleston, SC, 2003 pp. 7-8.</ref> Old Lyme occupies about {{convert|27|sqmi|km2}} 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, Connecticut|East Lyme]].  Other place names from the same root are [[Hadlyme North Historic District|Hadlyme]], a neighborhood in the town of Lyme and the town of [[East Haddam, Connecticut|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.<ref>Caulkins, F.M. ''History of New London, Connecticut. From the first survey of the coast in 1612, to 1852.'' H.D. Utley, New London, 1895. 696 pp.</ref>  The picturesque [[Old Lyme Cemetery]] contains the graves of the settlers. The [[Duck River (Connecticut)|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.