Florence Griswold Museum

The 1817 Boardinghouse Where Florence Griswold Took In The Painters Of The Lyme Art Colony From 1899; Effectively The Home Of American Impressionism, With Panels The Artists Painted Directly Onto The Walls And Doors Still In Place · Old Lyme, Connecticut

Florence Griswold inherited a large 1817 house in Old Lyme, ran out of money, and began taking in boarders. From 1899 those boarders were painters - Henry Ward Ranger first, then Childe Hassam, Willard Metcalf and dozens more - and what formed around her table became the Lyme Art Colony, the most important American Impressionist community in the country. They paid her in work and in kind, and they painted directly onto the panels of her dining room walls and doors, which is why the house is extraordinary rather than merely historic: thirty-eight painted panels are still in place, by the artists, on the walls they ate beside. A modern gallery building beside it holds the collection, and the gardens run down to the Lieutenant River that half the paintings show, so a canvas in the gallery and the view it was made from are a two-minute walk apart. This is a boardinghouse in a village of a few thousand rather than a municipal art institution, which is worth saying plainly because it is the distinction that decides how the place is understood.

96 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 06371, United States

Open most days through the middle of the day and afternoon, with at least one weekday closure - Mondays most often - and a reduced winter schedule. The Griswold House itself has sometimes kept shorter or seasonal hours than the modern gallery building, so check both. The gardens and the grounds down to the Lieutenant River are open when the museum is. Closed on several major holidays.

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