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 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 later 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 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 (partly in the town of Lyme and partly in the town of East Haddam), and South Lyme (a beach resort area of Old Lyme). The place name "Lyme" derives from Lyme Regis, a small port on the coast of Dorset, England, from which it is believed the early settlers migrated in the 17th century. The picturesque Old Lyme Cemetery contains the graves of the original settlers. The Duck River flows through the cemetery and into the Connecticut River at Watch Rock Park. Lyme disease was named