Event: Telling Tales Out of School #1
Oral History Project Interviews
Location: Old Lyme Town Senior Center
Date: November 15, 2009
Interviewee: Susan Morrison
Interviewer: Mark Lander
How long have you lived in Old Lyme?
I grew up in Old Lyme, I lived here until I was, well probably until about 1984 and I just
recently moved back here this summer.
What brought you back to Old Lyme?
Family, ocean, I was living in New Mexico, not a lot of ocean there, missed the beach.
When you moved back did it feel like you had never really left?
Yes. Which is what I appreciate about Old Lyme. Its always been home.
What are some of the changes that stood out when you returned?
Just more building, I would say. Its growing up. Its got the Lyme Academy and there’s a
lot more little shops than there used to be. Big fancy High School.
When you think of growing up in Old Lyme on your first go around, are the
particular images or people or things or stories that come to mind?
Spending a lot of time at the beach. Hallmark’s ice cream way back when it was by the
on ramp by the highway. Crabbing down at the beach, getting pennies for our crabs. The
golf course, because we played golf a lot as kids, junior golf.
So you went through the Old Lyme schools?
I went through Center School then I went to Williams School.
Are there any teachers that stand out from Center School?
Mrs. Wetzel in first grade and Mrs. Lieberman in second grade and Ms. Pellitier who
always kept a strict class in fourth grade.
Do you find that there are still a lot of people in town that you know today from
years ago?
Yes, mainly because I’ve come back, even though I was living in New Mexico, I’ve
come back every summer to see family and friends and there’s still a lot of people that I
know here mainly that I used to know from the beach. And I get to visit with all of them.
There’s quite a few of the new people too, but theres quite a few of the old timers that are
still here.
Did you ever work in Old Lyme?
I worked at the beach club in the snack bar, it was my first job, for 3 summers. It kept me
out of trouble, or kept me into trouble, I’m not sure which. There’s a lot of camaraderie
down at the beach.
I would imagine that you probably worked there simply because you spent so much
time at the beach anyway?
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Yes, it was a great place to start working. I was already at the beach, I could go
swimming after work and it was a fun group of people.
Places in Old Lyme that have a special significance for you.
The beach, the golf course, walking through the woods. The Congregational Church, the
shopping center of course. Hallmarks ice cream.
I suspect that these are the same kinds of memories that an awful lot of other people
would be inclined to bring up. Things that come to mind when you think about Old
Lyme. Are there any particular events in your life that really stand out from Old
Lyme, of course.
No really. . . playing junior golf with my friends. Summers at the beach, I spent a lot of
time at the beach.
Did your family have long standing ties to Old Lyme?
My mother basically grew up here and my father grew up in Lyme, well, actually my
father grew up in a lot of places but they ended up in Lyme, up on Beaver Brook.
How far back does your family go in the area?
My grandparents built the house that I grew up in in the 30s and we all grew up in it and
I’m not living on the same hill that I grew up on.
Is your grandparents house still standing?
Yes and its been bought by a lovely couple that have done a lot of work with it and are
keeping it going. On Mile Creek Road near the back three holes of the golf course by the
overpass.
Since your family goes quite a ways back, do you know what brought them to the
area?
My grandparents used to summer up here, they lived in Pittsburg and came up for the
summers and actually had a cottage on White Sands that was there until the 38 hurricane
and they’ve since built the house we grew up in, the big stone house. When my
grandfather retired, they moved up full time and stayed up here.
Was there anyone in your family who was able to contribute the Historical Society’s
project last year on the hurricane?
No because we didn’t know it was happening. I was very bummed when I found out
about it. My parents have passed so they wouldn’t have been able to contribute anything
much except for the story that we all remember of my mother saying that her parents
were out of town during that and she was at the house with the servants, and she
remembers, she would have been 10, she remembers 3 people trying to close a shutter
and she thought it was so funny until she realized what was actually happening that
because the wind was so strong it took 3 people. She remembered it very vividly because
she was here for it.
Have you seen the book that the Society published on the hurricane?
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Yes, I have seen it. I haven’t really gotten a chance to look at it yet.
I suspect that there were a number of people that they missed in their research
which is really unfortunate, because there’s probably a lot more stories out there to
be told about it.
I’m sure, especially in this town, there’s quite a few long standing people.
What did your parents and your grandparents do for a living?
My father was self-employed. My mother was a housewife. My grandfather worked in a
bank in Pittsburg and then retired up here and my grandmother was a housewife.
OK, since you have come back to Old Lyme, lets move back in time and come back
to Old Lyme today, I’ve already asked you how Old Lyme has changed since you
lived here some years ago. Do you think, from what you can see of Old Lyme now,
is it a better community now than it was in your first time in Old Lyme, or is that
not really a fair question?
Well, its different. I mean a lot of the same people that I knew growing up are still here
so its sort of reassuring to come back here. It where my roots have always been. The
town itself has stayed pretty much the same. Its got modern conveniences, but it has
stayed the same in the appeal of it. It hasn’t become a really metropolitan area. Its still
the same town I remember when I was growing up. Its got everything you could need
right here. And then it you need to go someplace bigger, you can always go someplace
bigger, it isn’t that far away. So I would say its what I’ve always remembered. A feel all
to itself of very quiet and comfortable.
Have you had a chance to visit Center school since it was rebuilt?
No, I haven’t. I think I would like that.
I think you would probably find it interesting.
Is there a lot of computers?
Of course, but I think they’ve managed to retain the flavor of the old building while
bringing it into the 21st century, so you still know where you are.
Its always a cinder block building. I was trying to remember what the walls were.
I suspect that if you were to visit the school you would recognize it even though its
been very much upgraded. Looking at some of the other things that have happened
in recent years, you have of course the Catholic church, the resconstruction of Lyme
street.
I’ve been living through that one.
The enlargement of town hall
Yes, I’ve witnessed that one, that’s a pretty incredible hall that they did.
And of course, little things like the strip mall on shore road across from the Hawks
Nest beach area. Well, it hardly qualifies as a strip mall now. Its been taken over
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by one company now but there are actually 6 or 8 separate stores in it but it all
belongs to one company which doesn’t need store fronts now. But its on that side of
the road as you’re going down shore road.
Many road improvements in town, mostly for the good I think.
Yes, that usually is I think.
A major high school building project coming up. Had the present high school been
built the first time.
No, how old is that.
Closing in on 30 years, it opened around 1980.
Well maybe it had just been built but I was already working at that point.
A few years ago they had a major building program that upgraded all the schools in
the district except the high school because the high school they knew was going to
need a lot more work that Center School, Mile Creek School and even the Middle
School all of which were older than the high school, but they knew the high school
would require its own building project so they set that one aside and that’s whats in
the works right now.
The Mile Creek School, is that upgraded?
Upgraded and enlarged. I think all the schools in the district were enlarged except
Center School and Center School was simply brought up to 21st century standards.
Which was probably long overdue.
That building is over 70 years old.
Its gotta be because my dad went to grade school there. He remembered having a year of
school there. I just remember being amazed that he went to school there because they
moved around a lot. His father was in the military, so they didn’t stay, but Center
School has always been Center School.
Course, at one time, it was the only school.
Right.
Grades 1-12 went to school there before they had kindergarten in town and 1-6 were
on that side of the building, 7-12 were on this side of the building.
I remember when what is now the middle school was built. That was originally built as
the high school because I went through 6th grade in Center School. Now in 6th grade you
go over to the middle school?
Sixth Grade is in the Middle School, yes. What year did you graduate from high
school?
1976
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Puts things a little bit more in perspective. Are there other things that come to mind
about Old Lyme, past or present, comparisons of people you remember, unusual or
memorable people?
Mrs. Atkins. She used to be a member of the beach club. The year that there were the
Olympics, at the age of 92 she was swimming Olympic races out the raft with all of us
youngsters. She was always the first one in the water at the beginning of the year and the
last one out of the water at the end of the year.
Was she a summer resident or year round.
Year round – she was Janet Folks mother, Guitar?, Francis Atkins, I don’t know what her
married name was. She used to live up on Sill Lane beyond where the Twinings are but
she had been here – she raised all of her kids here. I don’t remember all the family
members. She was quite the character. She drove up until she was 92 in her big
Cadillac. She stands out most in my mind because she was just so incredible as far as I
was concerned. Very active. The other thing I remember about Old Lyme is that we just
– growing up it didn’t matter when you were down at the beach if a friends mother was
telling you not to do something, you minded it. You had many parents, not just the ones
you were raised with. And you responded to each of them.
Did you ever detect any sort of division between the year round people and the
summer people?
Well, I would have to say yes only because I didn’t know a lot of the summer people. I
knew more of the year round people. I got to know some people from point o’woods that
were summer people but that was only when I was older. Prior to that we were just
always aware that the traffic increased in the summer. But it was – You were’nt around
them that much, I guess.
You mentioned earlier, going to Hallmark when it was down by the entrance to 95.
I still think they should have never moved it from there.
So that means you remember when the present Hallmark was Shady Maple.
Yes, but just barely, I remember Hallmarks more than Shady Maple. Because we used to
get our crabbing money and then go get an ice cream.
And when Cherry Stones was 100 Acres?
That I do remember. We had many a meal there.
And when there actually was a restaurant, I don’t know in ’76 would it have been
George’s Steak House or still Colten’s. Down close to the end of Mile Creek Road
on the shore road. That burned about 20 years ago. But it went through . . .
We went to the 100 Acres a lot because my parents liked that one and it was a warm
atmosphere. You always ran into all the people you knew. I always remember going
down there when whatever the hurricane was in 76 or 78, somewhere in there there was a
summer hurricane, we lost power on the hill and we got it back for 20 mins and then lost
it for three days. And my father ended up going down to the other end of Mile Creek and
kind of hoisting the power company because power companies had come from all over
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New England to get Connecticut restored and they came up with the bucket truck and
they fixed the power and that night when we went down to the 100 Acres all the power
company people were finally down there eating their dinner so it was really quite fun to
run into them and go, hey, you gave us back power.
That may have been 76, not a direct hit by any means, but enough to take down
some power lines.
Well, and our power lines went through the woods so, and there weren’t a lot of people
feeding off those power lines because it goes up Ben Franklin and if the power went out,
there was maybe only 4 people feeding off those lines, so we were never really at the top
of the list. And they were able to – it turned out what happened was the branch was
resting on the line so when we got the power back on, the branch shorted it back out.
They were able to clip it off and we had power back.
You must have some memories about the 78 blizzard.
I was up in Maine. I don’t remember that but I do remember 81 or 82 the rain storm. I
was living in West Haven at the time and I remember sink holes on Derby Avenue. I
remember walking through water up to my thighs in West Haven and it was one of the
few times that my father could ever remember seeing water in the basement. He got
water in the basement up on the hill so I remember all the devastation from it.
I’m sorry that you weren’t in Old Lyme for either of those events. It would be
interesting to have some thoughts about what people remember what we call the
flood of 82 here.
What was it the mill pond.
Everything from Rogers Lake on down was devastated. Three bridges taken out.
I do think I remember hearing about the bridges.
They had to replace all three of those bridges and they had to do it fast. Had to be
done within the next couple of months because unfortunately that happened when
school was about to get out. They had to have those bridges back into place for the
school buses by September. They just made it like with a day to spare.
Wasn’t Whippoorwill Road one of those bridges?
No there was one on Town Woods Road and two on Sill Lane. There was also a
major wash out on Saunders Hollow.
I don’t think I saw that one but I do remember hearing about it.
It sounds to me like you’re really glad to be back in Old Lyme and your probably
never going to leave again.
I probably won’t. After living in New Mexico for 20 years and just, I’m still unpacking.
Probably will be for awhile.
Its nice to hear that there are still so many people out there who want to come back
to Old Lyme. You’re not the first one that I’ve heard this from either.
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It’s a town with a feel all to itself – it’s a very comforting feel. And it always has been.
There’s something about driving down the Main Street of Old Lyme and seeing the Town
Hall and seeing the Center School and seeing the Congregational Church and then going
down the beach and knowing that some things will stay the same.
Are there any last minute thoughts you’d care to add to your recollections of Old
Lyme or memories about the town, our time is almost up.
We had a 53 Helmut that all of us learned to drive, it was an English shift and beeboppin’ around Old Lyme in a 53 green Helmut which was really quite fun. Not many
places you can do that.
Well, we covered some interesting points here, you wondered at first if you would
have anything to offer, you’re not part of history yet, but all these little things we
pick up whether its your story about Mrs. Atkins and her swimming or driving
around Old Lyme in a British car, these are all the kinds of neat little things that we
hope to add to our collection. So thank you.
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