Remarkable Women of Old Lyme

Old Lyme's illustrious history owes much to innovative women. Suffragist Katharine Ludington was co-founder of the League of Women Voters. In the 1830s, Phoebe Griffin Noyes started a school for art and general subjects. At the turn of the twentieth century, Florence Griswold welcomed the artists of the Lyme Art Colony by creating the Birthplace of American Impressionism. By World War II, Teddy Kenyon had made her mark as a test pilot. Old Lyme's artistic tradition was continued by Elisabeth Gordon Chandler, who founded the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts in 1976. Authors Michaelle Pearson and Jim Lampos honor the women whose triumphs made Old Lyme the popular summer resort and artists' colony it is today.

Michaelle Pearson holds a BA in journalism and photography from Creighton University, and a JD from New York Law School. She was director of copy at Arnell and continues to work as a freelance writer and editor. Michaelle is a member of the Old Lyme Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library Board, a trustee of the Old Lyme Historical Society and the chief writer/editor of River & Sound, the Old Lyme Historical Society newsletter.

Jim Lampos received his BA in sociology from Brandeis University, attended the London School of Economics and was awarded a Kaplan Fellowship to the New School for Social Research, where he received his MA Jim is a published poet and musician who has released seven CDs, toured nationally and was featured on network television. He and his wife Michaelle co-authored Rumrunners, Governors, Beachcombers and Socialists in 2010.