Revolution in the Lymes: From the New Lights to the Sons of Liberty

The Revolutionary War in the Lymes started as a rebellion of ideas. From its origins in the Cromwellian Saybrook Colony, Lyme (today s Lyme, Old Lyme, East Lyme and Salem) prospered under the free hand of self-governance and spurned King George III s efforts to rein in the wayward colonies. In 1765, Reverend Stephen Johnson wrote incendiary missives against the Stamp Act. A few years later, the town hosted its own Tea Party, burning one hundred pounds of British tea near the town green. When the alarm came from Lexington in 1775, Lyme s citizens were among the first to answer. Historians Jim Lampos and Michaelle Pearson explore how local Patriots shaped an epic revolt.