Old Lyme, Connecticut in the context of "Congregationalism"

Congregationalism (also Congregational Churches or Congregationalist Churches) is a Reformed Christian (Calvinist) tradition of Protestant Christianity in which churches practice congregational government. Each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs. These principles are enshrined in the Cambridge Platform (1648) and the Savoy Declaration (1658), Congregationalist confessions of faith. The Congregationalist Churches are a continuity of the theological tradition upheld by the Puritans. Their genesis was through the work of Congregationalist divines Robert Browne, Henry Barrowe, and John Greenwood.

In the United Kingdom, the Puritan Reformation of the Church of England laid the foundation for such churches. In England, early Congregationalists were called Separatists or Independents to distinguish them from the similarly Calvinistic Presbyterians, whose churches embraced a polity based on the governance of elders; this commitment to self-governing congregations was codified in the Savoy Declaration. Congregationalism in the United States traces its origins to the Puritans of New England, who wrote the Cambridge Platform of 1648 to describe the autonomy of the church and its association with others. Within the United States, the model of Congregational churches was carried by migrating settlers from New England into New York, then into the Old Northwest, and further.

Connecticut (/kəˈnɛtɪkət/ kə-NET-ih-kət) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capital is Hartford, and its most populous city is Bridgeport. Connecticut lies between the major hubs of New York City and Boston along the Northeast Corridor, where the New York-Newark Combined Statistical Area, which includes four of Connecticut's seven largest cities, extends into the southwestern part of the state. Connecticut is the third-smallest state by area after Rhode Island and Delaware, and the 29th most populous with more than 3.6 million residents as of 2024, ranking it fourth among the most densely populated U.S. states.

The state is named after the Connecticut River, the longest in New England, which roughly bisects the state and drains into the Long Island Sound between the towns of Old Saybrook and Old Lyme. The name of the river is in turn derived from anglicized spellings of Quinnetuket, a Mohegan-Pequot word for "long tidal river". Before the arrival of the first European settlers, the region was inhabited by various Algonquian tribes. In 1633, the Dutch West India Company established a small, short-lived settlement called House of Hope in Hartford. Half of Connecticut was initially claimed by the Dutch colony New Netherland, which included much of the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, although the first major settlements were established by the English around the same time. Thomas Hooker led a band of followers from the Massachusetts Bay Colony to form the Connecticut Colony, while other settlers from Massachusetts founded the Saybrook Colony and the New Haven Colony; both had merged into the first by 1664.

The Connecticut River is a major river in the New England region of the United States. The region’s longest, it flows roughly southward for 406 miles (653 km) through four states. Rising 300 yards (270 m) south of the U.S. border with Quebec, Canada, it discharges into Long Island Sound between Old Saybrook and Old Lyme, Connecticut. Its watershed encompasses 11,260 square miles (29,200 km), covering parts of five U.S. states and one Canadian province, composed of 148 tributaries, 38 of which are major rivers. It produces 70% of Long Island Sound's fresh water, discharging at 18,400 cubic feet (520 m) per second.

The Connecticut River Valley is home to some of the northeastern United States' most productive farmland, as well as the Hartford–Springfield Knowledge Corridor, a metropolitan region of approximately two million people surrounding Springfield, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut.

41°18′46″N 72°19′55″W / 41.3129°N 72.3319°W / 41.3129; -72.3319

The Old Lyme Congregational Church is located in Old Lyme, Connecticut. The church is noteworthy for having been a favorite subject of Old Lyme art colony painters. It is affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

The Old Lyme art colony of Old Lyme, Connecticut was established in 1899 by American painter Henry Ward Ranger, and was in its time the most famous art colony in the United States, and the first to adopt Impressionism.

The Lyme Academy of Fine Arts is an art school in Old Lyme, Connecticut.