The Hadlyme Ferry Historic District is a small district on the east bank of the Connecticut River in the village of Hadlyme. The origins of Hadlyme go back to the settlement of East Saybrook, which was settled by people from Saybrook and officially named Lyme in 1666. The early settlements were in the southern part of town. The northern section encompassed part of the Joshua Tract, an area granted to members of the Mohegan tribe in the seventeenth century, but there was some scattered European settlement by the early 1700s. Lyme remained undivided until 1857, when Old Lyme, on the coast, and Lyme, to the north, were incorporated as separate towns. Lyme began to divide into four separate parishes starting in 1719. Hadlyme, the last to be formed, was composed of people from Lyme's northwest quarter and East Haddam; the latter had become a separate town in 1734. The integrity of the Hadlyme Ferry Historic District is remarkable. Except for the modern ferryboat which pulls up to the landing several times a day, the historical setting is undisturbed. The topography and historical development of the district since its period of significance have combined to perpetuate this integrity. There has been little room or reason for new construction since the early nineteenth century. The only modern intrusions are the secondary structures, which are generally in such unobtrusive locations that they do not detract from the principal buildings. Modern day custodians have carefully preserved their houses and little remodeling has taken place. [NR]

Architecture, Transportation : The Hadlyme Ferry Historic District contains an architecturally significant collection of well-preserved Colonial and Federal style houses that reflect the prosperity of this river landing settlement between 1790 and 1820. The site of one of only two colonial ferries still in operation on the Connecticut River, the Hadlyme Ferry Historic District is historically significant as a representative example of the type of settlement that developed around these important transportation links across this major waterway. Although a ferry had been in operation there since the late seventeenth century, the Hadlyme Ferry Historic District was settled primarily after it was officially established by the Connecticut Colony in 1769 and prospered as both a ferry landing and a small maritime port.

[1] District information retrieved from the town website http://townlyme.org/.
[2] Hadlyme Ferry Historic District, Report of the Historic District Study Committee, 1987, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[3] Hadlyme Ferry Historic District Commission Handbook, Revised March 31, 2006, SHPO Library, Hartford.
[4] Assessors information and Parcel IDs retrieved from [2].
[NR] Cunningham Jan, Hadlyme Ferry Historic District, National Register Nomination Number- 94001444 NRIS, National Park Service, 1994 - http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Text/94001444.pdf; http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NRHP/Photos/94001444.pdf.

The National Register Historic District is the nucleus of a larger local historic district of the same name which extends farther east uphill towards the inland village center. [NR]