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Lyme, NH: Saving the Town—Helping the Country
Researched and Written by Janine Weins
(Posted 11/8/06)

Luck has had a role in preserving the character of Lyme, New Hampshire. Because I-91, which runs north to the Canadian border, is just a few miles to the west, Lyme has been spared a high volume of truck traffic. The town's proximity to a major medical center, prestigious college, world's only cold regions laboratory, New Hampshire's third largest airport, and the busiest railroad station in the northern Connecticut River Valley, makes Lyme an attractive place to live and work.

The Conant House that became the Park House, then the Park-Brown House, and is now One Lyme Common.

Looking across the front yard of One Lyme Common at the Alden Country Inn.

There are more than 60 buildings in the Lyme Common Historic District, and nearly all are in good to excellent condition. Their restoration and preservation has contributed to the character of the town. The center of the Historic District is the Lyme Common, an elliptical parcel of land running east to west that's about 100 feet wide and nearly 900 feet long. Located at the west end is the large Federal Style Hamilton House which was built in 1802. The Alden Country Inn, a colonial revival-style white clapboard building built in 1809, is at the east end of the common. The Lyme Post Office, Dowds' Country Inn, Lyme Country Store, and the Lyme Congregational Church are on the north side of the common.

While many large historic homes have been raised in the past few decades, many historic homes in Lyme have been preserved. Some, like the Hamilton House, remain in private ownership; others have been converted to multi-family residences, and still others are used for office space.

The house listed in the National Register Information as the Conant House is one of the larger homes on the Common. When I was a kid, I thought of this house as the Park House because Isaac Park and his extended multi-generational family lived there. The house had an enormous library that contained a complete set of the Encyclopedia Britannica. When I had a school paper due, I liked to visit the Park House so I could spend some time doing research in their library. When the house passed on to the Park's daughter, Dorothy Park Brown, it became known as the Park-Brown House. Now, known as One Lyme Common, it is the home of several businesses, two of which are committed to conserving resources and helping people enjoy the environment.

Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, (H2E) works with health care facilities across the country to help them reduce environmental impact and operating costs while making their facilities safer for workers and patients. H2E has its corporate offices at One Lyme Common. They have helped hospitals install reusable instrument sterilization equipment that have resulted in savings of more than $100,000 a year, they have replaced disposable plastics with reusable products for an annual savings of more than $200,000, and by using energy efficient laundry equipment they have helped medical facilities save nearly a quarter of a million dollars annually. If you would like to learn more about H2E, visit http://www.h2e-online.org/.

The Appalachian Trail Conservancy (ATC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, has offices at One Lyme Common. The ATC works with the National Park Service, Dartmouth Outing Club, and numerous other organizations and volunteers to conserve what they consider an invaluable essential American resource: the quarter of a million-acre greenway that extends from Maine to Georgia hosting the recreational path known as The Appalachian Trail.

Organizations such as H2E and ATC, both of which are committed to making our country a cleaner, safer, more enjoyable place, have made a commitment to Lyme. Their commitment has helped Lyme preserve its character.