Florence Griswold Museum
A boardinghouse, painted doors, riverside gardens, and galleries preserve the social world that made Old Lyme an American art colony.
Artwork inspired by Matilda Browne
Florence Griswold welcomed artists into her family home beginning around 1900, and their presence still feels collective rather than monumental. Painted panels crowd the dining-room doors while bedrooms, grounds, and the Lieutenant River reveal how work, friendship, meals, and landscape became one artistic ecosystem.
Tour the house before the modern gallery so the collection has a place and cast of characters. Then walk toward the river and compare the actual light with the artists’ choices. Garden bloom, house access, and temporary exhibitions shift seasonally; allow indoor and outdoor time rather than treating this as one gallery stop.
- Art colony
- Old Lyme
- Host
- Florence Griswold
- Landscape
- Lieutenant River
Quick guide
- Enter the dining room
- Look for artists’ panels painted directly on doors and walls.
- Walk to the river
- Compare the Lieutenant River with the colony’s landscape language.
Know before you go
- Begin in the house
- Learn how boardinghouse life connected the artists.
- Read the panels
- Notice signatures, jokes, and stylistic competition in the dining room.
- Cross to galleries
- See how later exhibitions complicate the colony story.
- Finish outdoors
- Use garden paths and river light as evidence, not mere scenery.
Good to know
The historic house is intimate and may use timed or guided access during busy periods. The gardens are seasonal, and wet ground can limit outdoor routes even when the galleries remain open.
Notice these
- Painted dining room
- Historic boardinghouse
- Lieutenant River