Lyme (New York)

Lyme
Lyme Location in New York
Basic data
Foundation :	March 6, 1818
State :	United States
State :	new York
County :	Jefferson County
Coordinates :	44 ° 1 ′  N , 76 ° 14 ′  W Coordinates: 44 ° 1 ′  N , 76 ° 14 ′  W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Residents :	2,185 (as of 2010)
Population density :	15.1 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	277.0 km 2  (approx. 107 mi 2 ) of which 144.6 km 2  (approx. 56 mi 2 ) are land
Height :	74 m
Postal code :	13622
Area code :	+1 315
FIPS :	36-43863
GNIS ID :	979173
Website :	www.TownOfLyme.com

Lyme is a settlement ( town ) in Jefferson County in the US state of New York . At the 2010 census, the settlement had 2,185 inhabitants on 144.6 km². It is primarily agricultural and touristic and partly serves as a dormitory for the neighboring City of Watertown . The main settlements are the villages of Chaumont and Three Mile Bay .

geography

Geographical location

Lyme is located in the north of the state of New York, a few kilometers south of the border with Canada. Its western border lies in Lake Ontario , in front of Chaumont Bay . The southeastern border of the town lies in Guffin Bay, which, together with the much larger Chaumont Bay, forms an outflow to Lake Ontario and into which the Guffin Creek flows.

The landscape is shaped by the Ice Age; as a ground moraine area , it is largely flat and criss-crossed by many small watercourses. As the most important river, the Chaumont River runs from east to west through the town and flows into Lake Ontario at Chaumont. The soil consists primarily of clay, which limits agricultural use. Larger limestone deposits can also be found underground, some of which have been developed through quarries.

Neighboring communities

Lake Ontario	Cape Vincent	Clayton
Lake Ontario		Clayton
Lake Ontario	Brownville	Brownville

climate

The mean temperatures in Lyme are between -7.2 degrees Celsius (19 degrees Fahrenheit ) in February and 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit) in July. This means that in winter they are around 10 degrees lower than the average low temperature in the USA and around 20 degrees lower than the mean average temperature in February. The mean temperatures, on the other hand, are at the lower end of the mean temperatures in the USA. Mean rainfall, on the other hand, is within the spectrum of mean rainfall in the United States. Snowfalls are recorded between mid-October and late May, peaking at 71 cm (28 inches) in January (US average: 28 cm / 11 inches) and about 2.5 to 3 times the national average.

history

For a fuller history of this area, see the History chapter of the Jefferson County article .

The first settlement by colonists took place from 1801, initially by two prospectors who worked for the land seller James Le Ray , who had bought the area in 1798. A first settlement was built about four kilometers upriver from today's village of Chaumont , but abandoned in 1803 and relocated to today's Chaumont: the place was quickly considered unhealthy and was made responsible for typhus , diphtheria and malaria . In 1805 a first school was opened in what would later become the Town Lyme; it was on the south bank of Chaumont Bay . In 1806 or 1807 the settlement of Point Salubriou was founded; settlement of the Point Penninsula began around 1808; Three Mile Point and Three Mile Bay were built between 1816 and 1818.

A fortified log house to protect the settlers against armed attacks was built near Chaumont in 1812, but "by the enemy," according to the chronicler John Homer French, captured and destroyed. It remains unclear whether it was an attack by the Iroquois who had previously lived here or an event in the war of 1818 over the border with Canada.

The first church was built in 1816. It belonged to a Baptist congregation .

Originally part of the town of Brownville , Lyme was spun off on March 6, 1818 and declared a separate parish. At that time, parts of Clayton (spun off in 1833) and the Cape Vincent area (spun off in 1849) also belonged to Lyme. The constituent city assembly with the election of the officials took place three days before formal independence, on October 3, 1818. The place was named after Lyme on the Connecticut coast .

Because of the poorly agriculturally suitable soils, fur hunters and fishermen in particular first made their home here. Later, lumberjacks, sawmills, barrel makers and shipbuilders also settled here, but they only achieved local importance. The limestone quarries in the area provided material for the locks when the Erie Canal was built . The construction of a branch line of the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railroad (RW&O) from Watertown via Brownville to Cape Vincent with a station in Chaumont revived the economy only insignificantly; today the route and its bridges are dismantled.

Population development

Census Results - Town of Lyme, New York

year	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860	1870	1880	1890
Residents	-	-	1724	2872	5472	2939	2702	2465	2277	2175
year	1900	1910	1920	1930	1940	1950	1960	1970	1980	1990
Residents	2200	1955	1642	1585	1462	1458	1448	1550	1695	1701
year	2000	2010	2020	2030	2040	2050	2060	2070	2080	2090
Residents	2015	2185

Economy and Infrastructure

In addition to tourist facilities, especially the harbors along Chaumont Bay and two nature reserves on the Point Penninsula with holiday homes and campsites, Lyme is used as a dormitory for the nearby center of Watertown.

Important occupational groups in Lyme are teachers and educators with 13.5% of the workforce and public administration with 12.9%. The most important crafts group are the building trades with 9.2% and the healing and care professions with 5.9%. Unemployment was 6.3% in March 2019 (for comparison: in New York State it was an average of 6.3% at the same time).

sons and daughters of the town

• Albert D. Shaw (1841–1901), politician and New York State Representative in the US House of Representatives

literature

• John Homer French: Gazetteer of the State of New York . RP Smith, Syracuse, NY 1860, pp. 359 (English, archive.org [PDF; 63.8 MB ; accessed on March 22, 2020]).
• Hamilton Child: Geographical gazetteer of Jefferson county, NY, 1685-1890 . The Syracuse journal company, Syracuse, NY 1890, pp. 555 ff . (English, archive.org [PDF; 96.5 MB ; accessed on March 22, 2020]).

Web links

• The resort homepage (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Lyme in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey ; accessed on March 22, 2020
2. ↑ ^{a b} data on climate and economy on city-data.com (English)
3. ↑ Population 1820–2010 according to census results