The Florence Griswold Museum's Krieble Gallery has shown art since it opened in 2002. Starting this November, it gets new skylights, better lighting and fire sprinklers instead. The museum's website says the project "begins this November," and its homepage says the museum will be closed from Nov. 9 through Nov. 26 to prepare for Holiday Magic, which opens on Nov. 27.
Those dates are why this fall on Lyme Street is shorter than it looks. Wee Faerie Village, the museum's Patchwork exhibition and the Lyme Art Association's two fall shows all end between Nov. 1 and Nov. 8. As of Thursday, Oct. 22, about two and a half weeks of the art season are left on the street, and much of the best of it is packed into the last ten days of October.
The Countdown, Day by Day
| Date | What's happening | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Thu., Oct. 22 | Horror makeup workshop with Kae of Decimated Designs | Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library |
| Thu., Oct. 22, 6:30 p.m. | Kevin Johnson performs as Jordan Freeman of Lyme | Old Lyme Historical Society |
| Sat., Oct. 31, 3 p.m. | Talk by historian David Oat | Lyme Art Association |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Traditional Lyme Street trick-or-treat | Lyme Street |
| Sat., Oct. 31 | Last day of the library's costume swap | Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library |
| Sun., Nov. 1 | Wee Faerie Village closes | Florence Griswold Museum |
| Mon., Nov. 2 | Laptop lending begins | Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library |
| Fri., Nov. 6 | New England Landscape and Bon Appétit close | Lyme Art Association |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | Patchwork: Connecticut Artists Consider 250 closes | Florence Griswold Museum |
| Nov. 9 to Nov. 26 | Museum closed to prepare for Holiday Magic | Florence Griswold Museum |
| Sat., Nov. 14, 2 p.m. | Painting demonstration by Sarah Baskin | Lyme Art Association |
| Nov. 27 to Jan. 3 | Holiday Magic | Florence Griswold Museum |
The table shows how the season is shaped. Everything at the top of the list leads up to the first weekend of November. After Nov. 8, the only items left at the museum are the closure and the holiday season that follows it.
Ten Open Days Left at Gemstone Station
This year's Wee Faerie Village is called "Gemstone Station: A Town that Rocks." It runs through Sunday, Nov. 1, Tuesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and is closed Mondays. From Thursday, Oct. 22, that leaves ten open days, with Monday, Oct. 26, the only day off.
Teams of local artists build at least two dozen small installations around the museum campus from scratch. They often use natural and found materials, and this year's theme is gemstones, rare minerals and shiny metals. When you check in, you get a map that leads to each house, tells the story of the faeries who live there and asks you to look for a hidden object. The museum says more than 250,000 visitors have walked the trail since it started in 2009.
Admission is higher while the village is up. The Wee Faerie Village page lists these rates for the run:
- $23 for adults
- $22 for seniors 62 and older
- $21 for students 13 and older
- Free for children 12 and under
- $5 per adult with a participating library pass, which covers two adults and two children
- Free for SNAP/EBT cardholders, up to four people per visit
- Free for active-duty military, veterans and their families through the Blue Star Museums program
The library-pass rate makes the biggest difference. A family of two adults and two children pays $10 instead of $46. The museum lists its library partners on its site, so check whether yours takes part before you go.
The Gallery Shows Close a Week Later
Once the faerie houses are packed up on Nov. 1, the indoor shows have one week left. Patchwork: Connecticut Artists Consider 250 has been up since June 27 and closes Sunday, Nov. 8. It's a juried show of work by artists living in Connecticut today, built around American identity and history over the country's 250 years. The museum ties it to its history as home of the Lyme Art Colony, which ran from 1900 to 1937.
The museum promotes the show with an image of a Bicentennial Quilt made in 1976. Its 24 squares show historic events, houses and rural scenes from Lyme and Old Lyme. The pieces came from a contest the Lyme Historical Society held that summer, and the quilt is now in the museum's collection. So the show answering the 250th anniversary is promoted with a local quilt made for the 200th.
Two blocks of the same week belong to the Lyme Art Association. Its New England Landscape and Bon Appétit exhibitions have been up since Sept. 18 and close Friday, Nov. 6. The association's calendar keeps going after the museum closes, with historian David Oat speaking on Saturday, Oct. 31, at 3 p.m. and Sarah Baskin giving a painting demonstration on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 2 p.m. The Nov. 14 demonstration is one of the few art events on Lyme Street during the museum's closure.
What Stays Open Once Construction Starts
The renovation has two parts. The first is the work inside the existing Krieble Gallery: new skylights, improved lighting and fire sprinklers. The second adds new gallery and program space and a Collections Research Center, which the museum calls "long-awaited."
The museum's construction page says only the Krieble Gallery, admissions and the gift shop will be affected during construction. These parts of the campus stay open:
- The Florence Griswold House
- The Rafal Landscape Center
- The Hartman Education Center
- The Chadwick Studio
- The grounds and gardens
- The Robert F. Schumann Artists' Trail
- Marshfield House, for presentations and events
The same page says parking is unaffected and that cultural events, educational programs, group tours and field trips will go on as usual. The homepage separately says the museum will be closed from Nov. 9 to Nov. 26, and the two pages don't spell out how that closure applies to the grounds and trail. Check the visitor notices before planning a November walk on the Artists' Trail.
The construction page names Holiday Magic, Nov. 27 through Jan. 3, as continuing as planned. Miss Florence's Teas will be served at Marshfield House from Dec. 1 through Jan. 3, catered by Gourmet Galley. The museum's busiest family season goes ahead on schedule. The changes come before it, in the weeks when the galleries are dark.
Lunch on the Veranda While the Season Lasts
Gourmet Galley also runs Café Flo, the museum's café at 96 Lyme Street. It serves lunch Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., and reservations are recommended at 860.434.5542, extension 126. You can get table service on the veranda over the Lieutenant River or order to go and picnic on the lawn. The menus change with the season and use produce from local farmers and suppliers.
In its May/June 2026 issue, Yankee Magazine named Café Flo the Best Restaurant with a View in Connecticut. A veranda by the river is best in fair weather, and the next two weekends are the last of the faerie-village season. If you want to pair lunch with the trail, those are the weekends to book. Check Café Flo's page for its hours before planning a visit between Nov. 9 and Nov. 26.
A little farther along, the Old Lyme Inn's website lists Friday lunch, Thursday burger night and a Sunday jazz brunch from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call ahead to confirm, since the page isn't dated.
Saturday, Oct. 31, Has the Most Going On
Halloween is a Saturday this year, and more of the countdown lands on that day than on any other. It's the last Saturday of Wee Faerie Village. David Oat speaks at the Lyme Art Association at 3 p.m. The library's all-ages costume swap, which started Oct. 9, ends that day. And Lyme Street holds its traditional trick-or-treat.
This year, Amtrak is adding something to the trick-or-treat. LymeLine reported that Amtrak planned an outreach pop-up there for informal public conversation about its New Haven-Providence rail study. The Day also reported that Amtrak's next pop-up would be at the Lyme Street trick-or-treat on Halloween. If you have opinions on the rail study, Halloween on Lyme Street is an easy place to share them.
Last year, LymeLine reported that Lymes' Youth Service Bureau and Old Lyme Town Hall collected candy donations for the event. Look for this year's start time and any road details from the town before you head over.
Tonight's Programs, and What the Library Starts Nov. 2
If this post reaches you on Thursday, Oct. 22, two programs are happening tonight. Kae of Decimated Designs leads a horror-effects makeup workshop at the Old Lyme-Phoebe Griffin Noyes Library. At 6:30 p.m., the Old Lyme Historical Society presents Kevin Johnson performing as Jordan Freeman of Lyme. The program is listed on the town's America 250 calendar.
The library also has a new service starting the day after Wee Faerie Village closes. LymeLine reported that on Monday, Nov. 2, the library begins offering ten laptops from a state program. Eight will go to eligible residents on year-long take-home loans, and two will be available for two-hour use inside the library. Library director Katie Huffman told LymeLine the laptops widen the library's service for residents who don't have a suitable computer at home. The library's new laptop service starts in the same weeks the museum's galleries close.
I'm a Westerly native, and I follow these calendars along the whole Rhode Island-Connecticut shoreline, Old Lyme included. If you're wondering how Lyme Street and the rest of Old Lyme compare with the towns on the Rhode Island side of the line, I'm happy to talk it through. Let's Connect with Brian Turano.
