Lymes Most Unique Feature: Country Auction Held in Lyme to Save Historic Horse Sheds

Lyme More than 100 bargain hunters showed up for an auction in Lyme Sunday afternoon to benefit the towns cherished horse sheds. The event, sponsored by the Lyme Historians, featured scores of donated items, many of them antiques.

We were thinking about an auction because it seemed like a fun thing to do, said Jane Fant, of the Lyme Historians.

The more than $3,500 in sales from the auction will go toward replacing the roof of the horse sheds in the heart of town. The 27 attached sheds are the longest string of horse sheds in New England.

The roof is falling to bits, and a new cedar shingle roof is costly, Fant said.

The cost of replacing the roof is around $20,000. Some of that money will come from a restoration fund containing private donations dating back to the 1980s. While the sheds sit on town property, they are maintained by the Lyme Congregational Church, and rely entirely on private sources of funding for maintenance.

Fant said restoring the sheds is central to the historians goal of preserving the towns treasures.

The horse sheds are Lymes most unique feature, Fant said. Its a focal point of town.

Organizers said they auctioned off about 140 items including old farm equipment, China sets, art, buttons, vases, an iron pogo stick and an eight-foot-long toboggan.

A fitting venue for an antique auction, the event was held at a historic barn owned by Dick and Sallie Ramsden on Breck Hill Road.

Sallie Ramsden said she was glad to host the auction in her barn because she wants to help preserve the horse sheds for future generations.

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Lymes Most Unique Feature: Country Auction Held in Lyme to Save Historic Horse Sheds