Letter to the Editor: Living Among ‘Boats and Boat-people’ at Old Lyme Marina

To the Editor:

Good story on the Old Lyme Marina transition!  The story does not say that Edward Bonelli of Old Lyme built the marina from a former coal dock starting about 1954; Ed and his family lived for a time in the former 1690 “tavern” house on the yard property before moving to the Boston Post Road to avoid, Ed said, midnight knocks on the door from marina boat owners desiring immediate service for vital items, like ice. 

Ed improved the yard incrementally over the years, before selling to Peter Chapman, who then sold it to the Abrahamssons. A fellow boatbuilder/boatyard operator Across the River noted that “The Abrahamssons were involved in engines made in Connecticut in the western part of the state. Lenny and his father were first of the family in Old Lyme.”

My family and I rented the house from Ed from 1965 though most of 1971 and loved living among the boats and boat-people, despite north-winds-down-the-river in the peaks of winter. We survived, happily.  

Sincerely,
John Stratton
Old Lyme