LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Frampton Says There is ‘No Dispute’ Over Ownership of Tantummaheag Landing

To the Editor:

I write to clarify a critical point in Elizabeth Regan’s article published today reporting the [Old Lyme] Republican Committee’s continued rejection of any amicable resolution over a “years-long dispute over the ownership of a spit of land bisecting a Tantummaheag Road property”, namely, Tantummaheag Landing (our back driveway), which we purchased in 2020.

To the contrary, there is no dispute between us and the Town about “ownership” since Tim Griswold’s Town Attorney publicly stated at a BOS meeting in August 2022 that his year-long investigation had found no evidence of ownership on the part of the Town. The Town and its counsel have since confirmed publicly and privately that they cannot and do not dispute that we own the Landing parcel in fee simple.

While the Griswold administration continued to claim there might have been a “public highway” along that spit of land based on a 1701 right of way, we discovered and published more than two years ago official Town records establishing that this right of way never went down what is now our back driveway, wasn’t even being used and indeed couldn’t be found in 1712, was replaced by another right of way in 1713 (which traces the current Tantummaheag Road and never  touched our property), and by contract with the then-landowner Richard Lord (who became First Selectman in 1720) the Town surrendered all rights to any and all Town rights-of-ways on his property in 1727.

Sincerely,

George T. Frampton, Jr.
Old Lyme.