After Months of Debate, Blue and Gold Star Plaques Get OK at Town Hall

OLD LYME, CT – The Old Lyme Historic District Commission on Monday gave the Duck River Garden Club the go-ahead to install Blue Star and Gold Star service memorial markers at the Town Hall. 

The exact placement and look of the memorials is yet to be determined. The garden club will have to come back to the commission for final approval once details are finalized, though the commission specified the markers can rise no more than 18 inches off the ground.

The move allows the club to order the signs, at $785 each, in time to install them for the nation’s 250th anniversary in July. 

The garden club maintains numerous plantings on public property around town, including a garden around the town’s historic Old Lyme sign at the Town Hall where they hope to install the signs.

During a lengthy discussion capping two months of discussion, commission members reviewed possible locations and mounting options for the plaques. The Blue Star Memorial markers recognize families with members serving in the military, while the Gold Star Memorial markers honor those who died in service. 

The commission had previously rejected a proposal for larger highway-style markers at the site, which would have measured 41 inches high by 45 inches wide atop a 90-inch base.

Member Carolyn Wakeman acknowledged the amount of attention being paid to the issue. She said getting the size and placement right “matters a lot” to the commission. 

Local and state law puts the commission in charge of issuing certificates of appropriateness whenever a structure goes up or comes down – or is significantly altered – in the district. The definition for “structures” includes signs. 

The Memorial Town Hall sits firmly in the commission’s jurisdiction, which extends roughly from McCurdy Road at the south end to Sill Lane at the north end. 

“Both the landscaping and the Town Hall, all of this matters a lot,” Wakeman said. “That’s why we spend so much time on it.” 

Garden club representatives said the revised plaques would be smaller than originally proposed. The signs themselves would measure about 11.25 by 20 inches, mounted on a stone base with a total maximum size of 15.25 by 24 inches.

Members debated whether the plaques should be mounted near the Old Lyme sign within the garden area or nearer the existing military memorial toward the left side of the building. 

Wakeman cautioned that installing the smaller plaques on large or elevated backings could detract from the landscaping.

The commission voted unanimously, after multiple motions and amendments, to allow the markers on the Town Hall property. Each marker will be mounted on a low stone base, tilted slightly for readability, measure no more than 15.25 by 24 inches and rise no more than 18 inches above the ground.

The garden club will finalize placement in consultation with the commission before installation.