OLD LYME—Rogers Lake (Hains Park) in Old Lyme was posted with a swimming advisory on Tuesday, Aug. 6, and re-sampled on Wednesday, Aug. 7.
Results showed that elevated bacteria levels persisted, and the beach was resampled again on Friday, Aug. 9.
Results were within acceptable limits, and the advisory was lifted on on Saturday, Aug. 10.
I just know I can’t really do this book justice. I love it and writing about it immediately takes some of the magic away but I suppose if Susannah Clarke could do it, I can at least try.
Who is Piranesi? Where is he?
He is writing this book as a journal from a place that is both a world and a house. This house has tides. This world has floors and wings and grand halls. There are ballrooms and statues and sweeping staircases that are underwater as the tides change.
Piranesi navigates the halls as the moon cycles to anticipate the waters. He salvages bones and seaweed to wear in his tangled hair. He visits his favored statues as honored ancestors. He lives as a recluse, who is both aware of and in respectful fear of the Other.
This Other shows himself occasionally to bestow gifts or shower food as tokens from above.
It becomes increasingly more apparent that Piranesi is less alone than he thought. There may have been others here before him.
He finds human bones. Animal bones. His anthropological worship of these, honoring them with flowers, is touching.
What is really happening around him?
He appears innocently unaware of something much more sinister. Is someone named Ketterley attempting to control the uncontrollable?
From the journals that become less unfettered in their hallucinations, we see patterns. We see hints at something.
Where are these offerings really coming from? Who is this ‘other’ person? Who indeed is Piranesi? It has a very Neil Gaiman-esque otherworldly tone that I like and mixed with very concise, interesting writing, sets a fascinating—almost scientific—perspective.
It reads like a lab journal from an experiment, which we find out is very close to a truth.
It’s just wonderful to be in Piranesi’s mind as he unravels the mystery of the magnificent world.
About the author: Jen Petty Hilger grew up in New York and London, England, but finds herself happily quiet living by the water in Old Lyme.
She and her husband have six children between them and a myriad of rescued animals.
PARIS, FRANCE/OLD LYME– Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) graduate Liam Corrigan won a gold medal in the Mens’ Four at the Paris Olympics in a remarkable time of 5:49:03. This was the U.S. men’s first rowing gold medal of the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The Team USA boat led from the 500-meter mark of the race held at at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium and secured the gold for the USA in this event for the first time in 60 years.
The USA boat ultimately won by just 0.85 seconds over New Zealand, who came to within half a second of the US boat with 500 meters to go. The Kiwis took the silver medal in a time of 5:49:88 and Great Britain, the bronze, in 5:52:42.
The men’s four comprises Liam Corrigan (Old Lyme, Conn./Harvard University/California Rowing Club)—who takes the stroke position, Michael Grady (Pittsburgh, Pa./Cornell University/California Rowing Club), Justin Best (Kennett Square, Pa./Drexel University/California Rowing Club), and Nick Mead (Strafford, Pa./Princeton University/New York Athletic Club.)
Corrigan’s parents Brian Corrigan and Joan Rivington of Lyme are there in Paris to watch their son in his team’s moment of glory.
Corrigan was referred to as, “The man of the moment,” throughout the commentary.
Corrigan graduated from LOLHS in 2015 and went on to Harvard University, where he was ultimately captain on the men’s rowing team.
After the race, Grady said, “We definitely executed really well,” adding, “I mean, we knew we had a good start. We knew we had a good base middle. We knew we have a good lift. We felt them [New Zealand] the entire time. I mean, hats off to them. They’re really great competitors, and they raced it really hard.”
He noted, “You know, they even walked back into us (at about) 600 (meters). I was pretty confident that we had the last little bit of speed. We had a full set of moves to go through to sprint to the line. So yeah, executed really well. Really happy with that performance obviously.”
The four, which has been together since last season, won silver at the world championships last year and gold at the world cup race in Lucerne earlier this year. That experience together, as well as their years of rowing as teammates, proved pivotal in their success on Thursday.
Corrigan pointed out, “Like to really drive that home, Grady and I were in the 2014 junior eight that came second to last in Hamburg, Germany,” noting, “There’s been a lot of strokes since then. Michael and Justin rowed together (at the under 23 level), and all of us, to some degree, rowed against each other in college and with each other in college and then for the last five years since 2019 in different boats – pairs with each other, against each other.”
He emphasized, “There’s so much trust that’s been developed in that amount of time. You feel like one unit; it doesn’t feel like four people. It feels like one boat. That sounds so cliche, but that’s how I really feel about it.”
The U.S. finished fifth in the Men’s Four in Tokyo and last won a medal in the event at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, taking home a bronze.
“I don’t think special does it enough justice because of the amount of meters, hours, days with each other away from our loved ones,” Best said. “You know the funerals you have to miss, the weddings. You have to miss social events. It’s all encompassing what it takes to get to this moment.”
He explained, “We have a group of four guys that love each other, and like I said, special can’t describe it because it really is just like that ethereal bond that I think we’ve created over the last few years. Now, we have a physical reminder of everything that we put in, and we’ll have this for the rest of our lives.”
HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO TEAM USA—AND ESPECIALLY OLD LYME NATIVE LIAM CORRIGAN—ON THEIR SUPERB WIN!
Editor’s Note: This story includes information from US Rowing, which is used with their permission.
LYME/OLD LYME —Twenty-two Scouts and Scout Leaders from Lyme-Old Lyme Troop 26 recently completed 90 miles of hiking over 12 days in Northern New Mexico. The Scouts visited Philmont Scout Ranch, a 214-sq. mile rugged mountain wilderness area.
The Ranch offered the Scouts the chance to learn leadership and outdoor skills as they backpacked to a new wilderness campsite each day. Along the way, Troop 26 also participated in an activity at each camp, such as horseback riding, rock climbing, and panning for gold.
Woody Goss who attended the trek with Troop 26 said, “It was hard, but I enjoyed the views, especially from places like the top of Mount Baldy. We reached 12,441 ft. at its summit and could see into two other states.”
He continued, “Blacksmithing was also something we got to do. Our crew worked together to make a hook using an anvil, hammer, and coal fire.”
Boys in Grade 6 or higher and under the age of 18 can join Troop 26. The Scouts camp every month of the year. It is a great opportunity to learn new skills and get outdoors.
The Troop meets at the Hamburg Fire House in Lyme from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Wednesdays during the school year. Their first meeting of the year will be on Sept. 11.
LYME/OLD LYME — Lyme-Old Lyme High School (LOLHS) 2015 graduate Liam Corrigan will represent the United States at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which start on Friday. He will be a member of the US Men’s Four boat in the rowing competition.
Heats 1 and 2 of the Men’s Four contest will be held respectively on Sunday, July 28, at 12:50 and 1 p.m. Central European Summer Time (six hours ahead of EST.) The finals are scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 1.
Corrigan’s parents Brian Corrigan and Joan Rivington travel to Paris this week to watch Liam compete.
We are delighted that Brian has agreed to keep LymeLine updated from Paris on Liam’s progress.
Corrigan’s parents, now live in Lyme, Conn. after spending a number of years as residents of Old Lyme.
This is the second time that Corrigan has been selected as part of the US Rowing team. He was a member of the Men’s Eight, which finished fourth in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics—that roster included another LOLHS graduate, Austin Hack, from the Class of 2010.
Hack also represented the US in the Men’s Eight at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016, when the boat again finished fourth.
This time Corrigan will row in the Men’s Four and the team chosen comprises the same members, who brought home a silver medal for that event from the 2023 World Rowing Championships.
The other team members are Michael Grady (Pittsburgh, Pa./Cornell University/California Rowing Club), Nick Mead (Strafford, Pa./Princeton University/New York Athletic Club), and Justin Best (Kennett Square, Pa./Drexel University/California Rowing Club).
Corrigan graduated from Harvard with an honors degree in Physics and Astrophysics and while at Harvard, he was captain of the men’s crew.
Since graduating, he has moved to Oakland, Calif. to train with the men’s training center for the upcoming Olympics. He is a member of the California Rowing Club.
His accomplishments with Team USA include finishing fourth in the pair at the 2017 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, placing fifth in the four at the 2015 World Rowing Junior Championships, taking eighth in the pair at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games and finishing ninth in the eight at the 2014 World Rowing Junior Championships.
Corrigan rowed in the men’s four that won the B final at the 2019 World Rowing Under 23 Championships.
Responding to a question about how he felt after learning Liam had been selected for the US Men’s Eight, Corrigan’s father, Brian, told LymeLine exclusively, “Both Joan and I are very proud of Liam, and very thankful for the opportunities he was given as part of the rowing programs at LOLHS High School and the Old Lyme Rowing Association that got him started in rowing.”
He added, “The Tokyo Olympics did not allow spectators because of COVID-19, so this will be our first chance to watch him compete at the Olympics in person, and we are looking forward to being able to watch him compete in Paris this summer.”
We wish Liam the best of luck in his Olympic endeavor!
“Go Old Lyme! Go USA!”
Editor’s Note: Old Lyme Rowing Association (OLRA) oversees LOLHS crew, and Blood Street Sculls. Blood Street Sculls was established by Fred Emerson (on Blood Street) around 1965, for the cultivation of rowing for local high school students, college students and adults.
Some of the country’s most notable athletes called Blood Street Sculls home in the early days including Jim Dietz who is one of the most decorated scullers in US history (named to three US Olympic teams).
A strong supporter of the nascent sport of women’s rowing, Fred Emerson organized some of the first women’s national championships to be held on Rogers Lake in 1971, which included athletes who would ultimately represent the US in Olympic competition.
Blood Street Sculls was an incubator for rowing programs for high schools and colleges across New England. USCGA and Connecticut College got their start in this manner.
Anita DeFrantz first learned to row as a Connecticut College student, rowing on Rogers Lake. DeFrantz went on to represent the US in the 1976 women’s eight. She was a vocal legal authority when US athletes were prohibited from competition in 1980 and she has risen through the ranks of international rowing and is currently the vice president of the IOC.
Since record-keeping was initiated in 1997, over 100 athletes in OLRA programs have gone on to represent their university in collegiate rowing competition.
Paul Fuchs, Director of Rowing, holds the men’s lightweight course record for Head of the Charles, and competed on seven US World Championship teams. He has coached at the Olympic and World championship levels and serves on the Executive Council of FISA, the international governing body for the sport of rowing. Fuchs is an Old Lyme resident.