Florence Griswold Museum

America's 15 Best Small-Town Art Museums

"Many early 20th-century painters sought refuge from mechanized urban life in the idyllic countryside, in towns like the historic shipbuilding center of Old Lyme, where you'll find the Florence Griswold Museum. It was here where Florence Griswold began renting out rooms in her family's mansion to Henry Ward Ranger, Childe Hassam, and Willard Metcalf. Soon, 'Miss Florence,' as guests knew her, became the sun around which the Lyme Art Colony orbited. The playful artists often painted directly on the boardinghouse's doors and wall panels, much as their French peers had done in artist colonies like Giverny and Barbizon. You can still view these works in rooms decorated with period furnishings and antiques." - Travel + Leisure Editors