Lyme was initially an agricultural community settled primarily by farmers from Connecticut starting just after the French and Indian wars. As the farmland became less productive with successive harvests and insufficient fertilization, those farmers that remained turned to raising sheep as the demand for wool increased with the industrialization of the early 19th century. Lyme did not develop an industrial base nor did it participate in the tourist industry growth in the later part of the century. As a result its population continued to decline from a high of 1,824 in 1820 to a low of 830 in 1930. It is now growing in population as primarily a residential community for
retirees and people who work in other Upper Valley towns.
The table below gives the population of Lyme as recorded by the State censuses prior to 1790, the Federal censuses from 1790 to 2000 and population projections by the NH Office of State Planning to 2025.
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