Three things I love about Niantic, CT

  Yesterday I headed north to pick up my first born so she could spend a weekend at home recharging. That happens less and less as campus life becomes more interesting, but I”ll take the crumbs 🙂   When I’m tired of the craziness that is the I-95 drive I take a detour through a little town called Niantic.  It’s one of those quaint New England towns without any pretentiousnous right along the Sound. Funky old buildings, houses and waterways make up the overall feel of worn-in and welcome.

Niantic is a village in the Town of East Lyme, CT. The population is approximately 4,000. Niantic Bay is located on Long Island Sound and is popular for fishing and boating.  The only bummer is The Millstone Nuclear Power Plant, which looms nearby in Waterford.  Rocky Neck State Park is a great mile-long beach with views of Long Island Sound and a handful of offshore islands.  The park also has some great hiking trails in the fall.

 According to Wikipedia : Once famous for its Niantic River scallops, the scallop population has been in decline for a number of years. Attempts to revive the scallop population have not met with much success, most likely due to increased pollution from the heavy traffic of motorboats on the river.

My three favorite places are on the same stretch of road running right through the middle of it all on West Main Street…

Smith’s Acres, a totally rock’n garden center with everything you can think of for your gardening needs and an abundance of selection too…

Plants on the roof!..
It was love at first sight for me and this truck…
If he ever needs a new home, I gave them my address.

…then it’s a lunch stop at Niantic Diner for a menu of food that offers more than a Diner suggests..

Coconut Chicken with Sweet & Sour sauce… awesomeness.

  …and right around the corner sits the Book Barn, a really funky place famous for it’s 350,0000 some-odd books housed in seven different buildings on the property. The main barn is jammed from floor to ceiling and there is no subject that isn’t covered.  This is an awesome adventure for avid readers, and if you’ve got young children, it’s a great place to stock up on children’s books very inexpensively.  They buy and sell used books and have everything from the newest releases to 17th century editions.  This is what I ESPECIALLY LOVE about them… found on their website: 

We would like for everyone who visits The Book Barn to have as enjoyable a time as possible. Therefore, not only do we provide complimentary coffee, tea, water and snacks of cookies, crackers and doughnuts, we also have several picnic and seating areas for our guests to bring their own picnics to enjoy outdoors. Just remember that we do employ 13 cats that all believe in taste testing our guests’ food, you know, just to make sure it’s safe, of course. If you’d like to buy lunch from an area restaurant, we can provide menus for you.

Our goats live in a fenced pen next to The Last Page, and they truly love to get treats from everyone. There is a coin operated cracked-corn dispenser where you can purchase a handful of corn to share with them.


We provide kitty food to all of our feline employees, but you are always welcome to bring them snacks, or share your lunch with them.


There are always plenty of milk bones on hand for you to share with our dog Zoey. Zoey is a 3 ½ year old, black and white Border Collie and Whippett mix. She absolutely loves to play ball. She plays soccer, basketball, and will chase a tennis ball for hours!

If you’re so inclined, there is ample seating outside under the many trees surrounding the building. They encourage you to sit and read.. or play checkers or chess on the many boards available. The building behind the tree is yet another book “annex”.  Honestly, I think this place used to be a petting zoo.

This is the main barn… see the gourds that are growing on the vine up to the roof?
On another note.. we’re heading to the Durham Fair tonight to see REO Speedwagon… remember them? 

20 thoughts on “Three things I love about Niantic, CT”

  2. They can park that truck in my yard anytime..that is truly a work of art! Loving the book store, I could spend a few days there. What an interesting town!

  5. I think I may just have to stop at the Book Barn on my way to or from MV next month.
    Thanks for the tour. Love the truck too.

  7. Such a GREAT post, Karen. I love the truck!! You know that checkered love seat? I have it!! Well, it belongs to Patti but she ain't getting it back.

    Hope you have a great weekend!!

  8. Very cool! And the really good news is that we are staying in East Lyme when we go off on our adventure!! Now I really CANNOT wait!! Love these pics!!

  9. This is exactly why I need to come to New England 🙂 Its exactly the vision I have of it in my head. And as much as I love coconut shrimp, why have I never thought you could coconut chicken too? Awesomeness sums it up quite nicely 🙂

  10. O.K. I am going to try for the third time to leave a comment. Having some serious blogger issues today. I would love to have a garden center like that here. Ours are so commercialized with no eye candy like that one. You need to find you a truck in a junk yard. It would look great with your old house. Thanks for sharing this quaint town with us. So cute.

  11. When I go home in December for a visit…I just might have to drive thru this town…Might look a tad different in winter. lol. That truck is the most awesome flower bed of all time. = ))

  13. Hi! I found you on Country Girls blog and Im your newest follower (hunnybee)
    So nice to meet you! i adore your header..so pretty, and your blog is awesome!
    Looking forward to getting to know you!
    Come visit!

    Deborah 🙂

  16. The book stores looks like a tourist destination as a stand alone; many thanks for this post. The white cat looks enough like my, now deceased, Zoe, I was brought to tears; Zoe was the daughter I never had.
    The Ford truck is beautiful, lots of life left in the ole thing yet!

  20. Beautiful! Very creative what they did with that truck. I love it too. The book barn is outstanding. what a pleasure. I like your blog background alot. Very Fall like.

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