Old Lyme — The Bee & Thistle Inn property, located along the Lieutenant River, will begin a new chapter as a community space for people to learn about conservation and the environment of the lower Connecticut River Valley, according to an announcement this week.

The Connecticut Audubon Society announced in a news release that it “reached an agreement to purchase” the Bee & Thistle property at 100 Lyme St. to serve as the headquarters for the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center, the southeast regional center for the Connecticut Audubon Society. The organization hopes to close on the property by the end of the year, center director Alisha Milardo said.

The site will serve as “an environmental education center for people of all ages” and “include a room for public talks and workshops, a location for summer day camp, and a staging area for research on the ecology of the estuary,” the release states.

David Rufo, the owner of the long-running Bee & Thistle Inn, had announced last year that he was planning to retire and was putting the 5.25-acre property up for sale, The Day reported. 

Meanwhile, the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center, now in its fifth year and with offices at 90 Halls Road, needed more space as its programs expand, Milardo said in a phone interview. The center reaches more than 5,000 people annually through education, advocacy, and conservation.

The center earlier had announced plans to build a permanent facility at property it purchased at 314 Ferry Road but, once the Bee & Thistle went on the market, the organization decided the more spacious Bee & Thistle property, with an existing building, would be a better fit, Milardo said. The center plans to sell the Ferry Road property, she said.

“The Bee and Thistle is a beloved community historic building and we want to make sure that we continue that in the community and offer these joyful learning experiences but also connect people with nature,” Milardo said. The grounds feature access to the Lieutenant River, space for gardens and areas for migratory birds.

Claudia Weicker, chair of the Roger Tory Peterson Estuary Center Regional Board, said in a phone interview that the site gives the organization an opportunity to host science enrichment programs and a summer day camp, as well as space for small lectures and programs and office space.

The agreement also preserves a historic site within the town’s historic district and creates a greenspace for the community, with plans for rain and pollinator gardens, an organic garden and potentially a connection with the nature trail that the neighboring Florence Griswold Museum has created, she said.

“It gives us the outdoor space we need to have demonstrative programs and to get people outside and create more learning opportunities,” Weicker said. She added that the importance of nature became particularly evident this year for so many people who felt locked in during the pandemic and found comfort in long walks.

The site is “a stone’s throw away” from the 56-acre Roger Tory Peterson Wildlife Refuge, upstream on the Lieutenant River, which houses the former office of Roger Tory Peterson, the estuary center’s namesake, Weicker said. Peterson, the ornithologist who wrote "A Field Guide to the Birds,” lived and worked in Old Lyme.

Weicker also envisions an opportunity to work with the Florence Griswold Museum to recapture the historic link between the impressionist art colony born in Old Lyme and nature of the area. Artists in the colony lived or stayed at the Florence Griswold house and flocked to the area because of its beauty and light found off the Connecticut River and its tributaries.

“This location, next to the home of Miss Florence Griswold, revives the synergy that existed between America’s great art colony and the beauty of the natural world,” she said in a statement.

Milardo said the estuary center is “really excited to see how we can partner even closer and more deeply with other nonprofits and businesses in the area.”

Weicker said the Bee & Thistle Inn has been an institution in the Lyme-Old Lyme community for so long, and she’s as sad as anyone to lose that community space, where people would stay when they came to town and neighbors would gather for a cozy meal and good conversation on a cold winter’s night.

But at the same time, Weicker said she is excited for the opportunity to create a new space for the community with new programs and activities that people, especially families, will enjoy. 

The news release said the “goal is to open the new facility within 12 to 18 months.”

Weicker anticipates outdoor programs beginning by the end of this coming spring.

The organization has embarked on a campaign to raise $5.6 million to purchase and renovate the property and create the outdoor spaces as well as help with maintenance and operations, Weicker said. Renovations will be phased in over a 12- to 36-month period, as funding is available.

Milardo said the building’s footprint will remain the same but the organization will renovate it, in conjunction with historical experts, to become a nature center.

The center plans to continue to offer fall and spring lecture series in auditoriums in local communities and to hold its Science in Nature programs at local schools, outdoor areas and through virtual learning, according to the news release.

k.drelich@theday.com