Mystic — Lisa Alden-Carpenter on Saturday announced her decision to close Green Marble Coffee House, a downtown Mystic institution where many will say they found the best coffee they've tasted, but more importantly, a sense of belonging.

But she's not going out of business, just doing it a different way: She's still filling orders for Mystic Coffee Roasters and is in the process of setting up a website. People can also find her coffee at Lis Bake Shop and beans at Mystic Market.

The late Bruce Carpenter opened the Green Marble at 8 Steamboat Wharf in 1991 with his first wife, and then Alden-Carpenter came along in 1995. He died unexpectedly in 2014.

"When Bruce passed away, I kept it going, because it is such a beloved institution in our town, and the community needed it, and I needed it," Alden-Carpenter said Wednesday.

She said the coronavirus had nothing to do with the fact that she's closing. Alden-Carpenter said in a Facebook post Saturday she's "both heartbroken and excited to start a new chapter in my life."

A metalsmith before meeting Bruce, Alden-Carpenter wrote, "I'm going to dedicate my life to fulfilling Bruce's dream but, I'm also going to fulfill mine. I'm going to melt some metal and blend some paints. I'm going to put my hands in dirt and I'm going to grow my gardens. I am finally going to relax, I'm finally going to take some time to breathe and come to terms with the fact that Bruce is no longer here."

'It was very egalitarian'

"It was a cornerstone of the community," said Matt Hannan, one of the Green Marble's earliest employees. "Its loss is going to be felt for years to come."

When the Green Marble opened, Alden-Carpenter said there was only Bess Eaton locally, and Hannan said Starbucks "was some West Coast thing."

What sucked Hannan in, and what he's heard got others addicted, was the Kenya AA French Roast. Others who talked to The Day swear by the Colombian Supremo or Sumatra Italian.

Some mourning the closure say things like, "First John's, now this," referencing the neighborhood bar that closed in late 2017 after 50 years. That's where Bruce and Lisa had met.

"When you're a local, you go to the Bee Bee Dairy, you get your coffee at the Green Marble, it's just a part of your life," said Michelle Gemma, citing another shuttered institution. She owns the Mystic Army Navy store, open since 1993 and in the Steamboat Wharf building the Green Marble also called home. It also houses Mystic Disc, open since 1983.

A photographer, Gemma had a few shows at the Green Marble between 1993 and 2015, and she spoke of Bruce's embrace of artists.

Katie Jones started working in the alley in 1995 at the long-since-gone Mystic Video, which led her to become a regular at the Marble.

On Jan. 2, 2000, she met her husband, Kennon, sitting at one of the outside tables. Before having kids, they walked on Sunday mornings to the Green Marble, where they would push tables together and do crossword puzzles, conversing with people of all ages.

"It was very egalitarian, I guess is the word," Jones said. "Everybody was accepted, and we would just sit out there sometimes for hours."

She has worked at Argia Mystic Cruises since 2004 and would always recommend the Green Marble to visitors.

A 'home base' for high school students

While Jones started going there in her 20s, she's seen waves of teenagers come and go. It was a "sanctuary," she said, adding that Bruce and Lisa were welcoming to teenagers who felt like they needed a place to belong.

"It was just a place in our community for the kids to be, and Bruce did a great job helping to raise the kids in our town," Alden-Carpenter said. "He was absolutely amazing. He was a brilliant man, and could hold a conversation with anyone about anything."

Matt Gouette said he started going there at age 15 or 16 in the mid- to late '90s, and it's a place where he met many friends. People would meet up there and hang out "on the bricks," or head somewhere else.

James Burke, Jeff Butler and Margaret LeMontagne are among the Fitch High School alumni who used to hang out there as high school students in the mid- to late 2000s.

Before he started drinking coffee, Burke would get a Jolt soda and chocolate-covered espresso beans. But "Their coffee really was great, especially at that time," he said. Though he hasn't frequented the Green Marble much since moving to New London, he said Bruce was "sort of ahead of the curve" in getting people to appreciate the craft of coffee-making.

Butler said the Green Marble felt like "home base" in high school, but he hasn't seen the younger generation hanging out there as much.

Now 27, LeMontagne started going to the Green Marble around age 14, knowing "it was kind of the cool place to go in town, where artistic people and musicians would go." She felt like a black sheep as a teenager but "always felt welcomed for who I was" there, and said Lisa gave her so much love and support.

LeMontagne worked at the Green Marble from when she was about 22 until she was about 25, and said it was the best job she ever had. "I've cried there, I've laughed there, I've gotten sick there, everything," she said.

Of the closure, she said, "It's just so sad, because it really was a pillar of our community, but I just have to say I really appreciate Bruce and Lisa for everything they did, and for as long as they did."

e.moser@theday.com