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The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. was previously a textile mill before it was turned into a private residence. 

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. was previously a textile mill before it was turned into a private residence. 

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. was previously a textile mill before it was turned into a private residence. 

The second-floor landing in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. 

One of the living spaces in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. 

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. was previously a textile mill before it was turned into a private residence. 

One of four bedrooms in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. 

One of the living spaces in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. 

One of the living spaces in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. 

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. is located on Upper Mill Pond. 

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. was previously a textile mill before it was turned into a private residence. 

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. has four bedrooms, four full bathrooms and more than 5,000 square feet of living space. 

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. has more than 5,000 square feet of living space and over 2 acres of land. 

The kitchen in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn.

The kitchen in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn.

The dining room in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn.

A living area in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn.

A living area in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn.

The kitchen in the home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn.

Built in the early 1800s, the stone structure on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme wasn’t always a just private home. When it was built, it was constructed as a granite mill and owned by Oliver Lay, a portrait painter best known for his portrait of General Grant, according to the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 

The Oliver Lay house was operational as a textile mill starting in 1858, according to Preservation Connecticut’s index of mills. Information provided by William Pitt Sotheby’s International Realty notes that the mill served many purposes in Old Lyme and was used as a forge, a grist mill, a lumber mill and “predominately a textile mill that made fabrics and uniforms for soldiers.”

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. is located on Upper Mill Pond by the dam on a tributary leading to the mouth of the Connecticut River.

The home on 108 Sill Lane in Old Lyme, Conn. is located on Upper Mill Pond. 

In addition to its industrial uses, the property also served as a source of inspiration for artists in the area, Sotheby’s notes, including the work, “Swirling Waters,” by impressionist painter Edward Rook. Produced in 1917, the painting depicts the mill in the winter with water moving through the mill’s adjacent stream.

The mill stayed operational through the 1950s, according to the listing, before it was converted into a private residence by an antiques dealer. Now on the market for $1.55 million, the four-bedroom, four-bathroom home is located at the base of Upper Mill Pond” by the dam on a tributary leading to the mouth of the Connecticut River” and was made from “granite that came down the river,” according to information provided by Sotheby’s. The home has more than 5,200 square feet of living space, four fireplaces and a two-story grand foyer, according to the listing, as well as formal living room and formal dining room. There’s also a “garden-level living area nestled into the banks of the waterfall,” the listing notes. 

According to national real estate brokerage Redfin, 51.4 percent of homes in Old Lyme sell for above the listing price. Homes considered to be “hot,” or those that are “expected to be among the most competitive homes on the market” will sell for about 4 percent above asking price and will become a pending sale in around 21 days.