Saybrook Point celebrates 25th year at Lyme Academy

OLD SAYBROOK >> The Saybrook Point Inn & Spa is celebrating its 25th Anniversary with a special evening reception on Thursday, September 18 from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. to support Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts of the University of New Haven in Old Lyme, Connecticut. Owned and operated by the Tagliatela family since 1980, the Saybrook Point Inn & Spa has adapted and changed over the years, winning numerous awards for its often best-in-class green practices, including the first Connecticut inn to be named a Certified Energy Hotel in 2007.

In celebrating its silver jubilee, the family continues its longstanding tradition of supporting higher education, the local arts community, and neighborhood non-profit civic organizations by hosting this fundraising event to help to secure Lyme Academy College’s financial base during the first years of transition, as it becomes the sixth college of the University of New Haven.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Lyme Academy College in celebrating our 25th anniversary,” said Stephen Tagliatela, Innkeeper and Managing Partner, Saybrook Point Inn & Spa. “It’s been our family’s mission to give back to the community that has supported us over the years, and we’re honored to be able to help one of the state’s greatest institutions of higher education and fine arts. We thank our neighbors and community for making us feel welcome and appreciated over the years, and look forward to another quarter century of fond memories.”

Held on the terrace of Fresh Salt, the 25th Anniversary of Saybrook Point Inn & Spa will feature a creative selection of cuisine inspired by traditional Tagliatela family recipes, immortalized in a new cookbook called “25 Years On The Point” by Executive Chef Leslie Tripp and Mary Tagliatela, who along with her husband, Louis, built Saybrook Point Inn. The Tagliatela family will also unveil a new outdoor bronze sculpture of a life-sized Blue Heron by local artist Louise Wiley of Old Saybrook, Connecticut, which will be placed among the colorful gardens outside the main entrance to Saybrook Point Inn & Spa. Wiley studied drawing, painting and sculpture at Lyme Academy College.

Tickets are $99 and may be purchased by calling 800.243.0212. For more information, visit www.saybrook.com/saybrooks-25-year-anniversary or email info@saybrook.com. The Saybrook Point Inn & Spa recently donated $75,000, made possible through the Louis F. and Mary A. Tagliatela Family Foundation, to help the College’s transition to the University of New Haven.

Among the evening’s festivities, guests of the Saybrook Point Inn’s 25th Anniversary celebration will participate in a silent auction. The event will also include a book signing by the Tagliatela family accompanied by Chef Tripp, who has masterfully reinvented the classic Italian-American dishes handed down by generations of Tagliatela family members to create the basis of “25 Years On The Point.”

In 1980, Louis and Mary Tagliatela bought the then unoccupied and dilapidated Terra Mar Hotel and Yacht Basin at auction. Nine years later, the Tagliatelas replaced Terra Mar with Saybrook Point Inn.

Today, Louis and Mary Tagliatela’s son, Stephen, runs the property, along with their daughter, Tricia Tagliatela, who oversees the Inn’s decor and ambiance, and their son, Louis Jr., who oversees the capital projects. The Inn now includes SANNO, the property’s full-service spa that opened in 2012, as well as Fresh Salt, a restaurant designed by Peter Niemitz, which opened to strong reviews in 2011. The destination employs more than 260 hospitality professionals and is among the town’s top employers and economic engines.

Earlier this year, Saybrook Point Inn & Spa opened the Three Stories guesthouse adjacent to the main Inn. This restored Italianate home overlooking Long Island Sound was originally built in 1892 as a single-family home for the prominent engineer William Vars. The property was fully refurbished and revitalized by the Tagliatela family as an eight-room guesthouse with wrap-around porches and private gardens. Each individually designed room features a pri¬vate balcony, fireplace, European-style bedding, fine linens, heated bathroom floors, multiple showerheads, extensive water views, and original artwork by local artists. In addition, each room tells the story of a famed local resident, including Katharine Hepburn’s mother, who was a leading suffragette.

Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts was founded in 1976 by acclaimed sculptor Elisabeth Gordon Chandler and became a fully accredited, degree-granting College in 1996. It continues the academic tradition of figurative and representational fine art while preparing students for a lifetime of contemporary creative practice. The College recently entered into an affiliation with the University of New Haven (UNH), which presents many advantages to both institutions. The College will benefit from the operational breadth and depth of the University, gaining access to an expanded range of liberal arts courses and complementary UNH art programs. The University of New Haven also offers study-abroad opportunities at its campus in Tuscany, Italy, where Lyme Academy College students will be able to attend classes.

To date, in an overwhelming and unprecedented vote of support for Lyme Academy College’s proposed affiliation with the University of New Haven, more than 40 friends of the College have made three-year commitments totaling nearly $850,000 each year. The gifts, part of a campaign to raise $1 million a year for the next three years, are essential to secure the College’s financial base during the first years of the transition as the sixth college of the University.

About Saybrook Point Inn & Spa

Situated along the picturesque coastal community of historic Old Saybrook, Connecticut, in the hamlet of Saybrook Point, the Saybrook Point Inn & Spa features 82 elegantly appointed guestrooms, the rejuvenating full-service spa SANNO, and casual fine dining restaurant Fresh Salt. The property also features the historic Three Stories guesthouse, where each room conveys the story of a famed local resident, including Katharine Hepburn’s mother, who was a leading suffragette. This completely renovated Italianate home overlooking Long Island Sound was originally built in 1892 as a single-family home for the prominent engineer William Vars. Today, as an eight-room guesthouse, it features wrap-around porches, private gardens, balconies, fine linens, heated bathroom floors, extensive water views, and original artwork by local artists. The Saybrook Point Inn & Spa also shines with the historic Saybrook Point Marina, a landmark yachting dock conveniently located at the mouth of the Connecticut River with easy access to Long Island Sound. It can accommodate vessels from 12 to 200 feet and has received numerous premier Connecticut marina awards. More information is available at www.saybrook.com.

About Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts

Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts offers the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Drawing, Illustration, Painting, and Sculpture (full- and part-time study); Certificates in Painting and Sculpture, a Post-Baccalaureate program; Continuing Education for adults; and a Pre-College Program for students aged 15-18. The College is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, the National Association of the Schools of Art and Design, and the Connecticut Department of Higher Education. The College is located at 84 Lyme Street, Old Lyme CT 06371. For more information about the College, call 860-434-5232 or visit www.lymeacademy.edu.

The Louis F. and Mary A. Tagliatela Foundation was established in 1997 and has donated more than $9 million to support local non-profit organizations including hospitals, schools and churches. The Foundation also helped create the Tagliatela School of Engineering at the University of New Haven and the Tagliatela School of Business at Albertus Magnus College. In addition, the Foundation created the Louis & Mary Tagliatela Endowed Scholarship at the University of New Haven in 1998, which is granted to students entering their junior or senior year and majoring in a field related to either the construction or hotel industry. The recipient must demonstrate both financial need and merit. To date, more than $28,000 has been awarded to 24 students.

Submitted by Saybrook Point Inn & Spa/Saviero Mancini.