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Mamacoke Island Hike

Sunday, October 19, 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Description: Explore the cultural and natural history of Mamacoke Island and the surrounding landscape. The rocky, wooded, 40-acre island is actually a peninsula that juts out into the Thames River. It is connected to the mainland by a 4-acre tidal salt marsh. The shoreline area is known to have been a settlement site by Indigenous people going back 5,000 years and the salt marsh was farmed during the first years of colonial times in New London. Now a natural area within the Connecticut College Arboretum, the tidal and upland areas are designated as an Important Bird Area by the National Audubon Society.

Hosted by: Connecticut Sea Grant and led by Maggie Redfern, Director of the Connecticut College Arboretum

Tickets: $20 | Purchase in Advance

Notes: This will be a rugged 2-mile walk along a trail on uneven terrain; participants should dress in long pants and wear appropriate shoes. No facilities at site.

Meet and park at the east end of Benham Avenue, Waterford/ Quaker Hill, just before the railroad tracks.

Parking: Approximate address of parking area: 56 Benham Ave, Quaker Hill, CT 06375-1702

Sponsored by funding from CT Sea Grant.

Hempstead Historic District Walking Tour – Cancelled

Due to the impending, inclement weather, this walking tour has been cancelled. Please reach out to Connecticut Landmarks with any questions!

Sunday, October 12, 1:00 PM

Description: Join us for a walking tour of the Hempsted Historic District, one of New London’s first African-American neighborhoods.  Hear the stories of the people who lived in this neighborhood and explore how this diverse area evolved.  The neighborhood grew up around the Joshua Hempsted House, built in 1678.  Residents have included slaveholders, civic leaders, abolitionists, a Revolutionary War Hero and at least two enslaved people.

Hosted by: Connecticut Landmarks

Tickets: $10 | Purchase in Advance through Connecticut Landmarks

Notes:  Parking at the Hempsted Houses, 11 Hempsted Street, New London. Tour is 90 minutes.

The Gilded Age Residents of Cedar Grove Cemetery

Saturday, October 4, 11:00 AM – SOLD OUT

Description: The Gilded Age of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was a time of both great wealth and great poverty and people from all along this socio-economic spectrum called New London home during that time. Join us for this tour that features stories of some of New London’s most powerful, politically connected and wealthiest residents, who are now permanent residents of Cedar Grove Cemetery. We’ll also talk about Victorian death, burial and funerary customs and some of the not-so-elite and newer immigrants who kept industry humming in this time period and now are buried at Cedar Grove.

Hosted by: Friends of Cedar Grove Cemetery and New London Landmarks

Tickets: Members: $20 | General Public: $25 | Purchase in Advance through New London Landmarks

Notes: The tour is about an hour in duration. Walking is easy as we’ll stay primarily on the flat, paved cemetery roads. Starting point is near the Plant family monument that is close to the maintenance building. Tour participants will have an opportunity to peek inside one of Cedar Grove’s Gilded Age family mausoleums/chapels.

Parking: is along the paved cemetery roads or near the stone maintenance building at about the mid-point of the cemetery (enter the Broad Street gates, drive straight back and once past the office building, take the second left toward the stone building).

New London Harbor Light

New London Harbor ‘Pequot’ Light is the oldest and tallest lighthouse on Long Island Sound, and still an active aid to navigation. According to the USCG, one can see more lighthouses from up in the lantern room at Harbor Light than from anywhere else on earth. Established as a colonial lighthouse in 1761 under King George III, New London architect Abisha Woodward completed construction of the new (current) lighthouse in 1801. The tower is an 89-foot tapered octagonal tower with 19-inch-thick walls at the base. Originally left unpainted, it was whitewashed some time in the mid-19th century. New London Harbor Light, along with Race Rock Light Station (1878) at the opening of Long Island Sound to the Atlantic, and Ledge Light (1909) create a pathway of beacons leading from the Atlantic to the historic port of New London. All three lights are now owned by the New London Maritime Society.

Tours are available to visit inside Harbor lighthouse on weekends or by appointment year-round and can be booked through the New London Maritime Society.

Address: NL Maritime Society, 150 Bank St, New London, CT 06320
Phone number: (860) 447-2501
Hours: Tours operate on Saturday & Sunday by appointment only for up to five people. Book online today!

Custom House Maritime Museum

Telling the stories of New London’s waterfront, the Custom House offers lighthouse tours and boat trips, an annual chowda’fest, artifacts relating to local lighthouses, US Customs and the Amistad, along with changing exhibitions and a great Museum Shop.

New London’s 1833 US Custom House was built at the height of the City’s maritime power, when New London was the second-greatest whaling port in the world. City leaders had petitioned the U.S. Treasury to build them ‘a gem on the waterfront’. Architect Robert Mills, best-known for his design of the U.S. national Washington Monument, provided just that. Housed in the Robert Mills building at 150 Bank Street, today we are a nonprofit historic site—the nation’s oldest continuously operating U.S. Custom House and scene to much of the area’s maritime history. The Custom House is a lively maritime museum, preservation, and educational organization. Through museum exhibitions and educational programs, the museum actively promotes, protects and celebrates the maritime history and current life of the port of New London and the surrounding region.

Address: 150 Bank St, New London, CT 06320
Distance from Water Taxi Landing: 0.2 miles
Phone number: (860) 447-2501
Hours: Thursday through Sunday, from 1:00 – 5:00 PM, Saturday 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM, or by appointment.

Historic Boat Tour Opening Weekend | June 13-14, 2026

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