Historical Tours

All tours include complimentary Harbor Cruise ticket for day of your scheduled tour
Advance Tickets: $25 adult / $18 child ages 4-12
Day of Tour Tickets: $30 adult / $23 child
Children 3 and under ride FREE

Please be aware that each 75-minute tour has a specific launch site. Tours may depart from:

Fort Trumbull State Park, New London
City Pier, New London
Nautilus Pier, Groton

In Our Nation’s Defense

Military Stories on the Thames
(Nautilus Pier, Submarine Force Museum and Library, Groton)
From the Revolution to modern Submarine warfare, the Thames River has played an important role in our nation’s defense. Join us on a Navy Liberty Launch for a tour of a Revolutionary battle site, a view of the Coast Guard Academy, and Submarine Base New London. See where submarines are built, learn about Benedict Arnold’s betrayal of our colonial militia, and learn how this region became the Submarine Capital of the World.

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Mohegan Life on the Massapequatuck (Thames) River

Origins of the Mohegans
(Nautilus Pier, Submarine Force, Museum and Library, Groton)
Members of the Mohegan Tribe's Council of Elders speak about the origins of the Mohegan Tribe on the Massapequatuck (Thames) River, and the preservation and protection of Mohegan language, history and culture which continues to this day.

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Discover the Thames

(Fort Trumbull, New London)
What makes this River so interesting and important to the history of CT and the Region? This 75 minute tour will travel along both sides of the Thames south to its mouth on Long Island Sound and North to the Coast Guard Academy. Along the way we’ll get an introduction to the people, places and events which shaped the region; and be pointed to sites you can visit, theme specific boat and self-guided walking tours to learn in more detail the fascinating stories and lives lived in the communities of the Thames River Heritage Park.

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Well-heeled and Wannabees

The Gilded Age on the Thames
(Fort Trumbull, New London)
In the late 19th century New London and Groton were favorite summer vacation spots for the growing middle class - both the wealthy and the comfortably well off. Among the families summering here was that of Louis Comfort Tiffany, whose career as artist, designer, and glassmaker is chronicled in a new exhibit at the Lyman Allyn Museum and Fredrick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect and designer of New York City's Central Park. Board an historic navy utility boat with a seasoned interpreter to see Eastern Point summer cottages in Groton, elegant homes of financier Morton Plant and publisher Theodore Bodenwein, and hear stories of the vacationers from around the world who enjoyed the region in the late 1800s.

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White Sails, Black Hands

The African American Experience on the Thames
(Fort Trumbull, New London)
Beginning in 1639 when the first enslaved person arrived in Connecticut, the number of persons of color steadily increased in New London County. Every town in New London County had a significant percent of African Americans and people of mixed race living and working in them, however, their stories are not always told. This tour will explore the stories of a fugitive slave, Black Revolutionary Patriots, Black Governors and Whalers, the Amistad and more.

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Captivating Books and Stories

Inspired by Sites along the Thames River
(Fort Trumbull, New London)
Cruise along the Thames River and hear about sites along the Thames that sparked authors' imaginations to write their stories. Explore books that tell the tales of the people and events that inspired them like Night of the Moonjelllies, Love and Brutality: The Mysterious Saga of Gallows Road, For Adam's Sake: A Family Saga in Colonial New England; Diary of Joshua Hempsted, Morton F. Plant and the Connecticut Shoreline, Venture Smith: The First Slave Narrative, Jordan Freedman Was My Friend, and Ice Diaries - the incredible true story of Capt. William R. Anderson and his crew's harrowing top-secret mission aboard the USS Nautilus, and more. As these authors attest by their writing, the Thames truly is one river with a thousand stories.

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Hop On, Hop Off Harbor Cruises & Historical Boat Tours Running Every Weekend, All Summer Long!

Historical Tours

In Our Nation’s Defense

Mohegan Life on the Massapequatuck (Thames) River

Discover the Thames

Well-heeled and Wannabees

White Sails, Black Hands

Captivating Books and Stories

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