The water came first. The Pequot people lived and fished at the mouth of the Thames, and the settlement that John Winthrop the Younger began here in 1646 was called Pequot until it was renamed New London in 1658 — for the city in England, on a river the colonists renamed the Thames to match. With one of the best deep-water harbors on the coast, New London became a shipbuilding and shipping town, and in the Revolution a base for privateers who captured hundreds of British vessels. That made it a target: on September 6, 1781, a British force led by Benedict Arnold burned much of the city and stormed Fort Griswold across the river. New London rebuilt — chartered as a city in 1784, it turned back to the sea.
Our New London logo carries Connecticut's oyster shell over "1636" — the shared emblem of every Merlin Classics Connecticut town, marking the founding year of the Connecticut Colony. The oyster shell is the state's maritime shorthand: abundance, the shoreline, the working coast. Printed black-and-white with the worn look of an old oyster-crate label or a piece of coastal signage, it reads as vintage New England. What makes this one New London is the place behind it: the Whaling City, the Coast Guard Academy, the deep harbor on the Thames. On a tee or a cap it reads less like a souvenir and more like a piece of the Connecticut shoreline — worn plain.
Why People Visit New London Connecticut
- Visit the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and, when she's in port, the barque Eagle.
- Tour Fort Trumbull State Park, the granite fort with harbor views and coastal-defense exhibits.
- See New London Harbor Light and the offshore New London Ledge Lighthouse.
- Walk Whale Oil Row and the historic downtown around Bank Street and the 1833 Custom House.
- Spend a summer day at Ocean Beach Park, or catch a show at the Garde Arts Center.
- Ride the Cross Sound Ferry across to Orient Point, or sail for Block Island.
