What it turned to was whaling. Through the early and mid-1800s New London became the second-busiest whaling port on Earth, behind only New Bedford, its ships gone for years at a time chasing whales across the Pacific and Arctic. The fortunes that came home built the Greek Revival mansions still standing on Whale Oil Row. As whaling declined, the harbor found new work: the U.S. Coast Guard's officer school moved to Fort Trumbull in 1910, became the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in 1915, and built its permanent campus up the Thames in 1932. Since 1946 the academy's training barque Eagle has sailed from New London, and the city has carried a literary fame too — the playwright Eugene O'Neill spent his boyhood summers here, at the cottage on the harbor he later put on the stage.
New London keeps two seafaring identities at once. There is the whaling city — Whale Oil Row, the old harbor, the Custom House where the Amistad captives once came ashore, the lights at New London Harbor and the offshore Ledge. And there is the Coast Guard city — the academy on the Thames, the cadets, and the Eagle standing out under sail, one of the last great square-riggers flying the American flag. Between them runs the Thames itself, with the ferries pulling out for Orient Point and Block Island, the Amtrak trains along the waterfront, and the working harbor that has defined the place since 1646.
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.
