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The battle that the British Navy lost. August 9, 1814. Four Royal Navy warships anchored off Stonington Point, commanded by Commodore Thomas Masterman Hardy — the man who had held the dying Nelson at Trafalgar. His message ashore gave the town one hour to evacuate. The town didn't evacuate. The town wrote back: "We shall defend the place to the last extremity. Should it be destroyed, we shall perish in its ruins." Four days later, having failed to take a village of a thousand people, the squadron weighed anchor and sailed away. The flag that flew through it all still hangs in the Old Lighthouse Museum. Most towns build monuments to the wars they win. Stonington just kept the flag flying.
Industry came ashore in 1888, when the stone American Velvet Mill rose on Bayview Avenue. From 1892 the American Velvet Company wove there for a century, and at its 1950s peak it was the largest velvet producer in the United States — roughly 300 broad looms and 450 workers in a town you can walk end to end. The mill now houses artist studios and makers; the fishing fleet, Connecticut's last, still works the docks below.
Why People Visit Stonington Connecticut
Stonington balances genuine maritime history with preserved coastal village charm most New England towns have lost to tourism. Visitors come for the lighthouse climb, the harbor walks, the Federal-era architecture, the working fishing fleet, and the rare experience of a town that has been quietly itself for over two hundred years. It is photogenic, walkable, and uncrowded compared to neighboring Mystic. History, food, and the salt air sit side by side in a way that rewards a slow afternoon.
