What's Up

at the

Custom House?

May 4, 2025

#StandUpForScience #Museums4Science #ACTDay25

The Custom House is Open Thurs.- Fri. 1-5 PM,

Sat. 10 AM-5 PM, Sun. 1-5 PM.

Sunday, May 18, 4 PM

It's time for our Annual Seal Watch.

Sunday afternoon, May 18, we'll board the Black Hawk and travel out to Little Gull Island & beyond.

Local seals are actually Maine natives who make Long Island Sound their winter/spring and sometimes permanent home. On this trip, we'll leave from Niantic and head out west to Little Gull, Great Gull, and Plum Islands -- wherever the seals are. 

Photo, above: a past Seal Watch trip on the Black Hawk.

Bring your camera and binoculars. We'll bring a drink and snack! The boat leaves at 4, so plan to arrive by 3:30 PM. It's about a 2 hour+ round-trip. Sign up HERE today!

This week at the Custom House

Our volunteers went a step beyond this week at the Custom House.

Thanks to everybody for jobs well done! Christina held another successful Open Mic. Dick and Joe swapped the chalk board and brochure rack in the entryway. With warm weather and the doors being open to the outside, that rack became a mess. Felix remedied this by installing guide strings -- tidy!

We had the opposite problem with the children's books in the shop--the book slots were too deep. Felix slid in some 2x4s & voila: Perfection!

New to the group is Leonard Loew, a former USCG-er and recent graduate of the TRHP docent academy. Leonard didn't miss a beat giving tours on Saturday. A merchandising wizard, Leonard deftly put a sheen on the Shop.

We're looking for volunteers to help get Ledge Lighthouse ready for summer.

We've got cleaning and painting to do and the work may commence very soon.

We'll be going out on the weekends. Want to help? Email your contact information and we'll notify you as soon as we have dates! --Susan

Saturdays, Sundays, & by appointment year-round

a popular destination for more than a century.

Visit Inside NL Harbor Pequot Light

Visit Long Island Sound's oldest and tallest lighthouse.

We offer Harbor Light tours every Saturday & Sunday at noon. Climb 116 steps up into the lighthouse lantern. The views are spectacular!​ Tours for up-to five people take approximately 40 minutes. Sign up today. To book a custom tour, send us an email.

on view through May 11

Picturing Us at the Beach: Vintage Photography in the Studio and on the Sand, vintage photography from the collection of Lisa Kereszi. Photo, left.

Sunday, May 25, 6-9 pm

Open Mic at the Museum

Co-hosted by Kenny 'Doc' Frazier and Christina Corcoran, our monthly open mic welcomes music, poetry, prose, stand-up, or just state what is on your mind. Show up at 5:45 and get on the list! Open to all ages and abilities for fun & camaraderie. It's a friendly crowd!



Sponsored by Kozmik Music Services.  Admission is by donation. The Open Mic at the Museum Facebook page posts many of the individual performances from past sessions. Photo, above: April Open Mic at the Museum.

The Coast Guard First District Commander seeks public input on Aid to Navigation AtoN changes Proposed. The Coast Guard is modernizing and rightsizing the buoy constellation, whose designs mostly predate Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), Electronic Navigation Charts (ENC), and Electronic Charting Systems (ECS), for long-term reliability and serviceability.

Interested mariners are strongly encouraged to comment on this in writing, either personally or through their organization. All comments will be carefully considered and are requested prior to 13 June 2025. When responding to this proposal, please include size and type of your vessel, recreational or commercial, how you use the signal to navigate, and distance at which you start looking for and utilizing it. Only written responses to this proposal will be accepted. Refer to Project No. 01-25-015.

• E-mail can be sent to: D01-SMB-DPWPublicComments@uscg.mil. 

Something Special for Mother? Visit the Museum Shop!

The Jacksons London

The Jacksons bags are made from jute — a plant that is completely rain fed and requires no additional energy making jute products virtually carbon free.

The work celebrates traditional skills of rural Bangladesh. The weaving is done by women completely by hand -- it's like macrame. The goal is to give as many women as possible a means to earn their own money and gain equity within society.

The Jacksons use boats to transport production from Bangladesh to Europe whenever possible. They use as little plastic as possible in their packaging and whenever possible, they recycle. This is a company we respect!

Act up for ACT Day, Wednesday, May 7th

Come to the Capitol Building in Hartford for Arts, Culture, and Tourism Advocacy Day on May 7, 2025! This is a chance to show legislators how vibrant and important our sector is to the state, and to meet your representatives. Be creative with what you bring! Dress in costume, bring instruments, the more creative and interactive the better!

Schedule

10:00AM Event Start, Tables in the lobby, networking, special surprises

10:30AM Press Conference with Arts, Culture, Tourism Caucus Leadership and others

10:45AM-1:30PM Tables in the lobby, networking, special surprises

The CT Arts Alliance will be providing handouts to everyone that illustrate the impact of our sector on the state, and there will be stickers for everyone to show their support.

The NL HarborCam is your 24/7 eye on the harbor. Photo, above: a submarine exits the harbor.

Please share Bluesky our new social media platform so that we can find our people! We post video, events, and articles of note. @customhouse.bsky.social

May Flowers. Photo, below: Gretchen van der Lyke's floriferous fabrications are on view & for sale next door to the museum at Studio 33 through June.