February 16, 2025

Please watch our website nl maritime society.org for notice when the museum is CLOSED due to the snow.

Behind the scenes -- Photo, above: Williams intern Raffi Manley has been hard at work keeping our sidewalks clear.

Photo right: Mitchell College intern Joseph rehung pictures in the lighthouse gallery on Saturday.

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

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

NLMS thanks our Donors, Friends,

Members, Shoppers, & Volunteers!

cheers for our sponsors: Anthony and Elizabeth Enders Fund - Charter Oak Credit Union - Chelsea Groton Foundation - Community Foundation of Eastern CT - Dominion Energy - Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee - Kozmik Music Services - Ludwick Family Foundation - Maco Family Fund - Louise Novitch - Robinson+Cole - Veolia/NL Water Authority. Thank you!

from the Frank L. McGuire Library

The New London Maritime Society and Custom House Museum maintains a large collection of photographs, documents, books and objects related to the history of New London, so in 2022 we were delighted to add to our knowledge of Bank Street by acquiring on eBay a map that shows the extent of the Shore Line Railway along the waterfront 150 years ago. Probably dating to around 1874, the map is labeled with the names of the owners of the properties abutting the railway including the wharfs built along the shoreline. It shows the outline of the shore before Water Street was built and includes the small water “cove” next to the Custom House where we now park our cars.

The map is mounted on a canvas backing and measures 52” x 21” and originally the plan was to frame it for display. However, the map has some condition issues and conservation treatments are expensive, and it is known that prolonged display exposes a delicate object like this map to damage from light exposure.The solution to this problem comes in the form of the printout of a high-resolution digital scan of the 1874 map made by Blu-Prints Unlimited that is now on display under glass on the table in the Frank L. McGuire Library on the second floor of the Custom House, with the original now safely stored in a box.

Many of the buildings identified on this map are still here 150 years later, including the Custom House. Some of the property owners were well-known shipping agents and bankers but other names are more obscure and were identified with the help of the New London directories from the late 19th century and other print and online resources. In our exhibit the names on the map are linked to capsule summaries of the lives of these people. The railroad first came to New London in the late 1840s and over the years it became an ever larger presence on the waterfront eventually displacing businesses such as the spar makers and boat builders that once supported the city’s thriving maritime industry.

--Laurie M. Deredita, Librarian

A detail from an undated pre-railroad NL map

A detail from the 1874 railroad map showing how a slip of water used to exist alongside the custom house.

The railroad tracks gradually caused the slip to silt up & become unusable esp. at low tide.

Photo, above: The final library display with buildings and piers keyed to short descriptions.

This week at the Custom House

Librarian Laurie Deredita's annotated waterfront map has been a fascinating feature at the Custom House.

We knew the pier behind the museum, now called the 'Custom House Pier', was formerly used as a buoy dock by the USCG (and before that by the US Lighthouse Service). Apparently it had been the GOVERNMENT WHARF back into the 19th century. Photo,below: NL HarborCam nighttime view of the Custom House Pier, February 2025.

The Custom House Pier when in use as a USCG buoy dock, ca. 1960. Photo, above: Collection James Diaz-Saavedra.

There's a lot to unpack with this railroad map, now on view in the Frank L. McGuire Maritime Research Library at the Custom House. For one thing, the placement of the wharf building, perpendicular to the shore (photo, left), is much preferable to the current shed -- parallel to the shore -- which entirely blocks the water view from the museum yard!

The lighthouse tender, (undated photo, top), marked RELIEF was the replacement for when area lightships (Bartlett Reef, Ram Island, Eel Grass Shoal, Ram Island, Cornfield Point among them) were sent away for repair.

--Susan

Wildlife Highlights is published by the Connecticut DEEP Wildlife Division. They've just published the February edition.

Sign the Connecticut Coalition for Climate Action’s petition to ask legislators to act now to protect our neighbors from the harmful effects of climate change! -- from our friends at Save the Sound.

Raffi Manley has begun an internship project to redo the Archie Chester Room -- a ship model gallery -- on the museum's lower level. He managed to redo one quarter of the space on Friday. Here he is last week showing his mom, Dana Peters, his work.

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.

next Sunday, February 23, 6-9 pm

Open Mic at the Museum

co-hosted by Christina Corcoran and Kenny 'Doc' Frazier

Our monthly open mic welcomes music, poetry, prose, stand-up, or just state what's on your mind.

Show up at 5:45 and get on the list. Open to all ages and abilities for fun and camaraderie. It's a friendly crowd!

Admission is by donation.