It's almost time for Open Mic at the Museum -- it's this coming Sunday, November 30, 6 to 9 PM. Hosted by Kenny 'Doc' Frasier; our monthly open mic welcomes music, poetry, prose, stand-up, or just state what is on your mind -- or present your artworks!

What's Up at the

Custom House

November 23, 2025

#StandUpForScience #Museums4Science

Available now online: NLMS Winter newsletter

Bold red type indicates a hot link. Be sure to click the links to find out more.

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

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

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. Photo: Oliver Marks & his dad visited Harbor Lighthouse from Massachusetts. Ford Gerritt.



Take a tour of Harbor Light to see the 4th order Fresnel lens (in use since 1857) and enjoy stunning views across Long Island Sound. Tours accommodate up to five people and last about 40 minutes. Sign up today.

To book a custom tour, just send us an email. Thanks to a Chelsea Groton Foundation grant, New London residents can visit for just $5 this fall and winter!

Working from our measured drawings, nine-year-old Oliver Marks made a model of Harbor Lighthouse for a school project.

This Week at the Custom House

New London's third graders started visiting, two classrooms at a time.

Last Tuesday was double-booked: third-graders and Jibboom both at the same time! But that meant students from Nathan Hale -- NL's arts magnet school -- got to meet artist Jon Buller, who was the Jibboom speaker. While students liked learning from Jody Barthel about historic landmarks, lighthouse lenses and the Amistad story, they really loved Jon's cartoon exhibition.

And speaking of Joshua Slocum -- whose circumnavigation is the basis of Mr. Buller's artworks -- we received an article from William 'Sandy' Welte in Camden, Maine. Mr. Welte researched the week in 1882 when Capt. Joshua Slocum passed through New London. Entitled 'MUTINY IN THE HARBOR: Joshua Slocum’s Lost Week in New London', Mr Welte suggests that Slocum's difficult experience in New London may have prompted his subsequent decision to henceforth sail alone.

Prof. J. Christopher Kervick also sent us an article this week produced by students in his New London Stories class at Mitchell College.The class is a semester-long research and writing project, and is offered to students in the Thames at Mitchell program. Chris writes: As the wreck occurred on Thanksgiving 1846, its release is timely (I can’t say that was intentional, but still pretty cool). Thank you. I am very proud of their effort. Read it here: The Wreck of the Atlantic, The Journey of a Young Survivor.

We're putting together a new season of Community Collection displays. Please send an email if you've something to share.

Save the dates:

• Our Annual Tuba-Euphonium Holiday Celebration takes place Sun., Dec. 7 at 2 PM.
• The 42nd New London Maritime Society Annual Meeting takes place Dec. 7 at 4 PM.

Happy Thanksgiving! --Susan

If you missed photographer Lisa Kereszi's photos of Little Gull Island when on view at the Custom House, the exhibition has opened at the Branford Public Library, photo right.

next Sunday, November 30, 6-9 pm



Open Mic at the Museum

Hosted by Kenny 'Doc' Frasier; 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 to perform! Open to all ages and abilities for fun & camaraderie. It's a friendly crowd!

$5 donation.

Open Mic needs a sponsor! Send an email for details. You'll be listed in weekly email blasts, on the website, and more!

Tuesday, December 16, 1:30 PM

In December storyteller Claudia Kenyon is bringing her musical group, the Ukeladies, to entertain at JIBBOOM! She's also invited several Jibboomers to tell true maritime tales.

Join us for this end-of-year gathering! Jibboom is not a 'club', but a friendly gathering with a speaker and refreshments. Please come and bring a friend. It's free -- generously sponsored for another year by Rose & Joe Maco!

Now on view at the Custom House

Next weekend is Small Business Saturday

Support your local merchants!

Stroll Bank Street next weekend and stop in at the Custom House Gift Shop. We've got something for every one -- from a vintage Ledge Light teapot to black fig jam and cinnamon-scented beeswax ornaments.

Photos, below, clockwise from top: Ornaments, holiday cards, chocolate lobsters, and fuzzy stuffed birds; batik napkins, black fig jam, a vintage Ledge Light teapot; two large Soderberg prints.

We hosted a 60th birthday Saturday night! The Custom House provides a memorable setting for your wedding, concert, reception, or corporate event.

Spaces are available year-round. Contact nlmaritimedirector@gmail.com for details.

Capt. David Henry shared another photo this week -- an early November sunset at Lynde Point, Old Saybrook, below.