What's Up at the Custom House?

June 29, 2025

#StandUpForScience #Museums4Science

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

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



We're opening our next Community Collections exhibition, John Desjardins' miniature sewing machines on Saturday, July 12 to coincide with a new city-wide event Celebrate New London. ‘Celebrate New London,’ a celebration of the food, live music, art galleries, unique shops, and waterfront that make the City a diverse, culturally rich attraction in itself, will culminate with the annual Mashantucket Pequot Fireworks Extravaganza. Photo, above: John explains his machines to Harry Smith .

Learn more & please help

Replace the Railing

at Race Rock Lighthouse.

We have less than 2 months to raise $25,000! Photo, above: Russ offered to help!

Russ Cereola of Thames Street Laserworks donated six Race Rock suncatchers to the museum Shop -- the sales of which will help fund our work on the lighthouse railing

tonight Sunday, June 29, 6-9 pm



Open Mic at the Museum

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.



The Open Mic at the Museum Facebook page streams Open Mic live and then re-posts many of the individual performances from past sessions. Sponsored by Kozmik Music Services. 

You can think of Open Mic like Make Music Day -- an opportunity for everyone to make music -- and it's every month! There's a friendly crowd. Admission is by donation.

This week at the Custom House

This week we had no special events, so it seems like a good time to catch up, and talk about some of our regular work at the Custom House.

Heat and rain brought out the flowers along the alley, above. It's an ongoing struggle between the bittersweet vine, mugwort, & poison ivy...

Fresh flowers in the front pots are as much a part of our facade as the river buoys on either side of the museum entrance.

Longtime friend, docent, & trustee Jennifer Hillhouse, who passed earlier this month at the age of 92, personally brought those two buoys from Massachusetts to Old Lyme, where they were cleaned, refinished, repainted, and ultimately taken and installed on Bank Street. Here is Jen, right, about a decade ago sharing a picnic at Harbor Light with Bill LaRoue. Jennifer was a force for good for many worthy causes. She will be missed.

I never knew sculptor Richard Salews, but this week I met his sister-in-law Joann Hodge and nephew Jean Carlo Hodge. Richard was part of the Custom House founders group. Now 95 and living in South Carolina, Richard created the Amistad plaque on our front steps.

While not so long invested, I have been at the museum for almost 18 years. This point hit home when I realized that our super-capable intern Isabella Portella is herself just 18! This week, Isabella started making translations of some of our wall text (Niños Ahoy!), helped clean the inside of Harbor Lighthouse, and assisted with rearranging the Shop, right. Isabella will be managing our lighthouse tours to Ledge Lighthouse, which have been delayed but will be starting-up in another two weeks.

Speaking of Ledge, we have two days of cleaning at the lighthouse scheduled for Wednesday June 9, and Thursday, June 10. If you would like to help, please send an email. We have not brought tours out to Ledge since 2023, due to major restoration work done in 2024. We also will need some docents to help with the tours. Come 'on, it's fun!

Thanks to a grant from Veolia/NL Water Authority, trips to Ledge and to Harbor Lighthouses are just $5 for New London residents.

And thanks to a grant from the Chelsea Groton Foundation, admission the the Custom House in now free for New London residents.

Happy summer, --S

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, above: Intern Isabella Portella and lighthouse guide Bob Tellier last week.

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.

The NL HarborCam is your 24/7 eye on the harbor. Photo, above: Nighttime view over the city to the Wind Scylla at State Pier.

Photo, right: we had a visitor from Portsmouth, New Hampshire who preserves Lifesaving Service Stations, and a longshoreman from State Pier on Saturday.

We post video, events, and articles of note on Bluesky. @customhouse.bsky.social

Some accolades for our museum tours, below.

Hi Susan!

Thank you so much for welcoming us to the Maritime Museum. Isabella did an excellent job showing us around the custom house and explaining the history.

I wanted to give Isabella a special shout-out because one of our members was having a tough time- she was recently displaced due to a fire and this was one of her first outings with us since that time. There were a few points when the member was emotional, and Isabella didn't miss a beat. She gave us plenty of time and space. I am very grateful.

We hope to return in the future! Thank you again.

Carin Jennie Estey

(She/They)

Event Coordinator | Artreach, Inc.