New London, Connecticut: The Whaling City's Harbor

New London was founded in 1646 by John Winthrop Jr., who named it and its river — the Thames — after England's capital. Incorporated in 1784 as one of Connecticut's first five cities, it served as the colony's first official port and, by the nineteenth century, ranked as New England's second-largest whaling and sealing port by volume, earning the nickname "The Whaling City." The city's history includes hard blows: on September 6, 1781, British forces under the turncoat Benedict Arnold attacked Forts Trumbull and Griswold and burned the town. The schooner Amistad entered New London harbor in late August 1839, an event now commemorated inside the 1833 U.S. Custom House on Bank Street — designed by architect Robert Mills and a museum since 1983. Playwright Eugene O'Neill spent boyhood summers here at Monte Cristo Cottage, preserved today by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center.

Drivers reach New London directly off I-95, with CT Routes 32 and 85 feeding the city. Train travelers arrive at the 1887 H.H. Richardson-designed Union Station (27-35 Water Street), served by about nine Amtrak Northeast Regional trains each direction daily (Acela no longer stops here) and by CTrail Shore Line East commuter trains from New Haven. Cross Sound Ferry connections to Long Island, Fishers Island, and Block Island depart steps from the station.

Fort Trumbull State Park, built 1839-1852 on a site first fortified in 1777, spans more than 225 years of military history on the harbor. The Lyman Allyn Art Museum, founded in 1932, and the Garde Arts Center, a 1926 downtown theater, anchor the arts scene, while Ocean Beach Park offers a city-owned boardwalk on Long Island Sound. Verified lodging inside New London's city limits was sparse when this guide was researched — Groton and Mystic to the east offer verified hotel options.