Sightsee by Water Taxi: Thames River Heritage Park

Fort Trumbull, a massive granite fort built in the Egyptian Revival style and completed in 1852, whose ramparts provide spectacular views of the harbor and the best overview of the park. As one of the newest state parks in Connecticut, it features a world class visitor center depicting over 225 years of military history.

America’s only Nobel Prize winning playwright, Eugene O’Neill, lived an itinerant life, but spent considerable time in his youth at the Monte Cristo Cottage, the setting for one of his best-knows plays, Long Day’s Journey into Night.

New London’s Historic Waterfront District buzzes with delicious dining experiences, shops, music and art venues. Over 30 eateries populate this 26-block National Register Historic District. Nathan Hale, Benedict Arnold, and Eugene O’Neill walked these streets. America’s greatest architects left their mark on the buildings. From the collection of Tiffany windows at St. James Church to the restored movie palace, the Garde Arts Center, to the shops and plentiful entertainment, there is much to see and do. The Mystic Whaler offers day sails and lobster cruises from City Pier.

Within walking distance of the water taxi landing are the Hempsted Houses. Here in colonial times, Joshua Hempsted wrote in a diary almost every day of his adult life, a record that is used by scholars worldwide. American patriot Nathan Hale taught at the Nathan Hale Schoolhouse, where visitors can read some of the moving letters he wrote to friends and family during his short life. The oldest continuously operating US custom house can be visited at the Custom House Maritime Museum, designed by the architect of the Washington Monument.

Nearby, the Shaw Mansion was naval headquarters during the Revolution, and boasts a priceless collection of documents and artifacts. A little further afield, the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, legacy of a whaling fortune, graces the hill overlooking the town. It is known as a mini Metropolitan Museum of Art for the breadth of its collection of European and American fine and decorative art. Sharing the hill is the top-rated liberal arts institution Connecticut College and the equally prestigious US Coast Guard Academy.

Fort Griswold occupies a vantage point 125 feet above the river. The fort was hurriedly completed in 1781, whereupon it became a bloody battlefield as British troops under the infamous traitor Benedict Arnold attacked. Eighty-five of the 165 local defenders lost their lives on that September 6, a loss commemorated annually to this day. The Groton Monument was the first obelisk completed in the U.S., even before Bunker Hill. The battlefield, the Monument House Museum and the monument itself are all part of the State Park and open to the public.

Home to some of the region’s most legendary sea captains, the Groton Bank National Register Historic District boasts the Avery-Copp House, a Victorianized colonial home furnished with what the original inhabitants used on a daily basis. Experience a time gone by and enjoy tours by costumed guides.

The Ebenezer Avery House sheltered the wounded after the tragic Revolutionary War battle that took place at the nearby fort and remains a testament to the family that heroically took a stand here. Like a wedding cake rising out of the Sound, Ledge Light, built in the Second Empire/Colonial Revival style in 1909, offers an interpretive center, gift shop and a journey through the light house’s remarkable history.

The Subvets WWII National Memorial East on the river bank with a spectacular view of the steel trusses of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge is dedicated to the 3,617 submariners who lost their lives during WWII and displays the sail of USS Flasher heading out the river to sea.

At the Submarine Force Museum & Library, the public is invited to step aboard the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear submarine known for its explorations under the polar ice. Her keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman at the Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton in 1952. Discover why Jules Verne and the Beatles were fascinated by submarines by visiting the museum, which has the nation’s finest exhibits and collections of America’s submarine heritage.