Friday morning ISAAC social studies teacher Russ Hartt walked his 7th graders over to the Custom House to perform an act of Community Service. Within 90 minutes they'd put up our tent --just in time for Memorial Day! Thanks, ISAAC!
 
When the cruise ship came to town last Monday, we knew we'd be busy. Twenty or so of the 109 passengers   from the UK stopped by the Custom House, left. Bill LaRoue gave tours. The Brits liked the lighthouses, loved the 'woolies', and shopped in the MUSEUM SHOP.  
 
Although they'd missed the wedding, (being on a plane at that time), our visitors still had plenty to tell us about the UK.  
 
Two men from the
area near Goodwin Sands, (depicted in one of our paintings, right), provided stories about that treacherous sea famous for its shipwrecks. We've posted their videos online.     
   
 
  
Barbara Gay, of Groton, left, generously donated three big boxes of cribbage boards to the Custom House last week -- her late husband's collection. We're saving several for the museum, but the rest will go on sale soon in the MUSEUM SHOP.  
We're hoping the gift will revive our cribbage group, which used to meet at Jibboom Club gatherings.    
 
Please let us know if you are hankering to play: [email protected].  We will try to get the group going again.  
What's Up at the Custom House  - May 27, 2018
New London Maritime Society - telling the stories of New London's waterfront & preserving four historic maritime sites.
Discover the enormous effect the maritime world has on our daily lives at the Custom House Maritime Museum.    
 
There are many ways to help keep us afloat. 
 
It's a tough time for nonprofits. Although grants fund specific educational programs & preservation efforts, there is little support to pay for heat, lights. insurance, overhead, and our one paid staff member.
It's up to you. 
Please DONATE.   Your gift can make all the difference.
 
Give Susan a call: 860-447-2501, or 203-444-2884 
New London Maritime Society thanks our Friends & Sponsors
Robinson + Cole                                   Docko                  Cross Sound Ferry
John Steffian, Jr.,   the  Chester Kitchings Family Foundation 
 the Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, the Community Foundation of Eastern Connecticut
& the Maco Family Fund
May 22 was the 85th Anniversary of National Maritime Day
Speakers at the Fort Trumbull ceremony were NL mayor Michael Passero and chairman of the CT Port Authority Scott Bates, who believe there are great things ahead for New London's waterfront. See more photos on facebook.  
 
 
The ceremony, above. was followed by a chowda' luncheon at the Custom House, left, for members and friends of the US Merchant Marine.  
The chowder came from Captain Scott's, the macaroons from Elim's Bakery.  
 
 
Earlier in the week, John Laurence Busch gave a fascinating presentation on New London's Captain Moses Rogers, who built and sailed the first steamship across the Atlantic 199 years ago. The timing of National Maritime Day commemorates the Savannah's launch date: May 22. Signed copies of John's book, Steam Coffin, are available in the MUSEUM SHOP.
 
exhibition extended through July 16

Victorian Woolies: Sailors' Stitchery and Other Pastimes
 
The Charles B. Moss Sr. & Paula Moss Collection 
    
'Victorian Woolies: Sailors Stitchery and Other Pastimes' celebrates a recent acquisition of 22 'woolies', or Victorian sailor embroideries -- a gift from Charles B. Moss, Jr.  
 
Like Moses Rogers's Savannah, several of the ships depicted in the woolies, like the one shown in the detail above, used  both sail and steam power. Traditional sailors who'd mended the sails were more inclined to stitch than the new sailors who shoveled coal. 
Thursday, June 14
 
 'A Chance to Meet'  
Thursday,
June 14, 5-7 PM 
   
These informal gatherings present a perfect opportunity for NLMS friends, members and trustees to bring in people they believe will enjoy the museum; it is also an opportunity for young professionals to network, ideas to be nurtured, and for individuals to interact socially. Our goal is for local businesses, individuals, and local government officials to socialize while discussing ideas that can improve our community.
 
Carson's Store in Noank is our sponsor. Questions? call 860-447--2501. 
Come for the discussion at 5, then attend the Tides talk with Mark Borton at 6.  Stay downtown for supper - perhaps across the street at Noodles & Rice! 

Thursdays, June 14 & 28
Untold Tides: the Surprising Influence of the Tides in Human Affairs, with Mark Borton
Thursdays, June 14 & 28, 6-7 PM

Tides are caused by the gravitational attraction of the moon and the sun, and affect everything on earth, not just the oceans.

NLMS member Mark Borton has been researching the influence of the tides for a decade and will present two illustrated talks on the causes and consequences of the tides.

The first talk, on June 14, will focus on the 2,500 year effort to solve the riddle of the tides, which involved many of history's greatest thinkers, including Aristotle, Socrates, Copernicus, Keppler, Galileo, Descartes, Newton, Darwin and Einstein.

The second talk, on June 28, will reveal some of the hidden influences of the tides on love, war, money, and more.

Two Thursday early evenings -- 6-7 PM. Talk, wine & cheese, then we suggest you go have dinner in downtown New London! Tickets for youth ages 8-18 $8, NLMS members $10, $12.

We've  got four Eastern Long Island Sound quilts for sale in the MUSEUM SHOP. $298, 10% off for NLMS members. The land is dark blue, the water kind of steely. White stitches trace the roads and red lettering identifies the towns. The quilt measures  72"x 54" and is made of appliquéd poly-silk layered on top of superfine cotton. H and stitched in India, our favorite local embroiderer, Christina Corcoran, above, has added stars for all eight area lighthouses!  Can you name them? 
Tuesday, June 19
 
The JIBBOOM CLUB meets on the 3rd Tuesdays
June 19, doors open at 1, program commences at 2.

Join Ann Marenakos, art historian, for a talk about National Academy artist Reynolds Beal (1866-1951), who was born in nearby Noank. Anne will discuss a Beale painting in the museum collection and Beal's original sketches of New London.

Visit the Jibboom Club. Join Rob and Russ for a speaker's program, good conversation & coffee.  
Donation for refreshments, only.
 
Perhaps this month we'll add cribbage at 3 PM!  What do you think? 
Keep up with what's up!
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Clink on underlined words - hot links - to learn more
 
Save the date: NLMS is planning a fun(d)-raiser for Friday evening July 6.
We'll have music ( Mustard's Retreat: David, Libby & Mike), chowda', and a silent auction.  
Details to follow. 
 
NLMS president Ed Cubanski receives the Norwich Native Son Award this Wednesday, May 30, at noon at the Holiday Inn, Norwich. It's $15 at the door!  
 
Coming up even sooner: New London Community Orchestra Benefit Concert, with Music City Strings youth players , June 2, 7:30 pm, Clarke Center Auditorium, Mitchell College, 710 Montauk Ave., NL
 
Our neighbors at Studio 33 -- Sarah and Maureen -- have started a fundraiser to benefit both NL  Landmarks and NL Maritime Society. Pick up a blank postcard at either Studio 33 or the Custom House, create a cover design, then mail it back. All cards will be exhibited at the gallery, auctioned off, and the proceeds spit between the two nonprofits.  A few early entries have already arrived, below.
 
Here's the scene before last Tuesday's National Maritime Day luncheon, below.
Make History! You can rent the Custom House for your special event.  
Call Susan at 860-447-2501 to find out more. 

Facebook New London Maritime Society to learn about issues related to our mission of preservation & conservation . We also post community news and conservation / preservation articles.  
 
Custom House Maritime Museum   is on Facebook. 'Like' us to keep up with our events, & school visits, as well as with news of interest about museums.   
 
We love our volunteers, above from left, behind-the-scenes  volunteer coordinator Linda Roselund and NLMS archivist Sue Davis at Noodles & Rice, docent Julianna Rathonyi, supporter Nan Scheiber, and trustee Carolyn Leuze at Captain Scott's. 
    

The Custom House MUSEUM SHOP   offers all kinds of unique gifts. Everybody is welcome in the shop, you don't need a  museum ticket to come in. MUSEUM SHOP gifts have an extra feel good factor: when you shop with us, all your purchases go towards suppo rting the museum, exhibitions, & educational programs.   
 
New this week: One-of-a-kind plush recreations of the coolest birds on the planet -- Oystercatchers (with two egg) and Piping Plovers (with chick) -- have arrived in the MUSEUM SHOP, right. They are handcrafted in the U.S.A. of natural wool felt, and 20% of every plush bird we sell goes directly to the Conserve Wildlife Foundation. If you recollect, the Oystercatcher is the new mascot of New London Maritime Society. The oystercatcher is cool, a little geeky, hugs the shoreline, loves oysters, clams and other shellfish, and - along with the piping plover - is on the endangered list. We can relate!  
Also new this week in the MUSEUM SHOP is the lovely shoreline alphabet book O is for Oystercatcher.
  
Faceboo k  New London Ledge Light  reports the latest on the lighthouse at the center of our harbor.Here it is last week with the Amistad passing by.  

If you're interested in visiting inside Ledge Lighthouse this summer, just shoot  an email to us at [email protected].   
We will start scheduling trips later this week! 
 

Facebook New London Harbor Light   reports the latest on NL Harbor 'Pequot' Light and about American lighthouse preservation.     
  We continue our work to re-establish public access  
to New London Harbor Light, a beloved local historic landmark.

Isabelle, our intern this summer, unpacked and sorted Barbara Gay's cribbage boards. Here she is, left, with her favorite one: a small leather model which folds in half and fits inside a pocket.
 
F acebook Race Rock Lighthouse posts news concerning Race Rock Light and international lighthouse tou rism and preservation efforts. 
 
Facebook Lighthouse Inn, New London, Connecticut to keep up with the Inn's restoration.

Facebook  Lighthouses of Long Island Sound Gateway   to learn news of other area  lighthouses. 

Find your lighthouse is a facebook page for world-wide lighthouse events & news.    
 
The view from the Custom House roof, right. The flags were put out along Waterfront Park. 
 
We congratulate NLMS trustee Nick Korstad, who last week sold his lighthouse at Fall River, MA, and purchased Big Bay, on the upper peninsula of Michigan. In his first week,Nick repainted the lantern. Big Bay is a B&B, so we'll be visiting soon!  

Facebook Sentinels on the Sound posts special events, boat tours, and dates to watch. 
 
The Pawlonia tomentosa or Empress Tree that grows at the front left corner of the Custom House is going to be removed. Its trees roots are embedded in the foundation of the building enabling water to seep in.
The upper branches, as well, knock into the cornice. Debris from the tree -- leaves & twigs -- block the gutters, especially at that upper corner. A special problem here is that the custom house gutters come inside the building, through the attic, and then back again outside. If the gutters are blocked, the water backs up... We have real problems with water penetration at the corners of the building -- the water starts leaking in the attic and makes its way down into the museum's lower level -- that's four floors! This building is City-owned and the City of New London will be removing the Pawlonia. We do not know when...
Once that is done, we can move one of the 'volunteer' seedlings onto the grassy strip along the side street. (And yes, that's a 2nd Pawlonia at the back corner of the property -- it is staying!) 
.  
 


 
Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay, but we can honor their sacrifice. --President Barack Obama
 
It's Memorial Day Weekend. 
 

Your membership matters! Join NLMS today.
New London Maritime Society | 150 Bank Street, New London, CT 06320 | 860-447-2501
nl maritimesociety.org
The Custom House Maritime Museum is open Wednesday through Sunday from 1 to 5 PM, or by appointment | 860-447-2501