CT Summer at the Museum 2022

Downtown Live Concert Series

Reggae: Soulshot / The Hempstead's

Thursday, August 18, 2022 | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Hygienic Art Park

A free concert series hosted at Hygienic Art Park in downtown New London, Connecticut.

Admission - FREE

Happy Hour Cruise benefiting

New London Maritime Society

Friday, August 19, 2022 | 5:30 PM

Thames River Heritage Park

Discover the hidden gems on the Thames during the Happy Hour Cruise benefiting New London Maritime Society You bring the cooler (alcohol permitted), gather your friends, and enjoy a delightful start to your weekend cruising past many historic sites and take in the shoreline views from our navy utility boat.

100% of the profit from your ticket purchase benefits the New London Maritime Society.

Science Saturday

Saturday, August 20, 2022 | 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Lyman Allyn Art Museum

This fun drop-in program, designed for children ages 7-11, encourages participants to explore the intersections between art and science. Community LeWitt: Contribute to a community artwork inspired by Sol Le Witt. Use your geometry skills to calculate the area painted by each of our main Color Wheel colors. Then, use measuring tools to design your own geometric work of art.

Admission - FREE

Old Town Mill

Open House

Saturday, August 20, 2022 | 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM

The Old Town Mill was originally built in 1650 by John Winthrop Jr., the founder of New London and later the Governor of Connecticut. Listed on the National Historic Register, the Mill is one of the oldest industrial sites in Connecticut.

Admission - FREE

Boat Tour: Discover the Thames

One River. A Thousand Stories.

Saturday, August 20, 2022 | 12:30 PM

City Pier, New London

Discover the hidden gems that tell the stories of colonial life, Revolutionary War, Nathan Hale’s last school house, the 2nd largest whaling port and submarine capital of the world, 19th-century Irish domestics, Nobel-prizing winning playwright Eugene O’Neill, the Gilded Age, and more. Includes a complimentary water taxi ticket for the day of the tour.

Boat Tour: Trade, Slavery & the Great Awakening

Colonial Diary Stories of the Thames

Saturday, August 20, 2022 | 1:30 PM

City Pier, New London

Joshua Hempsted began his diary in 1711 as a way to keep track of his many business activities, court sessions, ship traffic, his travels and many other events important to New London or Connecticut. He kept the diary until just before his death in 1758. In its printed form, it is about 700 pages long. The diary has been used to study such diverse subjects as trade with the West Indies, slavery, and the Great Awakening, a period of evangelical Protestant revival. It is also used extensively for genealogical research. This tour will cover some of the diary stories told about activities around the Thames River and other interesting sites along the way.

100% of the profits from your ticket purchase benefits Hempsted Houses, CT Landmarks.

Boat Tour: Submarines, Battlefields, Betrayers

Military on the Thames

Saturday, August 20, 2022 | 3:15 PM

City Pier, New London

For centuries our harbor has guarded the Thames with Navy and Coast Guard installations, the ship building industries that support them, and 2 forts that have seen battles, defeats and the birthplace of the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine. From the vantage point of the river you‘ll understand the strategic value of this storied waterway and region.

Pirate Fest

New London Pirate Adventure

Saturday, August 20, 2022 | 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

New London Waterfront Park

Ahoy landlubbers! Save the date for our new community event to celebrate the lore of Captain Kidd and the fun of playing pirate. Come in costume and enjoy Kalmar Nyckel ship tours, pirate crafts, and cannon demonstrations.Dress like a pirate and join us on the New London Waterfront park for some fun.

Yoga in the Garden

Trish Reyburn, Blissworks

Sunday, August 21, 2022 | 11:00 AM

Lyman Allyn Art Museum

Trish Reyburn of Blissworks Yoga & Healing Arts leads a one-hour classes designed for all levels. Whether you are new to yoga or simply want to switch up your routine, you are invited to perfect your tree pose in the Museum’s gardens. Bring your yoga, towel, water bottle, any equipment you normally use (block, blanket, strap), sunscreen and bug spray.

Classes are open to beginner and skilled yogis alike.

REGISTRATION REQ'D.

Sunday Service

Joe Parise

Anchor Church, Evangelical

Sunday, August 21, 2022 | 11:00 AM

Historic Pequot Chapel

A Charming Victorian-era, non-sectarian chapel with two Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows, Pequot Chapel welcomes all who wish to attend Sunday services, weddings and other special events during the summer.

Boat Tour: Discover the Thames

One River. A Thousand Stories.

Sunday, August 21, 2022 | 12:30 PM

City Pier, New London

Boat Tour: Blowholds, Blubber and Breaches

Whaling the Thames

Sunday, August 21, 2022 | 1:30 PM

City Pier, New London

New London earned its "Whaling City" nickname as one of the busiest whaling ports in the country in the 19th century, a time when whale oil was in great demand. More than 1,100 whaling voyages embarked from the city and the industry created great wealth and opportunity, as well as great misery for many. This tour will tell some of New London's whaling stories: from the captains who commanded the ships and the racially diverse crews who risked their lives on the voyages to the women who waited in port and the few who joined their husbands at sea.

100% of the profit from your ticket purchase benefits Thames River Heritage Park Foundation and helps to connect, support, promote, and sustain over 20 heritage sites and institutions along the Thames.

Upcoming Events in the Park

Community Award-Sharing Ceremony

2022 Outstanding Historic Theatre in America

Thursday, August 25, 2022 | 7 PM

Garde Arts Center

The League of Historic American Theatres (LHAT), the nation’s leading historic theatre advocate, recognized outstanding achievement within the industry when it announced New London, Connecticut’s Garde Arts Center is the 2022 Outstanding Historic Theatre in America at its 46th Annual National Conference in Cleveland, Ohio.

241st Remembrance Ceremony

Candlelight Ceremony

Sunday, September 4, 2022 | 6:00 PM

Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park

The Friends will place 88 luminaries on the Fort grounds each representing a casualty from the battle of Groton Heights. As the name of the slain Defender is read, a candle is extinguished. The Sons of the American Revolution will lay a wreath on the spot where Col. Ledyard was killed with his own sword, and fire a 3-volley musket salute.

This year, The Friends of Fort Griswold will make a special dedication of a new marker honoring Jordan Freeman, who killed British Major William Montgomery with a pike as he scaled the walls of the fort.

ADMISSION FREE

Return of the Nautilus

Opening Ceremony

Friday, September 9, 2022 | 12:30 PM

Submarine Force Library & Museum

The world’s first nuclear powered submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN 571), completed its most recent milestone in its estimated $36 million preservation project and “got underway” from Naval Submarine Base New London (SUBASE), Thursday, August 4, to return to its nearby moorings at the Navy’s Submarine Force Museum.

Note: The Submarine Force Museum will be closed to the public from August 8-18, 2022. The site closure will allow the crew and staff of the museum to complete required maintenance and to ensure the world’s first nuclear powered submarine, Historic Ship Nautilus will be ready to re-open to the public in September.

Haunted Harbor Boat Tour

Ghost Stories of the Thames

Friday, September 9, 2022 | 7:00 PM

City Pier, New London

From the Revolutionary War to as recent as 2020 you discover and hear stories of haunted sites on the Thames and view the eerie locations from the water during this harvest moon cruise. Conducted by Hali Keeler and Leslie Evans, two of the authors of the book, Ghosts of Groton Bank; we leave it to you to decide which stories are the most believable…or not.

Tickets to the Haunted Harbor tours sell out quickly. Reserve your seat today.

Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival

Celebrating the Seas, Uniting our Shores

September 9, 10, and 11, 2022

New London Waterfront Park | Fort Trumbull State Park

Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival honors all those who work on, under or with the sea in naval, marine and other maritime industries by celebrating Connecticut’s maritime heritage, emphasizing the State’s diverse population, and showing the ways the seas have brought people from all over the world to Connecticut.

Full Moon Harbor Cruise

Saturday, September 10, 2022 | 7:15 PM

City Pier, New London

The full moon harbor cruise begins with a stunning sunset as your boat journeys to the mouth of New London Harbor and Ledge Light for the moonrise at 7:30 PM. You are welcome to bring and enjoy snacks and beverages - including alcohol (no glass, please) - while being transported to a magical place and time on the Thames.

Tickets to the full moon harbor cruises sell out quickly. Reserve your seat today.

Forever Young

Neil Young Music Tribute

Saturday, September 10, 2022 | 8 PM

Garde Arts Center

Drawing on the 40+ year career of Neil Young the show highlights many of Young’s popular songs and a few “deep cuts”. The band performs both the acoustic and electric songs that Neil Young is famous for. Their performances are reminiscent of and are heavily influenced by the “Four Way Street” live album recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. They are a high-energy band that is just as fun to watch as to listen to. Audiences are always “wowed” by a Forever Young show!

One Night of Queen will Rock You!

Gary Mullen & the Works

September 11, 2022 - 7:00 PM

Garde Arts Center

A spectacular live concert, recreating the look, sound, pomp and showmanship of arguably the greatest rock band of all time. Hailed as the World’s Premiere Queen Tribute Band with rave reviews from over 650 Performing Arts Centers, Casinos, Fairs, Festivals, and Corporate buyers in the USA since 2008, fans will delight in this note-for-note experience of Queen's mega-hits.

Ongoing Events

CT Summer at the Museum 2022

Free Admission for Kids

Through September 5, 2022

It’s time to explore! CT children age 18 and under plus one accompanying CT resident adult can visit participating museums free of charge through the CT Summer at the Museum program. Before you visit, check for specific program details.

Picturing Mystic - 1890-1950

Views of the Connecticut Shoreline

Through Sept. 4, 2022

Lyman Allyn Art Museum

Historic maps, photographs, and postcards contextualize the works on view, tracing how the village and the landscape have endured and changed over the last 130 years. Postcards and snapshotsreveal how artists were part of a broader visual culture of tourism in New England, helping to shape Mystic’s identity as an iconic seaside destination.

The Will to Change

Gathering as Praxis

Through August 12, 2022

Lyman Allyn Art Museum

Over 60 works of art in an array of 2D, 3D, digital media, performance, and other styles aim to address, build, and repair relation and community and encourages us to honestly love the self and others. Special care is taken this year to explore new relationships, specifically the roles men and boys play in dismantling patriarchy within our communities.