The Thames River Heritage Park is offering free weekend walking tours of historic downtown New London and Fort Trumbull. The tours are timed to coordinate with the water taxi schedule and designed to offer visitors more options to enhance their experience and more thoroughly understand the significant history and heritage of the park’s Thames River sites.Free walking tours of historic downtown New London and Fort Trumbull with Thames River Heritage Park
Fort Trumbull tours highlight the significance of the fort and the neighborhood from Colonial times through the Cold War. Downtown tours focus on general history and the arts in the city from the time the Pequot Indians controlled the region, through Colonial times and the whaling era, to the contemporary city.
Tours leave from the water taxi docks at City Pier and Fort Trumbull’s Pier 7, adjacent to Coast Guard Station New London. Water taxi riders can hop off the taxi, take the tour and be back at the taxi stop in time to hop onto the next scheduled taxi. Those who want to take a brief tour through history should look for the tour guide in the distinctive blue Thames River Heritage Park T-shirt at the water taxi stop.
The tours are led by New London resident Gail B. MacDonald, a journalism faculty member at the University of Connecticut with a depth of local history knowledge. She is a veteran journalist, the author of “Morton F. Plant and the Connecticut Shoreline,” and a second book, “Hidden History of Mystic and Stonington,” which is scheduled for release in spring of 2020.
The June and July walking tour schedule is as follows:
Friday, June 28: 11 a.m. at Fort Trumbull and 1:20 at New London City Pier
Saturday, June 29: 11:20 a.m. at New London City Pier and 1 p.m. at Fort Trumbull
Saturday, July 6: 11 a.m. at Fort Trumbull and 1:20 p.m. at New London City Pier
Sunday, July 7: 11:20 a.m. at New London City Pier and 1 p.m. at Fort Trumbull
Saturday, July 13: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Fort Trumbull
Friday, July 19: 11 a.m. at Fort Trumbull and 1:20 p.m. at New London City Pier
August dates to be announced.
Follow Thames River Heritage Park on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on the tours and all other park and water taxi activities.
