Things to do in Connecticut Coast
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Frank Pepe's
New Haven's most famous eatery takes its name from the Italian immigrant who tossed America's first pizza a century ago. You'd best believe they've got the recipe down pat. For the ultimate, order Pepe's signature white pizza topped with garlicky fresh clams.
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Modern Apizza
Lots of locals believe that this place serves up pies as good as, if not better than, Frank Pepe’s and Sally’s – and without the throngs. Despite the name, it’s been tossing dough since 1934.
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Peabody Museum of Natural History
Wannabe paleontologists will be thrilled by the dinosaurs at the Peabody Museum of Natural History.
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Mystic Seaport Museum
From simple beginnings in the 17th century, the village of Mystic grew to become one of the great shipbuilding ports of the East Coast. In the mid-19th century, Mystic’s shipyards launched clipper ships, many from the George Greenman & Co Shipyard, now the site of Mystic Seaport Museum. Today, the museum covers 17 acres and includes more than 60 historic buildings, four tall ships and almost 500 smaller vessels. Some buildings in the museum were originally here, but, as with Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, many were transported from other parts of New England and arranged to recreate a resemblance to the past. Interpreters staff all the buildings and are all to…
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Hammonasset Beach State Park
Though not off the beaten path by any means, the two full miles of flat, sandy beach at Hammonasset Beach State Park handily accommodate summer crowds. This is the ideal beach at which to set up an umbrella-chair, crack open a book and forget about the world. The surf is tame, making swimming superb; restrooms and showering facilities are clean and ample; and a wooden boardwalk runs the length of the park. There is no entry charge in the off-season. Stroll the boardwalk all the way to Meigs Point at the tip of the peninsula and visit the Nature Center before heading out on a trail that meanders through saltwater marshes. Excellent bird-watching here. Hammonasset is a Nati…
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New Haven Green
New Haven’s spacious green has been the spiritual center of the city since its Puritan fathers designed it in 1638 as the prospective site for Christ’s Second Coming. Since then it has held the municipal burial grounds – graves were later moved to Grove Street Cemetery – several statehouses and an array of churches, three of which still stand. The 1816 Trinity Church is Episcopal and resembles England’s Gothic York Minster, featuring several Tiffany windows. The Georgian-style 1812 Center Church on the Green (United Church of Christ), a fine New England interpretation of Palladian architecture, harbors many colonial tombstones in its crypt. The 1814 United Churc…
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Monte Cristo Cottage
Part of a well-laid-out walking tour is Monte Cristo Cottage, the boyhood summer home of Eugene O’Neill, America’s only Nobel Prize–winning playwright. Near Ocean Beach Park in the southern districts of the city (follow the signs), the Victorian-style house is now a research library for dramatists. Many of O’Neill’s belongings are on display, including his desk. You might recognize the living room: it was the inspiration for the setting for two of O’Neill’s most famous plays, Long Day’s Journey into Night and Ah, Wilderness! Theater buffs should be sure to visit the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in nearby Waterford, which hosts an annual summer series of…
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Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough
Lobster lovers should check out Abbott’s, on the waterfront in neighboring Noank. Order your lobster (or other seafood) at the window, get a number, pick out a table by the water and, when your number is called, pay and dig in. New England doesn’t get much better than this on a warm summer night. Just down the road is Abbott’s sister business, Costello’s Clam Shack, open similar hours. To reach both from Mystic, take Water St/Rte 215 southwest. When you reach a stop sign take a left (Mosher Ave) and stay right when it divides. Turn left onto Main St and right onto Pearl. BYOB beer or wine.
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Grove Street Cemetery
Three blocks north of the green, this cemetery holds the graves of several famous New Havenites behind its grand Egyptian Revival gate, including rubber magnate Charles Goodyear, the telegraph inventor Samuel Morse, lexicographer Noah Webster and cotton-gin inventor Eli Whitney. It was the first chartered cemetery in the country in 1797 and the first to arrange graves by family plots. Around the turn of the century, Yale medical students would sneak in at night to dig up bodies for dissection, but you can simply join the free walking tour at 11am on Saturdays.
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Tomb
The Tomb is not open to the public. This is the home of Yale’s most notorious secret society, the Skull & Bones Club, founded in 1832, and its list of members reads like a ‘who’s who’ of high-powered judges, financiers, politicians, publishers and intelligence officers. Stories of bizarre initiation rites and claims that the Tomb is full of stolen booty like Hitler’s silverware and the skulls of Apache warrior Geronimo and Mexican general Pancho Villa further fuel popular curiosity.
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Maritime Aquarium
This aquarium focuses on the marine life of the Long Island Sound, including sand tiger sharks, loggerhead turtles and harbor seals, whose daily feedings at 11:45am, 1:45pm and 3:45pm are a real treat. IMAX movies are also shown throughout the day for an additional fee. For a more hands-on experience, take a 2½-hour cruise on the research vessel Oceanic (per person $20.50). Cruises depart at 1pm daily in July and August, and on weekends in April through June and September.
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Henry B duPont Preservation Shipyard
At the Henry B duPont Preservation Shipyard you can watch large wooden boats being restored. Be sure not to miss the Wendell Building, which houses a fascinating collection of ships' figureheads and carvings. Close by is a small 'museum' for children seven and under. The Seaport also includes a small boat shop, jail, general store, chapel, school, pharmacy, sail loft, shipsmith and ship chandlery - all the sorts of places that you'd expect to find in a real shipbuilding town of 150 years ago.
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Union League Café
Here’s an upscale French bistro in the historic Union League building. Expect a menu featuring continental classics like cocotte de joues de veau (organic veal cheeks with sautéed wild mushrooms, $25) along with those of nouvelle cuisine. If your budget won’t stretch to dinner, slip in for a sinful dessert like crêpe soufflé au citron (lemon crepes) washed down with a glass from the exquisite wine list. Date place par excellence.
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Miya’s Sushi
Superlative sushi – probably the best in the state – is prepared in this low-key spot by chef Bun Lai, two-time winner of the Taste of the Nation Award. Sushi appetizers sport alluring names like the Concubine’s Delight (smoked salmon and goats cheese wrapped in tempura eggplant), but the true star is the kaiseki ($30), a truly exceptional prix-fixe meal highlighted by several inventive sashimi arrangements, which must be ordered in advance.
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Restaurant Jean-Louis
Head to Restaurant Jean-Louis for a meal that neither your tastebuds nor your wallet will forget soon. Jean-Louis and Linda Gerin – chef and manager, respectively – have garnered accolades for their ‘nouvelle classique, ’ with dishes like pan-seared ostrich thigh fillet with polenta and cognac sauce. The five-course tasting menu is the ideal way to taste a variety of offerings, and the prix-fixe lunch menu is a bargain at $29.
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Yankee Doodle Sandwich & Coffee Shop
The family-run Doodle is a classic ’50s hole-in-the-wall American lunch counter – Formica countertop, chrome and plastic stools, real fountain soda – with prices to match. Despite the name, burgers and breakfast are the draws here. The defunct cigarette machine in the corner is kept around for purely nostalgic reasons – it was installed on the day JFK was shot. When Yale’s not in session, Doodle’s hours are sharply curtailed.
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Nathan Hale Schoolhouse
Part of a well-laid-out walking tour is the tiny Nathan Hale Schoolhouse is one of the many Connecticut schoolhouses that bear the name of this peripatetic pedagogue. Hale (1755–76) is famous for his patriotic statement, ‘I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country, ’ as he was about to be hanged for treason by the British without trial. He taught in this schoolhouse before enlisting in the Connecticut militia.
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Yale University
Each year, thousands of high school students make pilgrimages to Yale University, nursing dreams of attending the country's third-oldest university, which boasts such notable alums as Noah Webster, Eli Whitney, Samuel Morse, and Presidents William H Taft, George HW Bush, Bill Clinton and George W Bush. You don't need to share the students' ambitions to take a stroll around the campus, which evokes the university's illustrious history and impact on American life.
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Sheffield Island Lighthouse
The Norwalk Islands lie a half-mile off the coast of SoNo, and are the playground of coastal birds. Admission to the historic Sheffield Island Lighthouse, activated in 1868, is included in the price of the summer-only ferry ride to see the birds. Or if you want to take matters into your own hands, you can kayak there. The Small Boat Shop leads two-hour, four-hour and all-day trips to the islands in the summer.
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Scoozzi Trattoria
At York St, next to the Yale Repertory Theatre, this basement trattoria serves trendy Italian fare with strong New American cuisine accents. The little pizzettes and other appetizers like mussels and calamari sautéed with red grapes are favorites with the before- and after-theater crowd, who combine them with wine by the glass to make a light supper. Weather permitting, there’s outdoor dining in an intimate courtyard. Reservations recommended.
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Ocean Beach Park
- New London, USA
- Sights › Park
Part of a well-laid-out walking tour is at the southern end of Ocean Ave: Ocean Beach Park, a popular beach and amusement area with waterslides, a picnic area, miniature golf, an arcade, a swimming pool and an old-fashioned boardwalk. The parking fee ($9 on weekdays, $13 on weekends) includes admission for everyone in your car, or else it’s $5 for adults and $3 for kids. After Labor Day (early September), weekdays are free.
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Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Part of a well-laid-out walking tour is the Lyman Allyn Art Museum, a neoclassical building with exhibits that span the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, including impressive collections of early American silver and Asian, Greco-Roman and European paintings. Among the highlights are the American impressionists gallery and the charming doll and toy exhibit. There’s also a self-guided children’s art park on the grounds.
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Hempsted Houses
Part of a well-laid-out walking tour are two Hempsted Houses, the wood-framed older one (1678) is one of the best-documented 17th-century houses in the country. Maintained by the descendants of the original owners until 1937, it is one of the few 17th-century houses remaining in the area, having survived the burning of New London by Benedict Arnold and the British in 1781. The house is insulated with seaweed, of all things.
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Lockwood Mathews Mansion Museum
This is one of the best surviving Second Empire–style country houses in the nation, so it’s no wonder the 62-room mansion was chosen as the set for the 2004 version of The Stepford Wives. The 2nd floor houses the Music Box Society International’s permanent collection of music boxes, viewable (and listenable) only if you’re on a tour. Tours leave every hour on the hour.
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ZINC
Whenever possible, this trendy bistro’s ingredients hail from local organic sources, but the chef draws inspiration from all over, notably Asia and the Southwest. There’s a constantly changing ‘market menu, ’ but for the most rewarding experience, share several of the small plates for dinner, like the smoked duck nachos or the prosciutto Americano crostini. Reservations recommended.
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