Custom House Maritime Museum


Near the ferry terminal, this 1833 building is the oldest operating customhouse in the country, in addition to functioning as a museum. Its front door is made from the wood of the USS Constitution. Tours must be reserved in advance. Lighthouse excursions can be organized from here, as well.

The Custom House is one of five Connecticut sites on the National Park Service's Travel the Amistad Freedom-Seeking Story (www.nps.gov), wherein travelers can relive events of the human and legal drama involving West African slaves who were tried in the state. The story was made into a well-known film of the same name in 1999.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. Hygienic Art

0.08 MILES

Done up in a Greek Revival style replete with a sculpture garden, a mural plaza, fountains and a large performance area, this not-for-profit art space…

2. Hempsted Houses

0.33 MILES

Part of a well-laid-out walking tour are two Hempsted Houses. The wood-framed older one (1678) is one of the oldest 17th-century houses in New England and…

3. Little Pink House

0.38 MILES

Susette Kelo took on pharmaceutical giant Pfizer in 2000 when they tried to exercise eminent domain and tear down her little pink house. The case went all…

4. Fort Trumbull State Park

0.56 MILES

The best view of New London is to be had from the enormous Fort Trumbull, which has stood at the mouth of the Thames River since 1839. It was an integral…

5. Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park

0.79 MILES

Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park is centered on a 134ft obelisk that marks the place where colonial troops were massacred by Benedict Arnold and the…

6. US Coast Guard Academy & Museum

1.36 MILES

Located in Waesche Hall on the grounds of the US Coast Guard Academy is this small, unattended museum. Plans are afoot for the first National Coast Guard…

7. Monte Cristo Cottage

1.41 MILES

This cottage was the boyhood summer home of Eugene O'Neill, America's only Nobel Prize–winning playwright. Near Ocean Beach Park in the southern districts…

8. Lyman Allyn Art Museum

1.49 MILES

This neoclassical building contains exhibits that span the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, including impressive collections of early-American silver and…