CTMaritimeFest.com
September 11-13, 2014
Welcome
The Connecticut Maritime Heritage Festival will be a fun-filled time on the waterfront of
this historic city whose fate has always been linked to the sea and some significant events in
our country’s history. As with our previous festivals we will be highlighting our state’s
maritime heritage, history and spirit of innovation.
Looking out into the harbor you will see a variety of ships that include schooners, working
fishing boats and the Thomas Jefferson, a 208-foot ship operated by NOAA which performs vital
research and survey work.
We expect other ships as well, and a number of other exciting activities including our 2nd annual Great New London Chowder
Challenge featuring the best “chowda” from local restaurants. We will recognize the most popular with the Fan Favorite award,
based on voting by the general public.
There will be the Connecticut-Made Expo showing off the work of Connecticut’s talented and innovative entrepreneurs, a
schooner race and a host of other activities.
We thank Connecticut’s Department of Economic and Community Development for its support, along with local businesses
and individuals who have contributed to make this festival a great success.
We at OPSAIL CONNECTICUT are thankful that Connecticut’s Lieutenant Governor, Nancy Wyman, is our honorary
chairwoman. We are also thankful to the many volunteers whose hard work and dedication make this festival possible.
John S. Johnson, Chairman
OpSail Connecticut
CTMaritimeFest.com
Kevin Cavanagh, Vice Chairman
OpSail Connecticut
September 11-13, 2014
Scenes from 2013
Photos: Joe Geraci II
Proud to support the 2014 Maritime Heritage Festival!
Pre order your iPhone 6 at Wireless Zone today!
351 North Frontage Rd.
New London, CT 06320
(860) 439-1000
CTMaritimeFest.com
220 Connecticut 12
Groton, CT 06340-3414
(860) 448-9000
September 11-13, 2014
Schedule of Events
Thursday,
Sept. 11
Friday,
Sept. 12
Saturday,
Sept. 13
Schooners begin arriving at
City Pier and are available
for viewing
2 p.m. Welcoming Ceremony,
City Pier with Lt. Gov. Wyman
and Mayor Finizio
10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Ships open
for visits, at City Pier with some
available for chartered cruises.
6:30 p.m. Sea Chanty singing:
David Littlefeld
at Hygienic Art Park
5 p.m. musical entertainment by
Vince Thompson and Friends
Great New London
Chowder Challenge
8:30 p.m. Lighted Boat Parade,
Thames River, (boats assemble at
Thames Yacht Club and proceed
north to City Pier area)
Education exhibits
near City Pier
7 p.m. film showing:
Connecticut & The Sea
at Hygienic Art Park
LISTEN LIVE:
98.7 WNLC
Friday • 5 - 7pm
100.9 Roxy
Saturday • 9am - 12 noon
97.7 WCTY
Saturday • 12 noon - 3pm
A few steps from the waterfront...
The Custom House Museum at 150 Bank Street, operated by the New London
Maritime Society, offers the best lighthouse tours in New England, say the editors
of Yankee Magazine. It has a permanent exhibit on the slave ship Amistad, which
175 years ago in August came to New London—the only U.S. port it visited.
You can visit its Amistad exhibit and look at the museum’s extensive maritime
collection from Tuesday through Sunday, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Call 860-447-2501.
www.nlmaritimesociety.org
An equally short distance from the waterfront is the restored Nathan Hale School
House, where the young American patriot taught before joining George Washington’s
forces in the Revolutionary War and volunteering for a intelligence gathering mission.
He is Connecticut’s designated State Hero who is perhaps best remembered for the
immortal line, “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country” shortly
before being executed by the British. The school house just off the city’s Parade is
open Thursday through Sunday, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment for groups.
CTMaritimeFest.com
Connecticut-Made Expo
displays along Waterfront Park
Monster Mural
painted by young people
1 p.m. musical entertainment by
Jim Carpenter and the Hoolios
Custom House Pier
Approx. noon -2 p.m.
Schooner Race in Fisher’s Island
Sound, with ships returning
to City Pier in waterfront area
Wheeling City Segway
demonstrations/tours
5 p.m. 7 p.m.
Schooner Awards Reception,
Hygienic Art Park
September 11-13, 2014
The Great New London
Chowder Challenge is here!
Calling all “chowda” heads. Don’t miss the 2nd annual
Chowder Challenge on Saturday, September 13th, part of
the CT Maritime Heritage Festival. It will feature “chowda”
samples from New London’s best chefs, serving samples of
their sumptous creations.
Chefs will compete for the coveted title of Fan Favorite Chowder.
You be the judge!
Vote for who you think has the best chowder
in New London. Each restaurant will have
its own chowder stations set up.
Tickets are only
$10 for 12 tickets
CTMaritimeFest.com
September 11-13, 2014
CTMaritimeFest.com
September 11-13, 2014
CTMaritimeFest.com
September 11-13, 2014
New London Harbor
on the Thames River
New London Harbor has
been the primary driver for the region’s
economy since it was first established by
English settlers. With its deep wide channel
large ships can safely approach the wharfs
and the river hardly ever freezes over. It is
sheltered from the Atlantic by Long Island
Sound, but close to the end of the Sound it
has easy access to the ocean just beyond.
Connecticut’s only deep-water port, New
London became an important colonial port
known primarily for the “West Indies
trade.” Plantations on the islands of the
Caribbean were growing sugar cane to the
exclusion of everything else and imported
farm products, salted cod, and barrel staves,
to name just a few of the products coming
from New England. New London was
particularly known for shipments of live
animals – horses. What they brought back
in exchange was sugar, molasses and rum.
During the Revolution, with merchants no
longer able to trade to the West Indies, they
turned to privateering, commerce-raiding
by commissioned privately owned ships.
With New York City serving as British
headquarters, the Thames River was a
perfect place from which to launch attacks
on British commerce. During the War of
CTMaritimeFest.com
1812 the harbor and the Sound just
beyond was again the scene of naval
battles and a British blockade that
lasted until the war ended in 1815.
As economies grew after these
wars New London became an
important whaling port, the
second largest in the country by
the middle of the nineteenth
century. The enterprise required
shipbuilders, coopers, blacksmiths,
bakers, and entrepreneurs, and
created a great deal of wealth in the city.
Much of the architectural richness of the
city can be traced back to whaling money.
After the Civil War the city grew as a
transportation hub with the Thames River
as the common link between trains,
steamboats and a growing center for
recreation with resorts built right on the
water. Industry also grew, with access to
the water being aided by the construction
of State Pier in 1918. The creation of the
first submarine base in the country that
same year on the Thames River is testament
to the value of this excellent port.
Almost at the same time, the newly formed
United States Coast Guard established their
Signal Flags of New London
Whaling Companies, 1846.
John Ewen, Jr.
training center – becoming the Coast Guard
Academy – at Fort Trumbull, and later
moved to their present campus in 1931 on
land offered by the city. While this is a rich
heritage, even today, shipbuilding, ferries,
the State Pier, the Navy, and the Coast
Guard – as well as recreational boaters –
make New London Harbor an active port.
Edward Baker
Executive Director
New London County Historical Society
September 11-13, 2014
CTMaritimeFest.com
September 11-13, 2014
CTMaritimeFest.com
September 11-13, 2014