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New London
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NEW LONDON
, opposite Groton on the west side of the Thames, is the closest thing the region has to a city, although it spreads over only six square miles. Originally settled in 1646, it was a wealthy whaling port in the nineteenth century and today is home to the
US Coast Guard Academy
, 15 Mohegan Ave off I-95, where visitors can wander around a museum of coast guard history (Mon-Fri 9am-4.30pm, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun noon-5pm; free) and visit the training tall ship
USS Eagle
(Fri-Sun 1-5pm; call 860/444-8595 to find out when the ship is in port). Overlooking the academy is the
Lyman Allyn Art Museum
(Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; $4; tel 860/443-2545), part of Connecticut College at 625 Williams St and specializing in American Impressionist works and local decorative arts. A self-guided walking tour of downtown passes along prosperous Huntington Street, where four adjacent Greek Revival mansions are known as
Whale Oil Row
. For swimming and sunbathing, the
Ocean Beach Park
, on Ocean Avenue, has a sand beach and huge saltwater pool, as well as a wooden boardwalk (summer daily 9am-midnight; $2).
New London was the birthplace of boozy playwright
Eugene O'Neill
. His childhood home, the
Monte Cristo Cottage
, 325 Pequot Ave, is open for tours, complete with juicy details of his trauma-ridden early life - though they may already be familiar to you from his
Long Day's Journey into Night
(June-Aug Tues-Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; tours Tues-Sat 10am, noon, 2pm & 4pm, Sun 1:30pm and 3:30pm; $5). The writer's influence is further felt at the O'Neill Memorial Theater Center, 305 Great Neck Rd (I-95 exit 82) in nearby
Waterford
, an acclaimed testing ground for playwrights and actors, where audiences can take pot luck and watch new, often experimental, shows in rehearsal (performances held sporadically May-Aug; tel 860/443-5378). Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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United States,
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