Uncovering New London Walking Tours in Connecticut
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A couple weeks ago, I went to the ribbon cutting for Uncovering New London. I found out about the ribbon cutting and the new business from the Eastern Connecticut Chamber of Commerce’s newsletter. When I found out the company offers historical walking tours of New London, I was sold.
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At the ribbon cutting, I connected with the woman who started the company. I expressed how excited I was to have something like this in New London, and she invited me to check out one of the many tours Uncovering New London offers. While I was able to do this tour for free, all opinions expressed in this post are my own.
About uncovering New London
Uncovering New London offers walking tours that dive into New London’s rich history. Many locals know that New London was once one of the largest whaling ports in the world, but there’s a lot more history to discover than just its whaling roots. Below are some of the tours that the company is offering:
- Hidden Gems & Fun Facts
- American Revolutionary War
- New London Privateers & Buccaneers
- The Historic Haunts of New London
- Gilded Age New London
- Crime and Punishment in Lost New London
- Black Heritage Tour
You can find a full list of tours with times and dates here.
The tour starts at New London Union Station. This makes it very accessible because you can take the train into New London and be right where you need to be.
My Experience
The tour I picked was When History Speaks: The Historic Haunts of New London. I’ve taken a lot of haunted tours, and this was truly one of the most unique ones I’ve taken.
What I loved about the tour was that it was based on actual history. I’ve been some on tours that are full of stories that sound made up. However, that was not the case with this tour. Everything was very well researched. There was a lot of history I was familiar with, as well as some information that was new for me. They even had photos to help illustrate one of the stories on the tour.
The other thing I liked was that the tour covered spots that had actually been investigated by paranormal investigators. So many of the sites had actual evidence on record. In fact, we actually got to listen to EVP recordings from sites that were being discussed on the tour. It was incredible. One of the docents even had firsthand experience at one of the sites.
During my tour, we not only got to hear about haunted spots in New London, but also about haunted spots in Groton. Groton is on the other side of the Thames River. During the tour, we could see some of the spots discussed from the waterfront. Below are the sites that were discussed on my tour:
- New London Ledge Light. This is one of the most well-known haunted spots in Connecticut. During our tour, we could see the lighthouse in the distance. I actually had a chance to visit New London Ledge Light last year, and they have a whole room dedicated to the ghost that’s said to haunt the lighthouse. Check out: What To Expect When Visiting New London Ledge Light.
- Fort Griswold Battlefield State Park. This park in Groton is the site of the largest Revolutionary War battle in Connecticut. I highly recommend checking this park out if you haven’t already. It’s a short drive from New London, but there’s also a water taxi in New London that can take you there.
- Bill Memorial Library. This library in Groton was the spot where one of our docents had first-hand experiences, which I thought was extremely interesting. This is one of the great things about having tours led by actual locals. As local myself, most of the information I learned about this library was completely new to me. I’d photographed it before since it’s basically next to Fort Griswold, but I didn’t know anything about it.
- Avery-Copp House. This house is located along Thames Street in Groton. You can see it from the New London side of the river, but you can actually visit the house for yourself if you have time. I’ve toured it a handful of times, and I’ve attended their Holiday Open House in the winter. Despite having toured the house before, this was the first I’d heard about it being haunted!
- Mother Bailey House. This house is also along Thames Street in Groton. The history of the house and Mother Bailey were both very interesting. I’d never even heard about this place or Mother Bailey before taking this tour.
- New London City Pier. At this spot, we learned about a disappearance that happened in fairly recent history. Again, it was something I’d never heard about, even as a local!
- Eugene O’Neill’s Statue. While the statue specifically isn’t haunted, we learned stories related to Eugene O’Neill elsewhere in New London. Also, I’ve definitely walked by this statue before, but I’d never noticed it.
- Thames Club. This building on State Street definitely has its fair share of spooky stories attached to it. I’d never looked twice at it, but it was really interesting to hear the stories about the potential haunts.
- Garde Arts Center. This was our last stop of the tour. This historic theatre was actually featured on Ghost Hunters. I’d seen the episode before, so I was not shocked that this was a stop on the tour. I’d say it’s the perfect spot for a tour like this, given its feature on the show.
While these were the stops on the tour I took, future runs of this tour might have different stops. There are different docents who lead this tour, and each docent makes the tour their own based on their own knowledge and experiences. I don’t really see an issue with this because the docents’ first-hand knowledge and experiences are part of what made this tour so great. It’s not a bad thing for docents to lean into their own experiences and knowledge.
My Final Thoughts
As a local, I really appreciate that Uncovering New London was created by locals who are truly familiar with the area and the stories they’re telling. This is not some large commercial company looking to make a quick buck. These are locals who truly care about the history of the area and the community.
I think Uncovering New London is a great way to dive into some of the city’s rich history. Even as a local to the area, I’m planning to check out the other tours on my own dime because I really did learn so much on the tour I took. I thought I knew a lot about New London, but it turns out I still have a lot more to learn!
