What's Up at the Custom House?
September 1, 2024
The Custom House is open
Thurs.-- Fri. 1 to 5 PM,
Sat. 10 AM to 5 PM,
& Sun. 1 to 5 PM.
Congratulations, Christina. Open Mic hit 50 last week!
Back in 2020, Christina Corcoran had the idea to start an Open Mic at the Custom House. At first, to get an audience she'd force her family and friends to show up, photo, above. But gradually Open Mic caught on to where it's now a not-to-be-missed monthly institution. Last week marked the 50th session. Photo, top: Christina with Gene Parise.
Cheers to our sponsors
Anthony and Elizabeth Enders Fund - Charter Oak Credit Union - Chelsea Groton Foundation - Community Foundation of Eastern CT - Eleven+ - Frank Loomis Palmer Fund, Bank of America, N.A., Trustee - Kozmik Music Services - Ludwick Family Foundation - Maco Family Fund - Louise Novitch - Robinson+Cole - Veolia/NL Water Authority -
Yankee Remodeler. Thank you!
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this Thursday, September 5, at 7:00 PM
Book talk and signing
They were 'entirely deceived.'
Why the British Attacked New London in 1781 -- with historian Matt Reardon
'Remember New London!' was General Lafayette’s battle cry to Connecticut troops at the siege of Yorktown. Lafayette was of course referring to Benedict Arnold's burning of the city's waterfront earlier that year, on September 6, 1781.
On the eve of that notorious anniversary, author Matt Reardon will present and sign copies of his latest book The Traitor's Homecoming at the Custom House. As space is limited, pre-registration is recommended. Please sign up online. Admission is by donation. The talk is our contribution to the weekend's Maritime Heritage Festival.
The Traitor’s Homecoming uses dozens of newly discovered British and American primary sources to weave a balanced military study of an often forgotten and misunderstood campaign. Indeed, Reardon achieves a major reinterpretation of the battle while dismantling its myths. Thirteen original maps and numerous illustrations and modern photographs flesh out this provocative and groundbreaking study.
By 1781, the war in North America had reached a stalemate. That changed during the summer when the combined Franco-American armies of Generals George Washington and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau deceived British General Sir Henry Clinton into believing they were about to lay siege to New York City. In fact, they were moving south toward Yorktown, Virginia, in a bid to trap Lord Cornwallis’s British army against the sea.
Clinton fell for the deception and dispatched former American general Benedict Arnold to attack New London. Clinton hoped to destroy the privateers operating out of its harbor and derail militia reinforcements and supplies heading from Connecticut to the allied armies outside New York City.
New London was the center of the state’s wartime naval activities. State and Continental naval vessels operated out of its harbor, which doubled as a haven for American privateers. Arnold landed on September 6 (on a beach just south of New London Harbor Light) and, in a textbook operation, defeated local militia, took possession of the town, harbor, and forts, and set New London’s waterfront ablaze. But that is not how it is remembered. The Connecticut governor’s vicious propaganda campaign against the British and Arnold, who was already infamous for his treachery, created a narrative of partial truths and embellishments that persist to this day. As such, most of the attention remains on the bloody fighting and supposed 'massacre' at Fort Griswold. There is much more to the story.
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Matthew Reardon is a native of northeastern Connecticut. He earned his BA in history and MA in secondary education from Sacred Heart University. His research interests mainly focus on Connecticut during the American Revolution and the Civil War. He has published several articles for the Journal of the American Revolution and served as executive director of the New England Civil War Museum & Research Center for more than 15 years. Earlier this year, he was commissioned a captain in the Connecticut State Guard and serves as a command historian for the Connecticut Military Department. He also currently works as a middle school teacher in Vernon, Connecticut.
You can find Matt's book in the museum's gift shop.
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Please 'like' our new facebook page -- a single place to keep up with What's Up! & special NLMS offers.
We're temporarily locked out of our previous facebook pages, due to a technical error.
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Saturdays, Sundays, & by appointment year-round
a popular destination for more than a century.
Visit Inside NL Harbor Pequot Light
The weather is perfect for visiting Long Island Sound's oldest and tallest lighthouse.
Photo: Bob Tellier.
Climb 116 steps up into the lighthouse lantern. We offer tours every Saturday & Sunday at noon. The views are spectacular! Tours for up-to five people take approximately 40 minutes. To book a tour at other times, send us an email.
Thanks to our friends at Veolia-NL Water Authority and at the Chelsea Groton Foundation, New London residents may visit inside New London Harbor Lighthouse with a $5 ticket through December, 2024! Don't miss this opportunity. Sign up today!
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CH Community Case exhibitions
What would you put in a museum?
We're interested in seeing what you collect!
We are keen to support local people to share their research on local topics, archives, collections, and artifacts. The CH Community Cases will be open to the public whenever the Custom House is open. New displays will be installed every 2-3 months, as available.
On view through September 30: Regan Morse -- Cats Cats Cats, & Christina Corcoran -- Treasures from a Blinman Street attic.
We invite you to email your idea for a display to: nlmaritimedirector@gmail.com.
NB: we're booked for the next six months.
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Tuesday, September 17, 1:30 PM
JIBBOOM Club #1
Circle September 17th on your calendar for Stephen Hambey's Jibboom Club presentation of the Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex. It is a history over 200 years old, but it still intrigues and fascinates today. The story of the Essex served as the inspiration for Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick, as well as numerous books, documentaries, and motion pictures. Stop by the Custom House for some refreshments and a classic maritime history.
Sponsored by the Maco Family Fund.
Jibboom is not a club, but a friendly gathering with a speaker, treats, and good fellowship. The event is FREE and open to all - please come on September 17, 1:30 PM, and bring a friend.
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A few personal questions came up at last month's talk on estuaries, presented by Patrick Lynch. The answers are yes, Patrick has fully recovered from Lyme disease with no ill after effects, and yes, I am finally out of the boot-- my broken foot healed!
Jibboom founder Russ DeMarco and wife Pauline were there!
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Last week U.S. Senator Chris Murphy held a roundtable discussion on Connecticut’s growing Blue Economy centered around the Long Island Sound. It was an opportunity for the Senator to hear directly from stakeholders in the field. Participants included climate scientists, aquaculture experts, marine repairmen, boat manufacturers, seafood restaurant owners, aquatic farmers, representatives from the tourism industry, and local representatives.
Senator Murphy said that these days, with so much federal funding going towards coastal resilience, one of his main efforts will be to expand public access to the shoreline. We couldn't agree more.
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Sunday, September 29, 6-9 PM
Open Mic at the Museum
Open Mic meets on the last Sunday of the month at the beautiful Custom House Maritime Museum.
Co-hosted by Kenny 'Doc' Frazier and Christina Corcoran, our monthly open mic welcomes music, poetry, prose, stand-up or just say what is on your mind. Just show up at 5:45 and get on the list! Open to all ages and abilities for fun and camaraderie!
Sponsored by Kozmik Music Services. Admission by donation.
All programs are livestreamed on the Open Mic at the Museum facebook page and available there to watch.
The Open Mic page also posts many of the individual performances from past sessions.
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A New Roof for New London's 1833 Custom House Museum!
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We've reached 51 donors to our campaign!
We're sending out our first 51 charter donor pins. We've got 49 more, so it's not too late to get yours.
Please donate today. We need a new roof!
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This week at the Custom House
Getting the story right is an ongoing concern at the Custom House.
This week, our docents will visit the New Haven Museum to see the redesigned Amistad exhibition. Although the Amistad arrived in New London harbor almost 185 years ago, the captives were swiftly transferred to a prison on the New Haven Green. In New Haven, Abolitionists worked tirelessly to help free them. Like New London, the Amistad story is an integral part of New Haven’s history. Photo, below: Portrait of Cinque, oil on canvas. New Haven Museum collection.
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You might assume that there’s little new to discover after all this time, but the opposite is true. In the past 15 years, primary materials related to the story have been uncovered in Cuba, Sierra Leone, and the U.S.
The truism 'History is written by the victors' applies to the Amistad. Until recently, it was the American defense lawyers and Abolitionists who were seen as the heroes in that saga; in part that was because they left written records. But as new facts have come to light, historians have revised the story and today credit the steadfast Africans as the real heroes, and the lawyers and Abolitionists as significant but supporting players.
An aside: the phrase, history is written by the victors, is often attributed to Winston Churchill, but it has a much older origin as Matthew Phelan notes in his research on the origins of the phrase:
In 1891, Missouri Sen. George Graham Vest, a former congressman for the Confederacy who was still at that late date an advocate for the rights of states to secede, used the phrase in a speech... “In all revolutions the vanquished are the ones who are guilty of treason, even by the historians,” Vest said, “for history is written by the victors and framed according to the prejudices and bias existing on their side.” In other words, the world has rewritten history to credit the saying to one of the 20th century’s greatest victors , but it’s always been very popular with history’s biggest losers.
I've seen it happen with my own work. Years ago I wrote a design history of Dumbarton Oaks, a renowned Washington, DC, garden. Previous and subsequent histories attributed the genius of the place to the landscape designer, Beatrix Farrand (who was a garden genius). But in my research it became clear that the exacting client, Mildred Bliss, oversaw and contributed to every detail of the design -- she and the designer were true and equal partners. Earlier landscape historians often were landscape architects, themselves -- and that could have been prejudice enough to tip credit in favor of a fellow designer and away from the client. Some also had occasion to meet the imperious Mildred Bliss late in life, and she was a person who would not have engendered sympathetic feelings. For a brief period after my book was published, the patron Mildred Bliss was given her due. But now, twenty years on, the tides have turned. Beatrix is favored. Prejudices persist, and once again, Mildred Bliss is largely forgotten.
There are, in fact, two revisionist Benedict Arnold talks taking place this week: our session Thursday with Matthew Reardon about the true motives behind Arnold's attack, and another -- on the same night at the same time but in Groton -- by John Seward, illustrating how the story surrounding Ledyard's death became an urban legend.
I guess it's fun to burn an effigy -- that's Saturday night. But let's approach Thursday's lectures with an open mind.
--Susan
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I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has had to overcome while trying to succeed.
— Booker T. Washington Happy Labor Day!
Enjoy Saturday's basqueFEST!
nlmaritimesociety.org
The CUSTOM HOUSE MARITIME MUSEUM is open Thurs. 1 to 5 PM, Fri., 1 to 5 PM,
Sat. 1 0 AM to 5 PM, Sun. 1 to 5 PM.
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