User:RalphThayer/Sandbox

Towns created from New London
New London originally had a larger extent when it was first established as a town. Several towns have since been created from New London as indicated below.
 * Groton in 1705
 * Ledyard (originally North Groton) created from a part of Groton in 1836
 * Montville in 1786
 * Salem created from parts of Montville, Colchester and Lyme in 1819
 * Waterford in 1801
 * East Lyme created from parts of Waterford and Lyme in 1839

Prominent features
New London hosts Connecticut College, Mitchell College, and the United States Coast Guard Academy, as well as the small private secondary school The Williams School. The Connecticut College Arboretum is a fine, 750 acre (3 km²) arboretum and botanical garden. The Lyman Allyn Art Museum is located on the Connecticut College Campus. Housed in a handsome Neo-Classical building designed by Charles A. Platt, the permanent collection of over 15,000 objects includes paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, furniture, decorative arts, and American art from the 18th through 20th centuries.

Ye Antientist Burial Ground, circa 1652, is one of the earliest colonial graveyards in New England. Here is a significant repository not only of the first generation of settlers, but an open air museum of the early stonecutter's art as well. Of all Connecticut burying grounds, this in New London may hold the greatest variety of different carving schools. The Olde Town Mill, built by the residents of New London in 1650 for the Winthrop family, is a picturesque retreat (located beneath the Gold Star Bridge). There is also a historical site in the remains of Fort Griswold (located across the Thames River in Groton, CT), dedicated to Americans that fell in the Battle of Groton Heights defending the fort and the city against British invaders. New London is also home to Fort Trumbull.

Notable residents



 * John Winthrop, the Younger (1606-1676), statesman, metallurgist, alchemist, and physician. Founder of New London. Able and popular Governor of Connecticut (1657, 1659-1676). Obtained from Charles II the generous Charter of the Colony of Connecticut in 1662. Made an Original Fellow of the Royal Society in 1663 -- the only resident in North America. Physician to some 500 families out of a population of about 5,000 persons. Treated an average of twelve patients a day by traveling around the colony.
 * Thomas Miner (1608-1690), author of rare surviving diary from the founding period of New London.


 * Captain James Avery (American colonist) politician, and a military commander.
 * Fitz-John Winthrop (1638-1707; son of John Winthrop, the Younger), soldier, statesman. Governor of Connecticut (1698-1707). In 1694 argued before William and Mary in defense of the colony against covetous Massachusetts and New York, and won royal reaffirmation of the Charter of 1662.
 * Gurdon Saltonstall (1666-1724), clergyman. Governor of Connecticut (1708-1724). Proponent of the controversial Saybrook Platform.
 * Sarah Kemble Knight (1666-1727), teacher, businesswoman, diarist. Author (1704) of The Journal of Madame Knight. (ISBN 1-55709-115-3).
 * Eliphalet Adams (1677-1753), clergyman. An eminent Hebraist, he learned the language of the Nehantics and Pequots, and established schools for those tribes. His congregation elected not to adopt the Saybrook Platform. A renowned preacher and sought-after speaker, many of his sermons were contemporaneously printed.
 * Joshua Hempstead (1678-1758), farmer, surveyor, carpenter, gravestone carver, trader, petty attorney, public official, and diarist. Author of Diary of Joshua Hempstead of New London, Connecticut, 1711-1758. (ISBN 0-9607744-1-6).




 * Timothy Green (1679-1757), printer. Second in the succession of Connecticut printers. Moved from Boston to New London in 1714 to replace Thomas Short, the first printer in Connecticut, who had died in 1712. Eponymous sire to later New London printers Timothy Green (1703-1763) and Timothy Green (1737-1796).
 * Thomas Short (1682-1712), printer. Moved from Massachusetts Bay Colony to New London in 1709 to be the first printer in Connecticut. Printed in 1710 the Saybrook Platform and the election sermon of Eliphalet Adams -- one or the other being "the first book printed in Connecticut", depending on the source.
 * Dudley Saltonstall (1738-1796), naval officer, nephew of Governor Gurdon Saltonstall. First commander of Continental Navy's first flagship, the Alfred.
 * Nathaniel Shaw, Jr. (1735-1782), merchant, financier. Continental Naval Agent for Connecticut during the Revolutionary War.




 * Nathan Hale (1755-1776), schoolmaster, patriot. Yale College Class of 1773. An active and enthusiastic teacher, and an early champion of education for daughters as well as sons. Appointed Master of the Union School in New London, and elected First Sergeant of his militia unit there. Commissioned a captain in the Continental Army in 1776. Volunteered to reconnoitre behind enemy lines during the Battle of Long Island. Captured, he was condemned without trial by the English general William Howe. In spirit and deportment as he faced his death, the twenty-one year-old so impressed the enemy company in witness that his last words are remembered as, "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." In 1925 the first of two U.S. Postage stamps honoring Nathan Hale was issued, in 1963 the USS Nathan Hale (SSBN-623) was launched at Groton, and in 1985 the General Assembly made Captain Nathan Hale the Connecticut State Hero. The Nathan Hale Schoolhouse in New London (Union Schoolhouse, c. 1775) is preserved by the Connecticut Society of the Sons of the American Revolution and is open to the public.
 * John Law (congressman) (October 28, 1796 - October 7, 1873) was a United States Representative from Indiana.
 * Nathan Belcher ( June 23, 1813 - June 2, 1891) was a United States Representative from Connecticut.
 * Edward Clark Potter (1857-1923), sculptor. Works include the iconic (1911) of the New York Public Library.



A reporter for The New London Telegraph before meeting success as a playwright, his autobiographical Ah, Wilderness! (O'Neill's only comedy) and Long Day's Journey Into Night are set at Monte Cristo Cottage, the family's home in New London. The Monte Cristo Cottage is preserved by the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and is open to the public.
 * Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953), playwright.
 * 1936 Laureate of the Nobel Prize in Literature.
 * Four-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.


 * Daniel Burrows (October 26, 1766 - January 23, 1858), a United States Representative from Connecticut.
 * Capt. William Coit American Revolutionary War Captain, responded to Lexington Alarm in 1775, Captain of the first American War Ship 1775-76.
 * Richard Douglass American Revolutionary War Captain, Founding member of Society of Cincinnati.

Among the living, New London is the birthplace of
 * Swing saxophonist Larry Elgart of the "Les and Larry Elgart Orchestra".
 * Major league baseball player John Ellis.
 * Broadway award-winning, and twice Emmy-nominated actress Glenne Headly.
 * Model, actress, and emerging R&B artist Cassandra "Cassie" Ventura.
 * Dawn Robinson, singer and member of En Vogue and Lucy Pearl.

Among the living, New London is the home of
 * Suzette Kelo, litigant in Kelo v. City of New London Supreme Court case
 * Author and editor Ron Suresha

Also, see list of Connecticut College people.

Literature




















Local music

 * United States Coast Guard Band - Stationed at the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London and attracting a cadre of talented musicians from all parts of the country, the official musical representative of the nation's oldest continuous seagoing service was organized with the assistance of John Philip Sousa in March 1925 and regularly stages free concerts open to the public.
 * The Idlers of the United States Coast Guard Academy an all-male vocal group specializing in sea chantys and patriotic music, call New London home. The Idlers often perform in and around New London for both Coast Guard functions and local charitable activities. Founded 1957.
 * Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra. Founded 1946.

It is also home to one of the larger Music Festivals on the East Coast, I AM FESTIVAL. I AM FESTIVAL is an annual culmination of the town's music scene along with bigger acts to accompany them as a headlining band. This festival is booked and promoted by Sean Murray. The Hygenic Rock Fix is also an annual musical showcase that is more for the city of New London that books usually only the local bands of the city. The Rock Fix coincides with the Hygenic Art Festival. New London has been home to an active and vital original music scene since the 70s.

Ecelectic and diverse, many musicians call New London home. Some of the better known include:
 * The Can Kickers, a folk punk band.
 * Cassie, a Pop / Hip-Hop / R&B singer.
 * Dawn Robinson, a R&B singer.
 * Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, an indie rock band.

Resident Artists

 * Barkley L. Hendricks - Painter