Fort Trumbell and Fort Griswald, CT

Fort Trumbell

    Over the winter a rare bird was found in New London, Connecticut. We went for it but didn't see it. What we did see was a state park named Fort Trumbell with a very large concrete fort just feet from the parking lot. I love history but had never heard of this fort. There was no doubt that we were going to go back in the summer when the fort would be open for exploration.  Last Saturday was the opportunity... 

   We had three specific things to do on the trip

    

     1. Explore the fort

    2. Take a boat trip around New London Harbor

    3. Get lunch a mile from the fort at a little beach joint named Fred's Shanty

   We got to New London roughly 9:15 am. We went into the Visitor Center and paid the  six dollar admission fee. This covered the self guided tour of Fort Trumbell and the museum in the VC. We went into the museum first where we watched an introductory video. There was a lot of reading in the museum and not too many artifacts. Still we learned a lot. 

   

After Benedict Arnold turned traitor, we invaded the Thames River in 1781 with the intent on burning New London. There were two forts on the river, one on each side. Fort Trumbell and Fort Griswald protected the harbor. When Arnold invaded he split his force. He sent men to burn New London and others to take the fort. It turned out that taking Fort Trumbell was easy. All of the canon batteries faced the sea so it was very easy to take it from the backside. The Americans realized this, spiked the canons and crossed the river to help defend Fort Griswold. So in reality, Fort Trumbell did not really see any action during the Revolutionary War. This small disappointment did mean we would want to go to Fort Griswold. but more on that later...

    It did turn out there is a ton of history at Fort Trumbell. It was rebuilt in a more modern form in the 1800's. It's real claim to fame happened during the twentieth century though. The fort was turned into a science lab and the military developed sonars to identify German submarines (U-boats). Moat of the technology that was used in WWI and WWII was to fight off German subs was developed right at Fort Trumbell. There were short videos in the museum that explained how the technology was developed. 

   We explored the fort after the museum and the grounds around the fort with views of New London Harbor and the massive Electric Boat Company. In the fort there were rooms that were made to look like different periods in it's history. 

 

The water taxi

 Part two was to take a boat ride. There is a water taxi that stops at Fort Trumbell, slightly upriver at City Point, and across the bay near Fort Griswold. The cost is ten dollars and it only runs on weekends. We didn't plan on getting off, we just wanted to take a boat ride. Once we found out the real Revolutionary War battle was across the river ar Ft Griswold, we decided we'd get off there. 

   The water taxi comes by every hour so we had an hour to explore the fort or wait for the next taxi two hours later. There is a steep hill leading up to Fort Griswold. The actual name of the battle is known as  The Battle of Groton Height. 

  As I said, the defenders crossed the river to defend this high ground. The British attacked the fortified Americans. I'd like to say the Americans won but it was a route in favor of the redcoats. The fort was defended by about 175 Americans (according to the signs at the fort) but they were attacked by 800 British. When the British overran the fort they showed no quarter and massacred the Americans that had dropped their weapons. Almost all of the defenders were killed or wounded. It truly was a massacre. 

 

Fort Griswold

 While the British were fighting the Americans at Fort Griswold, the other British attachment did burn New London to the ground. This was the largest Revolutionary War battle in Connecticut.

   After exploring the fort we waited for the water taxi to pick us up and bring us back to our car parked at Trumbell. Once back at the fort, we left to go get a late lunch at Fred's Shanty. This little spot has their own burger called the Shanty Burger. It has fried pickles and ranch dressing. For $6.50 it was pretty good. The fries we got kind of sucked. They were really skinny and too crispy (not burned, but so skinny that they had nothing on the insides that wasn't cooked too much). I did get a delicious milk shake. All in all, it was an okay lunch that I enjoyed eating 

   Going to the fort was on our summer bucket list and I have to admit, it did not let me down. I didn't have as much fun as I did at the Adams National Historic Park but it was a really good day.