Even though Connecticut College resides in the city of New London, what do we actually know about that city? It’s our home, the place we’ve lived for years and the place we flock to after a summer away; it’s our place for running errands, going to random bars and doing grocery shopping when our own little campus doesn’t suffice. But other than being there for our convenience, what is New London? The New London Gazette website and Z Magazine had more than a couple of answers to offer.
Fun Fact #1: Did you know that the Pequot Indians (who first settled the land) wanted to name New London “Nameaug”? Over a decade passed before people agreed that it would be named after London, England.
Fun Fact #2: George Washington made a few guest appearances in New London during 1756 and 1776. He stayed at the Shaw-Perkins mansion, which is still standing today.
Fun Fact #3: New London is one of the largest whaling cities in the nation. In 1866, the first steam whaler sailed from its port on what was supposed to become the longest whaling voyage… ever. (Unfortunately, the ship was destroyed near Greenland.)
Not-So-Fun Fact #4: New London holds some of the nation’s largest amounts of nuclear contamination!
Background story: Just a few miles from New London is the largest nuclear power plant base in all of New England. Millstone has three units, all of which are in Connecticut, and two of which are still active. In 1996, they found that one was leaking nuclear contaminations into the atmosphere – it was shut down soon afterward.
Connecticut received a lot of media attention all throughout the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s because of nuclear scares; state and federal officials tried to convince the public that the materials were harmless but (obviously) people did not buy the cover-up, and many studies have since been conducted to prove them wrong. In 1975 alone, radioactive emissions totaled three million curies – the highest amount ever reported in a single year. Cancer reached a high point in the ’70s in Waterford and New London, with deaths increasing by as much as 60%. A book was even published in response to the elevated cancer deaths! (It was entitled Deadly Deceit, by Jay Gould and Benjamin Goldman… Check it out.) Is this all a coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.
Fun Fact #5: There is a secret button located somewhere in New London that will blow up the bridge over the Thames River.
As the story goes: When the bridge was being constructed years ago, the US Government was afraid that the Soviets would blow up the bridge in order to trap the nuclear powered submarines in the Groton Sub Base. To foil this plan, they dug out the river under the bridge so that if it were to fall, the subs would still be able to get in and out of the base. The button was made intentionally to ensure the safety of the nuclear subs in case of an attack (which never did come).
The button story is debatable, but I believe it because I know someone’s grandfather who helped to construct the bridge and create the button. Whether it is still active and workable is a different question. Most likely, the government would have destroyed the button after the threat had passed, but who knows?… Maybe it’s still out there…
Between famous people, whales, nuclear power and secret buttons, there is obviously more to New London than we would think. Perhaps the next time you’re downtown, you’ll be more inclined to visit the seaport or explosive bridge.
Who would have thought that the little city of New London held such attraction?
