Memorial Day- Niantic Honor Roll

 

Niantic, CT  2017

Civil War Memorial

Bridgeport, CT  2021

 

Col. Ledyard Memorial

Groton, CT  2020

Realizing the fort was outnumbered by British troops, Col. William Ledyard surrendered the fort and gave his sword to a British officer, who then killed Col. Ledyard with his own sword on this spot, September 6, 1781.

Whale Cauldron

New London, CT  2017

This antique cauldron was used to heat blubber  from whales to extract the valuable whale oil which was used as a lubricant and also burned in oil lamps before the widespread use of petroleum products and eventually electric lights.  During the height of the whaling industry, New London was the second largest whaling port in the world, being surpassed only by New Bedford, MA.  Remnants of the wealth brought to New London can still be seen in some of the buildings and mansions that are still in existence today.  Today we no longer hunt these creatures, which were brought to the brink of extinction for some species.  

Memorial Bench

Niantic, CT  2017

Angels

Niantic, CT  2017

Nathan Hale

New London, CT  2016

Every school child knows of Nathan Hale, a young school teacher who became a spy for George Washington's army during the Revolutionary War.  He was captured by the British, convicted as a spy and hanged.  His famous last words have been reported as:

 "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country"

The school house where he taught has been preserved and is located in downtown New London.  This statue commemorates our local hero and sits on the campus of Mitchell College in New London.  At best this rendering of Nathan Hale is a generic representation of what Nathan Hale might have looked like.  He had no official portraits done during his life so no one really knows what he did look like. 

Memorial Day 2016

Niantic (East Lyme), CT  2016

Rain cancelled all the local Memorial Day parades. 

Joseph Cinque

New London, CT  2015

Joseph Cinque led the slave uprising aboard the schooner La Amistad  in 1839, which was documented in the movie Amistad made by Steve Spielberg.  After the slave uprising, the ship was discovered and taken into custody in the waters off of eastern Long Island.  The ship was brought to New London and was berthed behind the Custom House.  The slaves were tried in New Haven and after appeals all the way to the Supreme Court were freed and returned to Africa.  This relief of Joseph Cinque graces the entrance to the Custom House, now a maritime museum.

Civil War Monument

Kent, CT

Shells

New London, CT  2014

Memorial Day 2014

Here in New England, there is no shortage of old burial grounds dating from the 1600-1700's.  Even though many of the headstones have weathered beyond recognition,  veterans of all the wars are remembered and honored on Memorial Day Weekend.  In many cases, the original headstones have been replaced with newer, more legible headstones so that we can always remember those who have fought for our country and defended our liberties.  The Old Stone Church Burial Ground in Niantic, CT dates from 1719.  There you can find veterans' graves dating from our early wars.  I visited the burial ground today to find the earliest war having a veteran.

There was this headstone for Elijah Smith,  a veteran from the War of 1812, a mere 200 years ago.

Not surprisingly I was able to find this veteran from the Revolutionary War, Joseph Miner.

Surprising to me was to find this veteran, Clement Miner, who fought in the French and Indian Wars, before our country was founded.  He wasn't the only veteran from that war buried here.  

It's nice that all of these veterans are remembered each Memorial Day, even for those wars fought before the founding of the United States.  There might be other veterans from earlier wars buried in other cemeteries throughout New England, but it was somewhat humbling to find these right here in Niantic.  Happy Memorial Day.

Norwich and Worcster RR

Norwich, CT

There is a rich history of the railroads in New England,  characterized by many regional routes, leases, mergers etc, which make it pretty hard to  follow exactly what happened to any individual line.  I know there was passenger service to Norwich, probably as late as the early 1970's, but today, as far as I know only freight trains use the tracks through Norwich.  This memorial marks the site of a freight house destroyed by the great hurricane of 1938 that was part of the Norwich and Worcester Railroad. Nearby there is this great old building looking like a train station, and still is kept in pretty good shape, although I'm not sure for what purpose.

Recently there has been a proposal put forth to restore passenger service connecting New London, CT to the south, through Norwich continuing on up through central New England.  It sounds like a great idea and maybe this station could be put to use once again. 

Buckingham Memorial

Norwich, CT

I'm not a native to Connecticut, so I'm constantly learning about the history of the state.  On my photo walks, I'll photograph sites, buildings and other things that I find interesting.  I'll then try to find out something about these photos to share with my readers here.  Many times in my research,  I'll come across some fascinating facts, and I'll find other historic sites that I file away for a future photo walk.  I had often wondered about the building being guarded by this canon on my trips through Norwich.  A quick search via Google turned up a wealth of information. The building is pictured below and currently houses a number of city offices, and is also home to the Norwich Historical Society.

At one time, this was the home of William Alfred Buckingham who served many terms as mayor of Norwich, was the governor of Connecticut from 1858-1866 and was a US Senator from 1869 until his death in 1875.  The house was later purchased by the Sedgewick Post No 1 of the G.A.R

You can read a much more thorough history of this building at the excellent blog, The Distracted Wanderer written by Linda, who knows a lot more about Norwich history than I do.  There you'll find some additional pictures, as well as many other places within Norwich that I'll need to visit on future photo walks.  

Canon Square

Stonington, CT

During the War of 1812, the British decided to attack the town of Stonington.  So on August 9, 1814 four British ships under the command of Capt. Thomas Hardy, appeared off of Stonington Point.  A hand written letter was transferred by rowboat to the towns people of Stonington, warning them that they had 1 hour to leave, before the village would be destroyed.  Little did the British know that hidden in a shed nearby were these two cannons.  The people decided to stay and fight, rolling out these canons, and over the next 4 days inflicted heavy damage on the British ships and successfully defended their town.  The victory had a huge psychological impact on the war for this small town defeated a much more powerful British force.  These are the actual cannons used to defend Stonington, now standing in Canon Square.

USS Lionfish (SS-298)

Fall River, MA

The USS Lionfish was launched in 1943 and served during World War II in Japanese waters.  She later served as a training vessel in Providence RI is now a part of the memorial at Battelship Cove in Fall River, MA.  Just behind the Lionfish is the former East German Navy corvette, Hiddensee.

Joseph P Kennedy JR (DD-850)

Fall River MA

Moored next to the USS Massachusetts pictured in this blog yesterday is the destroyer, Joseph P Kennedy Jr, named after the older brother of President John F Kennedy.  She was built in 1945 and was in service from then until 1973, most notably during the Cuban Missile Crisis,  as well as during recovery duties for both Gemini 6 and 7 missions.  She is currently one of the attractions of "Battleship Cove" in Fall River. 

USS Massachusetts (BB-59)

Fall River, MA

The Massachusetts was launched in 1941 and is one four fast battleships comprising the "South Dakota Class" built by the US Navy during the early stages of World War II.  She saw extensive service during the war and is believed to have fired the first and the last 16" shells of that war.  After being decommissioned in 1947, she was saved from the scrap heap by veterans and citizens of Massachusetts, who along with Massachusetts school children raised $50,000 to preserve the battleship.  Currently it resides in Fall River, MA as a museum ship as part of "Battleship Cove", the state's official World War II Memorial. 

McCook Marker and Reference Mark

McCook Point Park, Niantic, CT

There is a sense of permanence to anything attached to bedrock, at least on a human time scale.  These markers were found close to one another at McCook Point Park.  The first remembers John James McCook who was a rector of St John's Episcopal Church in East Hartford back in 1869.  He would spend summers here and purchased the land back in the late 1800's.  Today the land is owned by the city of East Lyme and is maintained as a park.

The second marker is a reference mark used in obtaining precise measurements for land surveying.  From what I was able to quickly learn by a search of the web, this reference mark is pointing to a main base station or triangulation station.  The next time I'm visiting the park, I'll have to see if I can find the base station marker.  I'm sure both markers will be here for many, many years.

World War II National Submarine Memorial

Groton, CT

This is the conning tower of the USS-Flasher (SS-249) now serving as the centerpiece  of the World War II National Submarine Memorial located in Groton, CT.  Engraved in granite around the memorial are pictures and the names of the 52 submarines lost during the war. The names of the submariners lost are engraved on a Wall of Honor.  It's a very simple and humbling memorial, located somewhat fittingly, only a mile or so from the place were most of our country's submarines were built.