4.4.12 Our West-Coast friend, filmmaker David Wittower, just emailed news that he has completed a 2nd documentary about the USCG. He writes: Guardians of the Gates takes a hard look at the elite Coast Guard Search & Rescue crews that conduct over 600 rescues a year. Filmed at the nation's second busiest Coast Guard station--located right next to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco–Guardians gets an inside look at what makes these search and rescuers put their lives on the line every day, going out in extreme weather and waves that are over twenty five feet. With the camera crew riding along, you get a front seat ride as the Coast Guard crews are tested in life and death situations. Produced and Directed by David Wittkower, who produced the award winning film, The Eagle: America's Tall Ship and winner of over 27 film festival awards, Guardians is his most intense film yet.
4.4.12 Cartooning, with Jon Buller, ended today, but Jon has immprtalized the class with the online publication LIGHTHOUSE COMIX.
You'll remember, we started our class just four weeks ago.
4.1.12 The museum actually closed for a full week at the end of March, reopening on April 3. Our irreplacable head docent Bill LaRoue (far left) took off for warmer climes. Not only did we miss Bill and the rest of the crew, but also favorite visitors like Ronald Bernoudy (near left). We all got together to make sure everything was in place on Sunday for the new season.
Beginning this Tuesday, the museum will be back open six days a week--every day except Monday--from 1 to 5 PM. As ever, we are eager for volunteers to hep Bill at the front desk. If you'd like to try docenting, please call 860-447-2501. Bill will call you back!
During our time off, a few changes took place at the museum. We've hung the new portrait of museum founder Lucille Showalter just to the outside of the gallery, on the 2nd floor, that bears her name. The portrait was unveiled the Sunday before at our annual Founders Day luncheon. Painted by artist Michael Peery, the setting suggests that Lucille posed for her portrait sitting in Michael's studio windows directly across the street from the Custom House.
We will be without a special exhibition until later this month, when Sgott MacKenzie Presents the Further Adventures of the Giant Squid and the Seagull (see below). Many of you know Sqott's first book. His 2nd will be published next month and our opening will take place concurrent with the annual Chowda' Fest and Hope Week activities in downtown New London, on Saturday, May 19.
4.6.12Mike and Elaine Dunay visited New London Harbor Light a few weeks ago and, voila! -- a remarkable birdhouse! We hope to exhibit Mike's handiwork soon at the museum. Several years ago, he made a similar creation of Ledge Lighthouse.
4.26.12 Forty kindergarten and first-graders from New London's Multicultural Magnet School visited the Custom House today to learn all about New London's lighthouse heritage and design, make and name their own lighthouse. It was lots of fun!
4.20.12 Today we rented the 'Jibboom Room', a.k.s. the "Archibald J. Chester Reading Room', to a group from the USCG. Here is the report from Dave Lersch, who arranged the day.
The event was an employee orientation and “get to know the boss” session for the Connecticut employees of Salient Federal Solutions of Fairfax, Virginia. Salient Federal Solutions is a worldwide company supporting government agencies in the areas of systems engineering, information technology, and intelligence. The President/CEO Brad Antle said the maritime museum was a “…perfect venue for our orientation”.
We have several other private events set to be held at the museum in the coming months. Please visit our RENTAL page to learn more about it--especially with OpSail on the horizon...
4.28.12 This morning members of the Order of the Cincinnati were in town and about 20 of them stopped in to tour the Custom House with head docent Bill LaRoue (left). (Above) for National Poetry Month we presented a collection of new poems about aviator Amelia Earheart..
4.28.12 Our friend, book-seller Bill Apt, was at the Model Boat Show held on Saturday at Port N' Starboard at Ocean Beach (above left). This was the last weekend for Conn Coll sophmore, future anthropologist and docent-this-spring Tim Hartshorn. Thank you, Tim, for your help.
4.30.12 An exceptional Monday! Scott Lang was back just in the nick of time to help with the installation of our next exhibition.
First, however, Scott added some color and fun to the front room and our exhibition of vintage dive helmets.
In the morning, we visited Kevin Farrar to check in on how he is doing on his racing sailboat.Hes now got the rudder ready. Kevin's boat will be the subject of our June-through-OpSail exhibition.
We also brought Suzanne Maryeski, at the Public Library of New London, our book of Amelia Earheart poems, which she'll exhibit with books about the avaitor who disappeared 75 years ago.
4.30.12 Sgott Mackenzie showed up in the afternoon to install our new show: Sgott Mackenzie's Further Adventures of the Giant Squis and the Seagull. a little later, NL Public School's Val Tamanov stopped by and bought a copy of Sgott's last book, which he autographed to Val. Sgott's exhibition will feature a reading timed with Val's Hope Week activities in the downtown on Saturday, May 19. sqott will be at the Custom House to read his book from 12 to 4.
