Fodor's Expert Review U.S. Coast Guard Academy
New London
Educational Institution
Free
The 100-acre cluster of redbrick buildings you see overlooking the Thames River makes up one of the four U.S. military academies. Visitors are welcome, and security is obviously tight, but being there when the Coast Guard training ship, the barque Eagle, is in port is a special treat. A small museum, located in Waesche Hall on the grounds, explores the Coast Guard's 230+ years of maritime service and includes some 200 ship models, as well as figureheads, paintings, uniforms, life-saving equipment, and cannon.
