Once the explosion of craft breweries in Connecticut began to hit a fever pitch, I wondered how long it would be before one was established in New London. Even with the popular
Outer Light Brewing Company located just across the river in Groton, eastern Connecticut still has a pretty low number of breweries per capita and a brewery would certainly bolster New London's efforts to be a "hip little city."
New London finally got its own brewery this spring when Tox Brewing Company opened its doors. Heading directly there would make for a pretty lame Bike and Brew; after all, the place is about half a mile from my house with hardly anything along the way other than an intersection stuffed with car dealerships.
So I figured a ramble along the coast before hitting the brewery would be a better outing.
New London faces a lot of challenges: it's a tiny city, measuring about six square miles. Its downtown has quite a few vacant storefronts, and many properties are tax-exempt (including a hospital, three colleges, and a plethora of churches).
Still, quite a few people are upbeat about New London's present and future. I took the photos above from a single spot, showcasing the "Whale Oil Row" of Greek Revival buildings and the Garde Arts Center, a beloved local theater.
Biking in the city is a bit of a challenge, but drivers are usually pretty accommodating of cyclists. After making my way through the center of the city, I paid a visit to the Fort Trumbull peninsula. There's an impressive fort preserved on the waterfront here, and it has some fascinating history to it. Late in the Revolutionary War, a British force led by Benedict Arnold attacked the fort as well as another one across the river in Groton. Fort Trumbull was later used as a Navy research center, and has only been a state park for about two decades.
Unfortunately, people probably know Fort Trumbull more for its association with the infamous Kelo v. New London case. The Supreme Court narrowly decided that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer could use eminent domain to take over property on the peninsula for a development to support the nearby headquarters it had built in New London.
Then they never actually carried through on the development, and abandoned the headquarters as soon as their tax incentives ran out. So there you have it: the company that makes Viagra is run by a bunch of dicks.
I should point out that the empty parcels are clear and ready for development, though. Some armchair activists out there have screamed that the site is now being used as a garbage dump, probably because it was briefly a staging ground to take care of fallen trees and other debris after Hurricane Irene.
From Fort Trumbull, Pequot Avenue allows a lovely route along the Thames River where it empties into Long Island Sound. It terminates near Ocean Beach Park, a popular white sand beach with a half-mile boardwalk and plenty of summer amusements.
Continuing along the coast, you soon cross into Waterford and find yourself at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. This campus-style environment has several different performing stages, plus a collection of cottages for actors and other residents to stay. It also has a nice-looking little pub on the premises, but unfortunately that was
heavily damaged by a burst pipe and is currently under repair.
Just below the theater center is Waterford Beach, which has the same white sand as Ocean Beach but none of the development.
Much the the coastline in this area is preserved, with Harkness Memorial State Park being the next site you come across. The park is the former homestead of a family who made a bundle of money on Standard Oil and later invested it into several philanthropic causes. They left the property to be used as a state park, and tours of the Harkness mansion are available in summer. The home also has stunning gardens, which were already coming into bloom during the early spring ride.
Farther along down the coast is Seaside, which recently
became a state park under more controversial circumstances. A former tuberculosis sanatorium, and later a mental health facility, the site was popular with urban explorers before being fenced off by the state. It's still a nice secluded place to take in a view of the water.
Continuing along Shore Road brings you along an inlet with several palatial houses and a place called Pleasure Beach. This beach is a bit of an odd one: it's divided into thirds, with one part open to the public, another open to nearby residents, and another open to members.
We New Londoners sometimes see the Waterford crowd as a bit high-and-mighty, especially those who turn their noses up at the city rabble, and this sign might be the best illustration of that. This is just one of several signs set up along the area bordering the public part of Pleasure Beach, angrily warning off potential trespassers and demanding that qualified beachgoers wear their identification badges to show that they belong.
All for a tiny beach with a view of a nuclear power plant. Whatever floats your boat, exclusive Waterford crowd.
That about covered the interesting things to see along the coast, so I made a straight shot back to New London to stop in at Tox.
Tox Brewing Company is set up in a former fruit market. The name refers to one of the founders' background in toxicology, which also explains the poison dart frog logo. I'm still hoping they'll figure out a way to slap some glow-in-the-dark paint on that.
This was pretty close to the opening weekend of the brewery, so there was a rather large crowd. Still, I was able to get a seat at a comfortable lounge area set up in one half of the space. The brewery has done a great job with the interior; the toxicology theme is carried on with a wall display of old pharmacy bottles (and beers from other local breweries), and the taps are shaped like mushrooms. Just for fun, they've also housed the iPad used for transactions in an old Macintosh.
As a new brewery promotion, Tox was offering a deal where for $10 you got a keepsake tasting beaker and four pours to be tracked with wooden nickels. I was also happy to see them support the local paper (which happens to be my employer) and that they had a robust game collection.
I sampled some of their IPAs and darker beers, and was impressed by both. In particular, the Deadly Nightshade coffee milk stout was excellent.
So much, in fact, that I opted to get a growler of it. That's certainly a benefit of ending a Bike and Brew just a few minutes' ride from home.
Total mileage: 18.97 miles
Previous Bike and Brew Outings:
Outer Light Brewing Company
Beer'd Brewing Company
Fox Farm Brewery
Shelter Island Craft Brewery and Greenport Harbor Brewing Company
Barley Head Brewery
These Guys Brewing Company and Epicure Brewing
Mohegan Cafe and Brewery
Noble Jay Brewing Company
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