places to visit

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The Avery Copp House was built 

c. 1800 on the bank of the Thames River in Groton, Connecticut.  The house passed from generation to generation of the same family, and is a wonderful time capsule of local history.  The objects and artifacts within tell the story of life in this lovely Groton neighborhood from just after the Revolutionary, through the Victorian Era, the age of industrialization, mass immigration, the Great Depression, and the years of both World Wars.  The museum is located on three acres of terraced grounds overlooking the river with beautiful gazebos and a Carriage House that now contains an archive storage facility. 

It is open on weekends from May to October and by appointment.

The ruins of this earthen star fort are at the site of a September 6, 1781 Revolutionary War battle, the only major battle on Connecticut soil. The British attack here was a failed diversionary strategy to defend Yorktown.  Benedict Arnold led 1600 British forces to New London and Groton, where he quickly overran New London.  At Fort Griswold, 800 British overwhelmed 165 local militia - including boys in their teens and men in their sixties.  This was one of the bloodiest battles of the Revolution.  Local men valiantly tried to defend their land, family and community with out any assistance from the Continental Army which Arnold had failed to divert.  Although the patriots lost, they substantially weakened the British Army of the North. One quarter of the 800 British attacking in Groton were killed or wounded, including several of Arnold's key officers.  Six weeks later, Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, VA.  As the British were defeated in the South and weakened in the North, the Revolutionary War was essentially over, although the Treaty of Paris was not signed until 1783.  Hence the Battle or Groton Heights, at Fort Griswold, most likely helped to shorten the war.  The fort grounds are open all year while the Monument, Monument House Museum and Ensign Ebenezer Avery House are open generally from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  

On the grounds of Fort Griswold, the Groton Monument is the first patriotic monument of its kind in our country, predating the Bunker Hill Monument, the Saratoga Monument and the Washington Monument. 

The Monument House Museum, established by the local DAR chapter in the 1890s, is Connecticut's first museum of historical artifacts that is not a library.  The artifacts are related to the September 6, 1781 battle. 

It is open to the public from Memorial Day to Labor Day. 

The Ensign Ebenezer Avery House is a 1750s center-chimney Colonial, where after the battle of the British, about 3 dozen of the wounded patriots, including Ensign Avery himself were taken. In 1971, this house was moved from its original location at Thames and Latham Streets to Fort Griswold and restored to the period. 

 It is open to the public from Memorial Day to Labor Day. 

The Groton Congregational Church, Fourth Meeting House, 1902, houses stained-glass windows made by Louis Comfort Tiffany

Groton Heights Baptist Church, original building built in 1872

Bill Memorial Library, dedicated in 1890, and expanded in 1907, maintains a century-old ambience