New London and Waterford, Connecticut
New London in 1813 By Benson Lossing –
The Pictorial Field Book of the War of 1812, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44844789
The area was called Nameaug by the Pequot Indians. John Winthrop, Jr. founded the first English settlement here in 1646, making it about the 13th town settled in Connecticut. Inhabitants informally referred to it as Nameaug or as Pequot after the tribe. In the 1650s, the colonists wanted to give the town the official name of London after London, England, but the Connecticut General Assembly wanted to name it Faire Harbour. The citizens protested, declaring that they would prefer it to be called Nameaug if it couldn't be officially named London.[8] [9] The legislature relented, and the town was officially named New London on March 10, 1658.
The harbor was considered to be the best deep water harbor on Long Island Sound,[10] and consequently New London became a base of American naval operations during the American Revolutionary War. Famous New Londoners during the American Revolution include Nathan Hale, William Coit, Richard Douglass, Thomas and Nathaniel Shaw, Gen. Samuel Parsons, printer Timothy Green, and Bishop Samuel Seabury.
In 1801, Waterford was formed from a section of New London.
For several decades beginning in the early 19th century, New London was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports, along with Nantucket and New Bedford, Massachusetts. The wealth that whaling brought into the city furnished the capital to fund much of the city's present architecture. New London subsequently became home to other shipping and manufacturing industries, but has gradually lost its commercial and industrial heart.[4]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London,_Connecticut
https://connecticuthistory.org/towns-page/new-london/
https://archive.org/stream/historyofnewlond00caul/historyofnewlond00caul_djvu.txt
Johnson Direct Line Ancestors who lived in New London/Waterford
Places to visit in New London/Waterford, CT.
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Ye Antientist Burial Ground - Hempstead St. and Bristol St. - Grave of Bethiah Garnzey King. About 40' straight in from the back gate. Probable burial place of Jonathan King
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The hillside lot of 1.5 acres (6,000 m²) adjoins the original site of the settlement's[2] first meeting house. The lot had been reserved for a burying ground and recorded as such in the summer of 1645. The first decedent "of mature age" was duly interred there in 1652.
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Winthrop Mill (1650)
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Joshua Hempsted House (1678)[28]
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Fort Griswold (Groton)