A few days relaxing in Stonington Borough

After the craziness of flying multiple times within less than a week and seeing SO many sites, a couple days of R&R at my gal pal Katie's house was definitely due. She lives in the cutest little New England town called Stonington Borough. Monday,Tuesday, and Wednesday I spent the majority of my days sitting on the couch like a bum  blogging and trip planning but I did make it out on the town when it wasn't raining.

As Katie lives right on the edge of the borough, no car needed to explore the town which is itty bitty and very walkable. Points of interest: Museum Lighthouse and Stonington Point (for history buffs) the shops and little streets for those looking for shopping or charm, and of course the cute little beach! (which I was dying inside that it turned so cold for the time I was there. I really wanted to swim!)

Stunning super expensive homes on the water

The cute Old Lighthouse museum

The museum is just before you reach Stonington Point and while I'd like to claim I went in, the $10 entry price was a bit steep to me for the size but for here's a bit of info on it: The lighthouse itself was built in 1840 and was in active service until 1889 when beacons were added to the breakwaters, but even then it housed the light keepers until 1909 when it was abandoned. It was purchased by the historical society and made into a museum in 1927 and houses numerous lighthouse artifacts (from other lighthouses) and

other pieces of maritime history. Most interesting artifacts involve cannonballs and artifacts from when the British attacked Stonington in 1814 (part of the war of 1812, more on that later) It has been open 6 months every year since then (besides most of WWII which I found interesting) and visitors can climb the 29 steps to the top where the view lends itself to 3 states.
Hours of operation: May 5 - October
Open Daily from 10am - 5pm, CLOSED Wednesday

And as I was saying just past the lighthouse you reach the point with a fun little beach and wonderful bench area! I had a lovely relaxing sit watching a few divers come in on the beach.

(still wish it had been warm enough to swim.. or sunny to sit on the beach but alas, I was cursed with no great weather... more on that later. haha)

HISTORY LESSON* The battle of 1814 (part of the 1812 conflict still.. I know I know.... the years don't match but yall the war of 1812 was actually.. longer than a year. Officially started in 1811, it went until Feb 1815 when a peace treaty was signed) 

ANYWAYS, so as alluded to in the memorial at Stonington point, on August 9th around 3 PM, the Brits arrived from Fisher's Island Sound and stopped just off Stonington Point. Captian Hardy of the British sent a message via two rowboats offshore that the residents had 1 hour to leave as he did not want to "destroy the unoffending inhabitants residing in the Town of Stonington." HOWEVER Those brave defenders of Stonington would not abandon their town and decided to fight so they pulled out their two cannons (Kept from previous skirmishes during the Revolutionary war) to return fire on the British. The whole conflict here lasted 3 days with the two sides intermittently firing at each other. Clearly the British were off to a better start as they had much better guns and many more cannons but after all was said and done, the Americans had a fire brigade so efficient, that out of the many buildings the British artillery flew through, not a single one burned down. The British in turn lost a few men and sustained enough damage to their ships, they turned around and left. 

The lovely beach at Stonington Point

If you couldn't tell from the 1st picture in this post, I'm obsessed with those purple flowers (called Wisteria) It was EVERYWHERE, but undoubtedly this tree was my favorite

The very famous 2 cannons that defended the town in both the Revolutionary War, and war of 1814 1812

One of my favorite things about this town is how so many of the building have the date they were constructed and who the original family is plus their occupation. As this was a seaport you can imagine a large majority of the "big" houses were Captains, rope makers, and merchants. The oldest house I came across was 1767!

A picture of the lovely feline Abby who kept me great company while I blogged and laid about. 

Also I didn't tack this onto Sunday's Boston post (cause well it was after we got back from Boston) But I had an AMAZING time riding Katie's horse, Bradley in Old Lyme. For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE animals and I've loved horses forever, Having such a terrific friend like Katie, finally gave me the kick in the pants to finally start taking lessons. Those lessons paid off big time when I got to ride her beautiful horse! (and not fall off him cause he was seriously HUGE)

So cost breakdown: (and I apologize cause this is INCREDIBLY convoluted as I've split my Connecticut activities into multiple posts with more to come.) Basically priceless on everything!
Lodging: Wonderfully comfortable bed in a guest room at Katie's mansion of a cute old house
Meals: I ate groceries all day long and will have more info on the post on Mystic from when we went Happy hour hopping there: But I think we can just round to like $35 for 2 dinners out.... (This is not very exact... I apologize)
And walking around Stonington was obviously a free activity (with more Connecticut free activities to come!)
Total cost for Monday-Wednesday: $35ish