Five Rivers Consortium is an organization based in SE CT that is comprised of many large and small historical, cultural, educational, art and nature related organizations and sites located throughout southeastern Connecticut. Our organization's goal is to help you find things to do in southeastern Connecticut by listing dozens of places for you, your family or your group to go to enjoy our members' sites that showcase many rich offerings in the areas of history, culture, education, theater, nature or art:
- Looking for historical sites, historical houses or museum houses? Traveling east to west from Stonington, through Mystic and Groton to New London and on to Waterford, Niantic and Old Lyme, southeastern CT is rich in places to go that are on the National Register of Historic Places.
- Is visiting art museums one of the things you like to do? From Mystic to New London to Old Lyme, you can immerse yourself in a multitude of masterpieces and styles from the collections of several museums as well as pieces on loan to them from the collections of the residents of SE Connecticut.
- Enjoy the peace and quiet of a nature center? Preserving green spaces for both the flora and the fauna has always been a top priority in southeastern Connecticut resulting in two places to go - in both Mystic and New London - where nature reigns.
- Love lighthouses? There are more than half a dozen lighthouses to be sighted off the shores of southeastern Connecticut as well as several places on shore in Stonington, Mystic, Groton and New London to go to learn about them up close and personal.
- Does history float your boat? We've got centuries of history just waiting for you to experience when you visit the many historical sites located around the five rivers of southeastern CT.
- Or do you prefer your history from the boating or maritime perspective? We've got FIVE maritime museums located within and among the five rivers of southeastern Connecticut. The Submarine Force Museum, a maritime museum located on the Thames River in Groton, CT, maintains the world's finest collection of submarine artifacts, is the only submarine museum operated by the US Navy, and as such is the primary repository for artifacts, documents and photographs relating to U.S. Submarine Force history. In Mystic, Connecticut you’ll find Mystic Seaport, The Museum of America and the Sea, a maritime museum where you can explore American maritime history first-hand as you climb aboard historic tall ships, stroll through a re-created 19th-century coastal village or watch a working preservation shipyard in action. In New London, CT, at the Custom House Maritime Museum, you’ll find exhibits, a maritime art & photography gallery as well as a lecture series about whaling, lighthouses, the Customs Service and more things maritime. Also in New London, at the U.S. Coast Guard Museum as well as in Stonington, CT at the Old Lighthouse Museum, you’ll find two maritime museums that are also full of lighthouse lenses, lore and legends, telling of the vital role that lighthouses have played - and still do - in southeastern Connecticut.
- For both the young and the young at heart, how about visitingThe Children's Museum of Southeastern Connecticut? As a children's museum it is of course an interactive, hands-on educational place with lots to do to engage, encourage, and challenge all children from 9 months to 9 years in the arts, sciences, health, and world cultures. In addition, as southeastern CT's only children's museum, it is accessible to everyone with 5,000 square feet all on one floor and open year 'round!
- Looking for art lessons? We'll show you where to sign up so you too can capture the beauty of southeastern Connecticut on canvas.
- Looking for places to go for movies, concerts, dramatic productions, etc. in a historic restored theater with a Moroccan-themed interior? Or to the hometown of award winning playwright Eugene O'Neill. Come on down to the county seat of southeastern CT in New London and then journey to Waterford, the next town over.
- Want things to do on a rainy day? Research an ancestor and build your family tree while finding long lost cousins five times removed. Visit one or more of the many research centers of southeastern Connecticut.
- And we could go on and on.
the links on the left and choose your destinations.
