The Thames River Heritage Park is offering free weekend walking tours of historic downtown New London and Fort Trumbull. The tours are timed to coordinate with the water taxi schedule.

Fort Trumbull tours highlight the significance of the fort and its neighborhood from colonial times through the Cold War. Downtown tours focus on general history and the arts in the city from the time the Pequot Indians controlled the region, through the colonial and whaling eras, to the contemporary city.

Tours leave from the water taxi docks at City Pier and Fort Trumbull’s Pier 7, adjacent to Coast Guard Station New London. The tours are led by New London resident Gail B. MacDonald, a journalism faculty member at the University of Connecticut. She is a veteran journalist, author of “Morton F. Plant and the Connecticut Shoreline” and a second book, “Hidden History of Mystic and Stonington,” which is scheduled for release in spring of 2020.

The June and July walking tour schedule is as follows:

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[naviga:li]Friday, June 28: 11 a.m. at Fort Trumbull and 1:20 at New London City Pier[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Saturday, June 29: 11:20 a.m. at New London City Pier and 1 p.m. at Fort Trumbull[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Saturday, July 6: 11 a.m. at Fort Trumbull and 1:20 p.m. at New London City Pier[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Sunday, July 7: 11:20 a.m. at New London City Pier and 1 p.m. at Fort Trumbull[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Saturday, July 13: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. at Fort Trumbull[/naviga:li]

[naviga:li]Friday, July 19: 11 a.m. at Fort Trumbull and 1:20 p.m. at New London City Pier.[/naviga:li]

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