National Coast Guard Museum

The museum under construction in September 2025

The National Coast Guard Museum is a museum currently under construction in New London, Connecticut, an historic seaport at the mouth of the Thames River on Long Island Sound and home to the United States Coast Guard Academy. The museum is scheduled to open August 4, 2027.

The Museum will feature ‘more than 600 artifacts and 5,000 images, including STEM-based educational programs for schools and colleges’. It will also become home to the U.S. Coast Guard ship, Barque Eagle, and will be free to the public. The National Coast Guard Museum is expected to include over 200 galleries and exhibits, attracting an estimated 300,000 visitors annually.

The City of New London provided a site along the Thames River for the museum. The five or six-story, 80,000 square feet building will include an outdoor concert pavilion where the United States Coast Guard Band and other groups can give concerts. The Coast Guard and the Space Force are the only two out of America's six service branches that do not yet have a dedicated museum; the Army, Marines, Navy and Air Force already have museums.

History

The National Coast Guard Museum Association, which has been working to create the museum since 2001, had hoped to break ground on the building in 2018. Construction of the museum officially started August 19, 2022 with a "keel laying ceremony". By late 2024, the museum association had received $50 million in federal funding and raised $49 million of a $50 million goal. The state has pledged $20 million toward construction of a pedestrian bridge that will link the waterfront and the museum with the Water Street parking garage. The main construction of the museum began in 2025, with completion then expected in 2026. As of August 2026, the museum is expected to open on August 4, 2027.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Coast Guard Museum Association". National Coast Guard Museum Association. Retrieved April 20, 2026.
  2. ↑ "Coast Guard museum in CT set to open in 2026". WSHU. October 30, 2024. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  3. ↑ Scott-Smith, Brian (October 30, 2024). "National Coast Guard Museum Set To Open In 2026". CT News Junkie. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  4. ↑ "Fast Facts/By The Numbers". National Coast Guard Museum Association. Retrieved January 14, 2025.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Woolhouse, Megan (August 16, 2017). "Plan for new Coast Guard museum in Conn. gains momentum". Boston Globe. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  6. ↑ "Commandant to officiate keel-laying ceremony for the National Coast Guard Museum". United States Coast Guard. Retrieved August 19, 2022.
  7. ↑ Smith, Greg (December 7, 2023). "Coast Guard highlights national museum project's oldest artifact". The Day. Retrieved January 10, 2024.
  8. ↑ Penney, John (June 8, 2025). "Construction of $150M Coast Guard museum set to begin next month as donations rise". The Day.

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