Gales Ferry is a village in the

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

of Ledyard,

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It is located along the eastern bank of the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. The village developed as a result of having a ferry to

Uncasville Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the ...

located at this site, and from which the village was named. Gales Ferry was listed as a

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, suc ...

for the 2010 Census, with a population of 1,162. Much of the core of the original settlement at the site of the former ferry has been included in two separate

historic districts A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

are located close to Gales Ferry. These are the Nathan Lester House on Vinegar Hill Road, the Perkins-Bill House at 1040 Long Cove Road, and the Capt. Mark Stoddard Farmstead at 24 Vinegar Hill Road.

Village

The village is named for the ferry operated by Roger Gale at the current site of a

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

crew training camp. Gales Ferry is part of the town of Ledyard, with its own post office ( ZIP code 06335) and the Gales Ferry branch of the Ledyard library. The community has several neighborhoods, including The Village, Birdland, Christy Hills, Sherwood Forest, Glenwoods, and Presidential Estates. Gales Ferry also has its own volunteer fire department and a small marina. Much of the economic activity in the town revolves around

Naval Submarine Base New London Naval Submarine Base New London is the primary United States Navy East Coast submarine base, also known as the "Home of the Submarine Force." It is located in Groton, Connecticut directly across the Thames River from its namesake city of New L ...

just to the south in Groton. The community has three schools: Juliet W. Long, which is Grades 3-6, the newer Gales Ferry school, which is K-2, and Ledyard Middle School, grade 7-8. They are located off the Thames River next door to each other. The former Gales Ferry School, located in Gales Ferry village, closed in 2001. In 2012, the town began using it as an incubator for local small businesses. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Gales Ferry has a total area of 1.23 mi² (3.18 km²), of which 0.88 mi² (2.27 km²) is land and 0.35 mi² (0.91 km²), or 28.7%, is water.

The Ferry

The ferry which gave its name to the surrounding community of Gales Ferry was first established on the Thames in 1740. John Comstock, Ralph Stoddard Jr. and John Hurlbut were the original three ferry men. It became known as Gale's Ferry when it was owned by Roger Gale from 1759 to 1764. The ferry landing site at Gales Ferry ( at 2 Riverside Place, is now occupied by a complex of buildings owned by

which serve as a training camp for the Yale Heavyweight Men's Crew for the

Harvard–Yale Regatta The Harvard–Yale Regatta or Yale-Harvard Boat Race (often abbreviated The Race) is an annual rowing race between the men's heavyweight rowing crews of Harvard University and Yale University. First contested in 1852, it has been held annually s ...

. The complex consists of the Varsity House, Manager's House and the Boathouse. The oldest structure on the site is the front portion of the varsity house which was originally constructed in the late eighteenth century as a private home and which has since been considerably expanded by multiple additions. The boathouse was designed by

James Gamble Rogers James Gamble Rogers (March 3, 1867 – October 1, 1947) was an American architect. A proponent of what came to be known as Collegiate Gothic architecture, he is best known for his academic commissions at Yale University, Columbia Univers ...

, who was also responsible for much of the

Gothic Revival architecture Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

at Yale's

New Haven New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,023 ...

campus. The boathouse adjoining the dock serves as a center of activity when the camp is occupied and provides storage and repair space for the boats. Freshman oarsmen are quartered in the second floor of the boathouse. Upperclassmen, including all of the rowers in the varsity and junior varsity boats, are quartered in the top floor of the varsity house. Women on the team, if there are any serving as

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boa ...

s, are housed either in the front wing of the varsity quarters or in the manager's house. The varsity house also contains several common spaces including a game room, a central common room and the dining room as well as bathrooms and the kitchen. The ferry is of considerable historical interest since Yale's crew is the oldest college athletic team in America. The complex's buildings are filled with memorabilia and artifacts from the team's history. This is a living history, however, because of continuing use and occupation that bring the camp to life every year for the race. As the center of Yale Crew's institutional memory and the annual home of the longest-running rivalry in American college sports, the ferry serves as an important site in the history of sports.

Historic districts

Much of the core of the original settlement at the site of the former ferry has been included in two separate

, each with several farmstead buildings from the late colonial and early national periods (late 18th and early 19th century). The two historic districts are irregularly shaped, and are separated by a railroad cut and some non-contributing buildings. ;Gales Ferry Historic District No. 1 Gales Ferry Historic District No. 1 is an irregularly shaped district in the area of the junction of Hurlbutt Road and Riverside Place. It includes work designed by Stephen Gray and examples of Greek Revival, Italianate, and Federal architecture. The district was listed on the

in 1992. In 1992, it included 31

contributing buildings In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

over 13 acres. Significant buildings within the district include: and *Guy Stoddard House *Benajah Davis House, 7 Riverside Place, c. 1750, Gambrel *Daniel Copp House, 64 Hurlbutt Road, c. 1796, Federal *Sarah Vincent House, 63 Hurlbutt Road, c. 1850, Victorian vernacular *Thomas Geer House, 2 Riverside place, 1796, federal, since expanded in late 19th century for Yale University Crew quarters *John Allyn Jr. House, 54 Hurlbutt Road, 1795, vernacular Cape *Stephen Gray House, 56 Hurlbutt Road, c. 1842, Greek Revival *William Browning House, 52 Hurlbutt Road, 1827, Cape *Capt. Austin Lester House, 1846, Greek Revival, 5 Riverside Place *Rebecca Bailey House, 8 Riverside Place, 1857, Late Greek Revival *John Bradford House, 57 Hurlbutt Road, c. 1850, 19th-century vernacular *William Bracewell House *Capt. Latham Brown House, 2 Riverside Place, c. 1875, Italianate *Lucy B. Hempstead House, 53 Hurlbutt Road, c. 1910, Victorian vernacular *Samuel Brown Store, 55 Hurlbutt Road, 1899 *Yale Boathouse, 2 Riverside Place, c. 1910 ;Gales Ferry Historic District No. 2 Gales Ferry Historic District No. 2 is another irregularly shaped historic district that runs roughly along Hurlbutt Road, from Allyn Road to Military Highway. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. It is an irregularly shaped area, with boundaries drawn to include historic

Colonial Colonial or The Colonial may refer to: * Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology) Architecture * American colonial architecture * French Colonial * Spanish Colonial architecture Automobiles * Colonial (1920 au ...

, Federal and other architecture, and to exclude more modern intrusions. In 2002 it included 44

, 14 non-contributing buildings, two other

contributing structures In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

, and two

contributing sites In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

over . The Gales Ferry Cemetery is one of the contributing sites. and

Notable people

Casey Neistat Casey Owen Neistat (; born March 25, 1981) is an American YouTube personality, filmmaker, vlogger and co-founder of the multimedia company Beme, which was later acquired by CNN. In 2018, he founded ''368'', a creative space for creators to c ...

, YouTube creator and filmmaker

References

External links