The Edward Denison House is a historic colonial farm. Your stay in our historic bed and breakfast inn provides a romantic escape for a weekend or a week and the perfect New England vacation. Our 1710 colonial New England home offers friendly, romantic and spacious accommodations for the B&B visitor. Only three miles from Mystic, historic Stonington Borough, Westerly, Mystic Aquarium, and Mystic Seaport our bed and breakfast inn is located on five acres of gardens, fields and forest. This historic farm provides excellent opportunities for quiet, romantic walks, secluded hideaways for reading, birding and bird watching and rousing games of badminton and croquet. When the nightlife beckons, gambling at Foxwoods Casino and Mohegan Sun and theater at the Garde Arts Center are 15 minutes away. Ocean and river water, the beach, hiking, biking, antiques and shopping await you.
When we first opened Another Second Penny Inn, the most common question was “What is there to do in the area?” We usually listed the things that we enjoyed doing, which included:Mystic Seaport, Mystic Aquarium, Clyde’s Cider Mill, Mashantucket Pequot Museum, Nautilus Submarine Museum, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, and the Denison Homestead Museum.
Soon, however, we began to investigate the great number of things there are to do in the area, and present the following list. We have attempted to sort the list by category.
Although there are a number of historic things to do in the area, we have chosen these as some of our favorites:Hempsted Houses, Dr. William Beaumont House, Huntington Homestead Museum, Jonathan Trumbull, Jr House, Leffingwell House Historic Museum, Nathan Hale Homestead, Nathan Hale Schoolhouse and Revolutionary War Office, Shaw-Perkins Mansion, Fort Griswold, and Mystic Seaport Museum. Along with the “sites”, we host three excellent museums devoted to the history of travel: Essex Steam Train, Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum, and Mystic Seaport Museum.
The number of fine art galleries and art museums is amazing and includes The Mystic Art Association, Alexey von Schlippe Gallery, Alva Gallery, Cooley Gallery, Cutwater Gallery, Florence Griswold Museum, Hygienic Galleries, Lyman Allyn Art Museum, Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, and the Lyme Art Association.
Although the museums are all “child friendly”, there are a couple which specialize in family experience. Some of these are: Blue Slope Country Museum, River Bend Mining, Gemstone Panning and Wildlife Exhibit, Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut, Science EpiCenter and DNA Learning Center, Nature’s Art, and theDinosaur Crossing.
A number of folks come to the area simply to enjoy our tennis, golf, skating and professional sports teams: Pequot Golf Club, Elmridge Golf Course, Cedar Ridge Golf Course, Lake of Isles Golf Course, Norwich Golf Course, River Ridge Golf Course, Norwich Ice Rink, Eastern Ct Balloon Services, Simmons Aviation Services (Sightseeing), Connecticut State Parks, Ocean Beach Park, Connecticut Audubon Center, Connecticut College Arboretum, Mystic Indoor Tennis, Connecticut Sun WNBA, and the Waterford Speedbowl (NASCAR).
One of the most common “things to do” in this area is shop, and there are a plethora of places to engage: The Book Barn, Olde Mistick Village (themed shopping centre), Crystal Mall, Holly Hock Farm Antiques, Putnam Antiques Marketplace, Tanger Outlets (Westbrook Factory Outlets), and the Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets
When you are done with your day of sightseeing, the rich nightlife beckons: Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, Mohegan Sun, Foxwoods Resort Casino, MGM Grand at Foxwoods, Eastern Connecticut Symphony, Garde Arts Center, Onstage at Connecticut College, Shakespeare by the Sea, Spirit of Broadway Theatre, and even the U. S. Coast Guard Band.
And the food, check out these sites and start planning your menu now: Illiano’s Real Italian Pizzeria & Ristorante, Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough, Captain Daniel Packer Inn, Costello’s Clam Shack, Mystic Pizza, Steak Loft, Anthony J’s Bistro, Noah’s Restaurant, Floodtide Restaurant, S & P Oyster Company, Sea Swirl Seafood and Ice Cream and many others.
While contemplating your evening meal, you might want to spend the day visiting some of our excellent local wineries or breweries:
Stonington Vineyards, Jonathan Edwards Winery, Cottrell Brewing Co, Haight Wine Education Center, Heritage Trail Vineyards, Priam Vineyards, Sharpe Hill Vineyard, Taylor Brooke Winery, and the Willimantic Brewing Company.
Or, you might want to snack upon some fresh picked produce or fruit from one of the “pick-it-yourself” farms that dot the area:
Cedar Knoll Farm, McCulloch Farm, Sankow’s Beaver Brook Farm, Holmberg Orchards, Maple Lane Farm, Scott’s Yankee Farmer.
Possibly one of the best ways to “work up an appetite” is to spend the day on the water, either cruising or fishing. This area abounds with day trip cruises as well as with sportfishing charters: Captain John’s Nature Cruises, Downeast Lighthouse Cruises, Project Oceanology, Mystic Whaler Cruises, Argia, Voyager Cruises, Brilliant, Mystic Jitney, Avery Point Lighthouse, Benmar Custom Charters, SeaPony, Adventurous Charters, First Light Charters, Kingfisher Charters, Magic Charters, Mataura Sport Fishing, Otter, After You Too, Brothers Too, Carolyn Ann, The Fever Sportfishing, Good Company II, M & M Sportfishing, Reelin’ Sportfishing Charters, Fish Connection, Capt. James, Amazing Grace, Atlantic Flyway, Dot-E-Dee, Fishpot, Osprey, Hel-Cat II, and Black Hawk II.
The Mystic/Stonington area is easy to reach by any number of modes of transportation, for your information on the transportation services of the area, we provide the following: Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Shoreline East Commuter Rail, Amtrak, Groton/New London Airport, T. F. Green Airport (Providence), Bradley Airport (Hartford), Greyhound Bus Lines, Block Island Ferry Services, Cross Sound Ferry, Viking Passenger Ferry (Seasonal), and the Fisher’s Island Ferry.