New London Ledge Light stands on a ledge at the mouth of New London Harbor, where the Thames River opens toward Long Island Sound. It is a brick lighthouse built like a house, in the Second Empire style with a French mansard roof, and it was first lit on 10 November 1909. It began as Southwest Ledge Light, and because a light of that name already stood at New Haven, it was renamed New London Ledge Light in 1910. The Coast Guard took it over in 1939, when it absorbed the old Lighthouse Service, and automated it in 1987. The original fourth-order Fresnel lens went ashore to the New London Custom House museum, and the light joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
The ghost is called Ernie. The legend makes him an early keeper who never left, and he has carried the lighthouse onto paranormal television, including Scariest Places on Earth and Ghost Hunters. When The Atlantic Paranormal Society investigated for Ghost Hunters, it reported a few unexplained cold spots but not enough evidence to decide that anything paranormal was going on. The New London Maritime Society, which owns the light, is blunter: its own page says the haunting was most likely a Coast Guard prank. None of the head keepers on record, from W. B. Petty in 1909 to William Clark in the late 1950s, was named Ernie.
The society took ownership in 2015 under the National Historic Lighthouse Preservation Act. The Coast Guard still owns and maintains the lamp and lantern, and the Ledge Light Foundation looks after the building. The society runs tours out to the light every summer, from June through early September, and arranges charter visits as well. The trip out is a short boat ride across the harbor mouth, so dress for wind on the water and wear shoes with a good grip for the landing.
Other places on the map within a couple of hours.
