• Take a short drive to the seaport town of Mystic and tour the watercraft collection at Mystic Seaport Museum, including four National Historic Landmark vessels: the Morgan, Dunton, Sabino, and Emma C. Berry.

• Visit the KATE—the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook. Built more than a century ago, this historic theater hosts a range of celebrated performers in an intimate and memorable setting.

• Travel west a half-hour to New Haven and meander through the campus of Yale University, founded in 1701. In addition to being one of the seven ivy leagues, it is one of the nine Colonial Colleges chartered before the American Revolution.