TRHP Lecture Series • Unrest, Rebellion and Protection: Revolutionary War Forts on the Thames
Thames River Heritage Park Foundation, New London County Historical Society and Lyman Allyn Art Museum are pleased to present 2025 Lecture Series – Seeds of Revolution. Come explore events that seeded discontent and sparked the American Revolution and influenced the history of the Thames and beyond.
Unrest, Rebellion and Protection: Revolutionary War Forts on the Thames
by Richard Rogers, PhD, Retired Physicist and Acoustician / Docent, Fort Trumbull State Park
January 1775: Connecticut is a proud British colony filled with loyal citizens. Come mid-year economic and social unrest – due to draconian legislation passed by Parliament coupled with blood spilled in Boston – sparks rebellion. Another year passes before it becomes obvious that the only possible course of action is to declare independence and secede from Great Britain. War is deemed inevitable, and the deep water port of New London must be protected with far better fortifications. This is an historic tale of David versus Goliath. Join us as Roger Richards discusses the construction of Forts to defend the Thames during the American Revolution.
Date: Wednesday, May 14
Time: 6 PM reception | 7 PM lecture
Cost: Purchase your ticket here on the Thames River Heritage Park website (see pricing structure below)
Location: Lyman Allyn Art Museum
Regular Pricing
TRHP + LAAM Members – $20
Non-members – $25
Early Bird
TRHP + LAAM Members Early Bird* – $15
Non-member Early Bird* – $20
*Early bird rate is valid through February 5, 2025.
Presenter Bio
Dr. Roger Richards has Bachelor and Master degrees in general Physics, and a Doctoral degree concentrating on Acoustics. Much of his career was devoted to the study, design, and testing of acoustic devices used in underwater sound production, transmission and reception. This took him aboard numerous Oceanographic Research Vessels, out of ports around the world. He collaborated with scientists from Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla CA to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute on Cape Cod. Several of these sea tests used the R/V Knorr, best known for its participation in the discovery of the Titanic. Other projects ranged as far as a joint research program with the Russian Academy of Science and associated testing in Lake Ladoga north of Saint Petersburg, a lake famous for breaking of the German Siege of Leningrad during WWII when a railroad was constructed with tracks laid across the frozen surface.
Dr. Richards is a graduate of the TRHP Docent Academy and a volunteer for the Friends of Fort Trumbull and at the Mystic Seaport’s CRC Archives Collection. He has served on the Penn State Alumni Council’s Executive Board, and on several administrative committees of the Acoustic Society of America. He is currently listed in Who’s Who in America.