Gales Ferry, CT

Gales Ferry is a Ledyard village and census-designated place on the eastern bank of the Thames River in New London County. The 2020 census counted 1,159 residents. A ferry served the crossing to Uncasville by 1740, and the village took its familiar name from Roger Gale, a ferry master there from 1759 to 1764. The river crossing gave the settlement its first reason to gather and still supplies the clearest way to read the place. The old river road still approaches the landing from the west and north.

The old ferry landing is now home to Yale's heavyweight crew training camp and boathouse, tying Gales Ferry to the annual Harvard-Yale race on the Thames. Two historic districts preserve farmsteads and buildings from the late colonial and early national periods, while Ledyard School District serves the village. Gales Ferry's local scoop is a river village where an 18th-century crossing, a famous rowing camp, and old farm roads all share the same shoreline.