Custom House Joins Smithsonian Museum Day Today, 9/29

Today, September 29, 2012, New London Maritime Society (NLMS) Custom House Maritime Museum will open its doors free of charge along with over 1,400 other participating venues for the eighth annual Museum Day Live! This immensely successful program, in which Custom House Maritime Museum will emulate the free admission policy of the Smithsonian Institution's Washington, D.C.-based facilities, encourages learning and the spread of knowledge nationwide.

Inclusive by design, Museum Day Live! fulfills Smithsonian Media's mission to make cultural education accessible to everyone. For one day only, Custom House museum will grant free access to visitors who download a Museum Day Live! ticket at Smithsonian.com. Last year's event drew over 350,000 museum-goers, and this year's Museum Day Live! is expected to attract close to 400,000 participants.

"This will be our third year participating in the Smithsonian's Museum Day," said Susan Tamulevich, NLMS director. "We'd love to be open without admission every day (and we are open for free every Sunday, year-round). Through the Smithsonian Museum Day Website and its other listings, this event gives us one special day to reach new audiences and show them all we have to offer--and it's for free!"

Housed in the 179-year-old Robert Mills building at 150 Bank Street, the Custom House Maritime Museum/New London Maritime Society is a nonprofit historic site-the nation's oldest continuously-operating U.S. Custom House, scene to much of the City's maritime history-and an educational organization. As of October 2010, NLMS took on stewardship of New London Harbor Light-an area icon. Established 252 years ago and still an active aid to navigation, it is the first lighthouse built on Long Island Sound. Through museum exhibitions and educational programs, the museum actively promotes, protects and interprets the maritime history and current life of the port of New London and the surrounding region.

The Museum Day Live! Ticket will be available to download beginning in August at Smithsonian.com/museumday. Visitors who present the Museum Day Live! Ticket will gain free entrance for two at participating venues for one day only. One ticket is permitted per household, per email address. For more information about Museum Day Live! 2012 and a list of participating museums and cultural institutions, please visit Smithsonian.com/museumday.