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History · Gales Ferry

Gales Ferry’s post office opened in 1828, and 2 of its places are on the National Register

Most of Gales Ferry was built recently: 10% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1969. Below: 3 old photos and papers from 1907 on.

1828first post office
2on the National Register
10%homes built before 1940
3old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Gales Ferry’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Gales Ferry began

When was Gales Ferry founded?

1828

The Gales Ferry post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,159198 years
Founding year: the first Gales Ferry post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Gales Ferry’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 3 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1828: 198 years of Gales Ferry.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Gales Ferry’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Gales Ferry’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPostcardGalesFerryCTYaleTrainingQuarter…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Gales Ferry, 1907 to 1986

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 20th century
  2. 1907In the archivePostcardGalesFerryCTYaleTrainingQuarters1907to1915
  3. 1915In the archiveFresh. 8 Yale, 1915 -- Rockefeller - Lovejoy - Converse - Glover - MacNaughton - Coleman …
  4. 1939In the archiveGerald R. Ford, Jr., with Bill Renner at
  5. 1986Born hereLuis Vasquez is born here
The story so far

Gales Ferry, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Gales Ferry yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Gales Ferry is a census-designated place and village in the town of Ledyard, Connecticut, United States. It is located along the eastern bank of the Thames River. The community developed as a result of having a ferry to Uncasville located at this site, and from which the village was named. Gales Ferry was listed as a census-designated place for the 2010 Census. As of the 2020 census, Gales Ferry had a population of 1,159. Much of the core of the original settlement at the site of the former ferry has been included in two separate historic districts, each with several farmstead buildings from the late colonial and early national periods (late 18th and early 19th century). The two historic di…

Its first post office opened in 1828. Its population held steady between the last two censuses: 1,162 in 2010, 1,159 in 2020.

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

Gales Ferry, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s–1930s3 items
PostcardGalesFerryCTYaleTrainingQuarters1907to19151907–1915PostcardGalesFerryCTYaleTrainingQuarters1907to1915PostcardFresh. 8 Yale, 1915 -- Rockefeller - Lovejoy - Converse - Glover - MacNaughton - Coleman - Coombe - Lawrence - Lashar1915Fresh. 8 Yale, 1915 -- Rockefeller - Lovejoy - Conver…Gerald R. Ford, Jr., with Bill Renner at1939Gerald R. Ford, Jr., with Bill Renner at
1940s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Railroad tracks in Gales Ferry, June 20122012Railroad tracks in Gales Ferry, June 2012Varsity House2006Varsity HouseBoathouse&Dock2001Boathouse&Dock
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

PostcardGalesFerryCTYaleTrainingQuarters1907to1915
Retake this viewPostcardGalesFerryCTYaleTrainingQuarters1907to1915, 1907–1915

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Gales Ferry’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 listings protect 75 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
75
each building in a district counts

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Gales Ferry

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
B
Beth MurphyAmerican film director
L
Luis VasquezAmerican football defensive lineman · b. 1986
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Ledyard12 historic placesBOxoboxo River2 historic placesnot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMontville5 historic placesBWaterford9 historic placesA

Questions about Gales Ferry’s history

What year was Gales Ferry founded?

The Gales Ferry post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6) and Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.