Getting you on the water
Stonington Marina strives to be the best small marina in the Mystic area, providing exceptional hospitality to boaters and vacationing families. Our team is dedicated to creating a welcoming and safe waterfront experience while promoting environmental stewardship.
Wequetequock Cove is marina owner Paul Goetz’s happy place, he has great childhood memories of sailing, canoeing, fishing and crabbing. Getting you on the water to create your own memories is his passion. Paul is the third generation of his family on the cove and founder of the Wequetequock Clean Water Coalition.
A rich history
Wequetequock Cove was a traditional hunting and fishing ground for the Pequots prior to European Colonization. In 1649 William Chesebrough, an Englishman, became the first European to settle in the area, residing on the west bank of Wequetequock Cove. Upon arrival, William, who was a gunsmith by trade, was suspected by the Government of Connecticut to have been trading arms and rum with the local Native American tribes. The Gambrel house still standing at the marina was most likely constructed by William’s son Samuel Chesebrough Sr., sometime around 1672. Samuel Chesebrough Sr. utilized the house as both a domestic residence and trading post. The house was eventually sold Samuel’s grandson King David Chesebrough in 1777, for whom it is still named. Newport based David had become extremely successful in the “triangle trade” where merchants exchanged New-England rum for African slaves, who were forced to produce molasses in the Caribbean that would be eventually be turned into rum. David became so prominent in Newport, he earned the nickname “King David” and is often cited as one of the wealthiest eighteenth-century merchants in that city. Unlikely to live in the modest family homestead, it is thought that he maintained the family homestead as a trading post.
In 1956 the house was purchased by Reverdy C. Ransom III, the grandson of the pioneering civil rights leader of the same name. The property is listed in the Vacation Section of the 1957 edition of The Green Book as the Reverdy Ransom Guest house on Wequetequock Cove. In 1958 it appears in the The Green Book again as the Wequetequock Boat Company. In the segregated America of the 1950’s The Green Book provided Black American vacationers what it termed “ASSURED PROTECTION FOR THE NEGRO TRAVELER”. It was Reverdy C. Ransom III who first used the property as a marina.
In 1969 Reverdy C. Ransom III sold the property to Charles Constantine and Edmond Pichette. In modern times, the property is best remembered as Charlie Constantine’s marina. Charlie was widely acknowledged to be the best local mechanic who could fix any small engine.
In 2011 Paul Goetz purchased the marina and he endeavors to be a caretaker to the property’s legacy.