Stonington Lobster Trap Tree

Have you seen the new addition to Stonington borough for the holidays?! The lobster trap tree by the fishing docks is new to our area this month. Constructed of 378 lobster traps standing 24.5 ft tall with 360 buoys and 816 lights decking it.

It took 17 hours for the volunteers to get the tree set up and 4 hours to hang the buoys! This is my favorite part, the buoys were a community involvement project. Each buoy had been hand painted by Connecticut and Rhode Island artists. There’s 44 buoys that were created by children too. The buoys will be auctioned off in February.

*Top image: the top of the doorway. Some of my favorite buoys.*

There are already plans to return the tree for the 2022 season. I hope this will be an annual holiday tradition for Stonington! Last year I traveled around New England less, due to the pandemic, this made me realized that there weren’t as many lobster trap trees in Connecticut. I posted on my Instagram asking friends and followers if they were aware of any locally to visit. I was so used to seeing them on my travels in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Maine during the holidays.

I went to see the lobster trap tree in the first week of December. I was blown away by how beautiful it was, especially the painted buoys. I enjoyed walking around the tree looking at each buoy (remember, there’s 360 of them!!) so it was fun to see the variety of art skills. Most of the buoys represented a local business/organization. There were many buoys dedicated to the fishing village, some buoys were painted of specific fishing boats that you normally see at the docks. Another popular icon that was repeatedly painted was the Stonington Lighthouse.

*The top image is the tree lighted up during sunset. More of my favorite buoys.*

There is space on the inside of the lobster trap tree that you can walk in to explore. It is little nerve wrecking, I always fear a cave in but the tree is constructed very securely! The view is amazing on the inside especially at the sunset hour or at night with the lights on.

*Top: Sunset from inside of the tree. Two more favorite buoys. Bottom: the view from the fishing docks.*

The lobster trap tree is magical to see. I have gone to visit it several times already. It’s so much fun to watch the lights come on around 4:30 PM. It stays on until 10 PM daily. There is always someone around available to take photos for you, this is a great photo opp location! If you don’t feel comfortable being around many people, it’s almost always empty during the daylight hours during the weekdays.

*Tree at sunset, shortly after lights came on around 4:30 PM.*

Where is the tree exactly in Stonington? It’s in the park right next to the fishing docks. You can’t miss it. A bonus for those with kids - there is a playground right by the tree. A short walk from the main street where the shops are. Stonington also created a fun scavenger hunt event with the local businesses when they introduced the lobster trap tree. The scavenger hunt is called “find the buoy”, a postcard with 12 shops to visit and get stamped. You then mail in you postcard to be entered to win some of the prizes. Unfortunately, the last day to enter is December 24th, on Christmas Eve so there isn’t much time to do this!

*We visited the tree often because we love it!*

I love how the community rallied together to make this tree happen. A lot of help, monetary donations, time, volunteering, etc. went into this! Thank you to all who were involved to make this wonderful and magical tree! I’ve always loved the holidays in Stonington, it’s always been one of the best shoreline towns to dress up for the holidays. I admire many beautiful homes and local businesses that deck the halls. I attend the holiday stroll and tree lighting ceremony annually. I have fond memories of Christmas in Stonington, and now this new addition will bring more wonderful memories!

For more information on how to purchase the buoys (auction) and view the buoys (if you are too far to visit!), you can visit the website here. For those who aren’t local, it is worth the drive! Don’t forget that Mystic is neighboring town, so you can easily make a day out of it doing everything holiday-related! Have a Merry Christmas!