Coast Guard Foundation sells 154 acres

Stonington Country Club pays $1.5M for property it leased

Stonington — The Coast Guard Foundation has announced that it sold 154 acres of land off Taugwonk Road on Wednesday to the Stonington Country Club for $1,525,000.

The land, which the country club has been leasing for more than 25 years, is home to its 18-hole golf course, paddle ball court, clubhouse, maintenance buildings, and other facilities.

The Coast Guard Foundation will continue to own an adjacent 81.3 acres of the property, which include the foundation office, a multipurpose field used primarily for Coast Guard Academy rugby matches, a caretaker’s house, parking lot, observatory, and Shipmate Lodge.

“For over the past twenty-five years, Stonington Country Club has enjoyed a wonderful relationship with the Coast Guard Foundation as its landlord. The opportunity and ability to purchase the land represents a very significant milestone for Stonington Country Club and assures that this valuable resource can be maintained and enhanced for the benefit of its members and the greater community for many years to come,” said Marc Ginsberg, the country club’s secretary, in the statement.

According to the foundation, in the early 1970s, the then-Coast Guard Academy Foundation bought the 237-acre Highland Farm and developed it as a recreational facility for cadets at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London. In 1986, the Coast Guard Foundation was formed “to support projects and programs that enhance the education, welfare and morale of all Coast Guard members and their families.”

Then in 1988, the newly formed Stonington Country Club entered into a long-term lease for 154 acres of the site. The course opened in 1992.

“It’s a big day for the Coast Guard Foundation and we are grateful to our neighbors at the Stonington Country Club for the many years of good stewardship of the property — we wish them the best of luck and look forward to a thriving and beneficial relationship in the many years to come.” said Susan Ludwig, Coast Guard Foundation president, in the statement announcing the sale. “We’re grateful to our founders who invested in this property so many years ago, and recognize that we are where we are today because of their strategic vision and commitment to the men and women of the Coast Guard, a vision we share and build upon today and into the future.”