Nathaniel B. Palmer House

Of all the continents, Antarctica was (understandably) the last to be discovered. It wasn’t until 1821 that Captain Nathaniel Palmer, known as “Captain Nat,” happened upon a strange bit of land in a search for seal rookeries in the South Atlantic that turned out to literally be the tip of the iceberg. Memorabilia from the captain’s career commanding clipper ships and packet boats is on view at the Nathaniel B. Palmer House (40 Palmer St., 860/535-8445, www.stoningtonhistory.org, tours hourly 1–5 p.m. Wed.–Sun. May–Oct., $8 adults, $5 children), a stately Greek Revival home with a distinctive octagonal cupola run by the Stonington Historical Society.

The society also operates the Old Lighthouse Museum (7 Water St., 860/535-1440, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. daily May–Oct., $8 adults, $5 children), featuring six rooms of paintings and artifacts located inside a historic 30-foot stone lighthouse tower.

Jonathan Edwards Winery

For a taste of California in Connecticut, stop by the Jonathan Edwards Winery (74 Chester Maine Rd., N. Stonington, 860/535-0202, www.jedwardswinery.com, 11 a.m.–5 p.m. Wed.–Sun.; 3 p.m. weekday tours), a hilltop vineyard in North Stonington that imports grapes from Napa Valley to age in its oak barrels. Even the tasting rooms (which charge a steep $6 a flight) are laid out to resemble a Western-style ranch. Whites, however, are home-grown; they include a popular gewürztraminer that routinely gets snapped up early upon its release.