Mystic Seaport Museum

Today was my first day ever in Connecticut.

Our destination... Mystic!

Mystic, Connecticut is a gorgeous little town along the shores of the Mystic River. The river empties into the Atlantic Ocean via Long Island Sound. The area has a long maritime history with deep roots in the whaling industry.

Our first stop in the town was the Mystic Seaport Museum. The museum is the largest maritime museum in the United States. According to the museum’s website:

The Museum’s grounds cover 19 acres on the Mystic River in Mystic, CT and include a recreated New England coastal village, a working shipyard, formal exhibit halls, and state-of-the-art artifact storage facilities. The Museum is home to more than 500 historic watercraft, including four National Historic Landmark vessels, most notably the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, America’s oldest commercial ship still in existence.

Main entrance to the museum.

Admission for the museum was $26.00 per adult and allowed each visitor a two day pass. At first I found this a little odd. However, three hours into our time at the museum with still MORE to see, a two day pass seemed like a brilliant deal.

Schooners

The first site to greet you as you enter the museum’s grounds is a small collection of ships. There is a schooner, a steam boat, and small modern boats offering river cruises. You all see a myriad of pleasure boaters on the river in everything from kayaks to wooden speedboats.

Steamboat Sabino is a national historic landmark. Built in 1908, it is the oldest wooden coal-fired steemboat still in operation in the USA. It’s earliest duty was as a passenger ferry in Maine.

Behind the boats and across the river you could see a row of stately New England homes. For a girl from Seattle, seeing these old homes with their white paint, green shutters, Adirondack chairs and gardens filled with hydrangeas was like looking into a hallmark card. The view of the homes and most certainly from the homes was impressive.

I would happily live or even “summer” in any one of these homes.

The “museum” is divided into three areas - shipyard, village and exhibitions. We spent a large portion of time in the village. Here you could go on and under deck of several sailing ships. There were also recreations of workshops with demonstrations on how various ship’s parts were constructed. Additionally the village had a black smith shop, apothecary, church, old homes and tavern.

The Village:

The Charles W. Morgan

Below deck.

Scale model of the original settlement.

Lighthouse overlooking the Mystic River.

Massive “warehouse” showing how to make the rope used for rigging etc. on a sailing ship.

Printing press demo.

The “town”.

Church and cemetery.

The Exhibitions:

There were three major exhibitions at the museum during our visit. One was a whaling exhibit, another on Vikings and the last was a planetarium show. We visited the first two, but ran out of time for the planetarium.

Structure housing the whaling exhibit.

Cruelest game ever.

Viking helmet.

Viking shield.

Exterior of the planetarium.

The Shipyard:

The museum’s shipyard is an actual functioning space. They are currently using the shipyard to restore the Mayflower 2, a faithful replica of the famous ship that carried the first English settlers to America. The Mayflower 2 was original launched in 1956.

Stained Glass depicting the Mayflower.

Views across the shipyard.

The Mystic Seaport museum has three gift shops, an art gallery and two restaurants. There is also a member’s lounge, a wedding venue and a children’s museum. One shop on site also offers children an opportunity to build their own wooden boat toy.

All in all a great day riverside in Mystic, Connecticut!

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