Carved wooden ship figureheads

August 17, 2021 Tuesday Mystic Seaport

It is only six miles from the anchorage up to the famous Mystic Seaport living history museum/port but it is a winding path with hundreds of moored boats on both sides of the channel. In the short distance we passed a dozen marinas and many more docks leading up to lovely homes, many of them classic New England Colonial homes likely build by ship captains and wealthy merchants over the long history of the Mystic River.

We made our way up the river with several other boats and we waited together for the railroad bridge to open after a commuter train went over it, then we waited for the 11:40 opening of the highway bridge. We arrived at the Seaport and were directed to tie to a fixed wall ahead of a beautiful, restored wooden ship. The staff member who greeted us did a great job catching and securing our lines and provided a fender board to keep us off the pilings.

After a quick sandwich we took a walk through the seaport to check in with the dock master and to get our tickets so we could come and go. At the Whaling Museum we learned about this industry that was so important to the country before petroleum was discovered in Pennsylvania, a fortunate event as they were running out of whales to harvest. The museum had a really extensive display of artifacts and many videos to bring the whaling story to life including the diversity of the people who sailed the ships and the many products that came from the whale beside lamp and lubricating oils.

The museum of sailor’s crafts included the classic scrimshaw and ships models of ivory and examples of the needle work and fancy decorative wooden boxes. We visited an area called the “Village”, a reproduction of the shops that would have existed when the original seaport was going strong including the black smith, chandler, cordage, instrument shop, and the cooperage that made the barrels. Several of the shops had interpreters there to answer questions or explain the shop. There were other shops unstaffed shops but we didn’t visit them all and headed to the small coffee shop for a coffee and snack.

The Seaport is a very popular tourist attraction with lots of visitors enjoying their summer holiday. I think next time we visit we will try to go off season when they offer an extra day free at the docks.

In evening we walked into the town of Mystic and enjoyed a drink and appetizer at a small place off the mobbed main street. The downtown is full of ice cream shops, restaurants and gift shops enjoying the business the Mystic Seaport Museum attracts.