Mystic Seaport – Part II (Mystic, CT)

Date Of Visit: September 2, 2017

Location: 75 Greenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT

Hours: Open daily, 9:00 – 5:00 (hours may vary depending on the season)

Cost:

Adult – $28.95
Senior (ages 65+) – $26.95
Youth (ages 4-14) – $18.95
Children (3 and younger) – Free

Parking: there is a free parking lot across the street from the Seaport Museum.  There is also additional parking across the street from the parking lot for overflow

Handicapped Accessible: Yes, but not all of the buildings are accessible to the handicapped.  Approximately one-third of our buildings have wheelchair-accessible entrances; interior access varies. The village’s unpaved roads are generally firm and stable suitable for wheelchairs and strollers. All roads are basically level with a few slight inclines located near the Children’s Museum, Treworgy Planetarium and Membership Building.  (see link below for more info)

Mystic Seaport Accessibility Guide

Dog Friendly: Yes, but they are not allowed in the buildings

Website: Mystic Seaport

Highlights: living museum with character actors, boats, replicas of historic homes, figureheads, lighthouse replica, play area for children

Tips:

• For an after museum viewing treat, Mystik Village, an open area shopping mall is a mere.9 miles away on Coogan Blvd
• the museum’s main parking lot can fill up quickly if you don’t get there early.  Additional parking can be found in the lots off Rossie St on the other side of the main parking lot

In part I of my blog posts about Mystic Seaport I showed you all of the figureheads and some other decorations and statues at the Seaport Museum.  Since there were so many interesting things to see and photograph there, I decided to break the blog post into two or three installments .  In this installment I will include photos of the boats and ships from the Seaport Museum (it is a seaport museum after all).  I hope you enjoy!

The ship pictured above and the staple of the Seaport Museum is the Charles W. Morgan, the last of an American whaling fleet that once numbered more than 2,700 vessels. The Morgan, built and launched in 1841, is presently America’s oldest commercial ship still afloat.  In fact, it is only second to “Old Ironsides”, the USS Constitution, in terms of age.  It’s also very hard to fit the entire vessel in the frame of your camera’s view.

As I travel all over New England, I have become more aware of how all of the states in this region are interconnected.  Evidence of this is how the Morgan was launched in 1841 in the city of New Bedford, Massachusetts, an area that enjoys a prominent role in American fishing and whaling history.

Clocking in at 106 feet, 11 inches in length on deck and a beam measuring 27 feet, 9 inches, the Morgan was and still is one of the larger vessels in the New England area. Her main truck is 110 feet above the deck and fully-rigged, and her sail measures in at 7,134 square feet.

But, lest you think the Seaport Museum is a one trick pony, there are lots of other sea worthy watercraft at the museum.

The Calypso stretches 23′ in length with a 7’4” beam with a 2’5″ centerboard up.  It is made of fiberglass in an old French wooden boat design.  Built in 2004 at Latitude 46 Yachts, Ile de Re, France, the Calypso has a 9 horsepower Yanmar diesel engine.  Yeah I don’t know what that means either.

Calypso spent a decade racing and day-sailing along the South Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers in New Jersey.  After being damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, the boat was fully restored.  The boat is on exhibit and used for museum programs.

Designed by Nathanael G. Herreshoff, Aida was built in 1926 by Herreshoff Manufacturing Co in Bristol, Rhode Island.  Aida measures out to 33’6″ in length with a beam of 9’2″ and it has a draft of 3’1″.

Aida  was owned by author Maynard Bray who used it to sail the waters of Maine.  She is planked with Longleaf yellow pine and Douglas fir and is framed with white oak.  She is fastened with bronze.  She is available for charter.

While there are other boats both on exhibit and available for charter, some of them were not available for photography.  I did find this Smallboat Exhibit.

Originally launched as George Stage, the Joseph Conrad, an iron hulled sailing ship, is also docked at the Seaport Museum.  She served as a training ship for American and Denmark sailors, separately, and has been used as a yacht in the past.  She 100’8″ on her deck, her bean is 25’3″ and her draft is 12′.

They were raising her sails when I began photographing the vessel.

Speaking of figureheads and masts, check out the figurehead on the Joseph Conrad.

You never know what you’ll see at the museum.  Randomly, a man who works at the museum began singing on this boat.

This boiler is from an old ship that was once sea worthy.

There is also a replica of a Verande which was used in the planning of a much longer Viking longship.  The Verande would be sea tested by towing, rowing and sailing to test its seaworthiness, ease of handling, safety and speed.

In the Stillman Building, there is a replica of a captain’s quarters for the 1883 ship Benjamin F. Packard.  It felt pretty cool being able to access the living quarters of a captain without actually having to go out on a boat.

It looks cozy for sure.  The articles in the last photo are the figurehead, a billethead, and some of the other items that would be on the ship.

This concludes the ships and boats installment of my blog posts from Mystic Seaport.  Next, I will post about the buildings and some of the historical items on exhibit at the museum.  Thank you for reading!

Outside of the Stillman Building, I saw these two adorable Longhaired Dachshunds.

Clair is on the left and Chloe is on the right.