Boston V: Mystic Seaport

In our guidebook, Mystic Seaport Museum was listed as the most-visited attraction in Connecticut.   This was my second visit, on June 19, 2022, and I liked it even better than when I had visited with Camille and her children many years ago.

 

Before entering the living history museum, Dave and I wandered through the port town of Mystic, on Long Island Sound.  In the 1800s, it had once been a major ship-building city.  It was now a charming tourist spot, with artsy stores, ice cream parlors, and lots of boats and yachts.  Dave bought himself another "black dog" brand t-shirt.

I sorted through the whale-patterned plates, cute fish pillows and earrings, and blue placemats, mugs, and bowls.

I brought home a lovely, hand-thrown, purple pottery serving bowl.

The treasure of Mystic Seaport is the last remaining wood whaling ship, which was built in 1834 and used until the 1920s.

We climbed aboard and wondered, once again, at the courage of men who rode such small boats across the big seas.

This volunteer was an old Navy man, who still wanted to be around ships.

The Seaport's ship-building division is presently restoring an old ferry and a Viking boat, and it just finished the restoration of the Mayflower II.  

We listened as a docent told the story of the Gerda, the boat used by Danish partisans during World War II to ferry 98% of Denmark’s Jews across the sea to Sweden. Denmark was occupied by the Nazis, but Sweden was not.

We wandered through a number of shops and museums, including collections of scrimshaw, decorations for ship bows, and model ships, as well as shops showing how rope was made and how blacksmiths forged metal parts for ships.

This was a general store, selling supplies for ships.

This was a forge for metal ship parts.

And this was a "cooper", or barrel maker.

Each ship had a decorative sculpture on its bow.  Many were works of art.

 

After walking past all the ships, shops, and museums, we rode a boat around the harbor, as the skipper described Mystic Seaport's treasures from a different vantage point.

These boys were part of a summer camp, learning all about ships and boats.

Dave and I relaxed and ate dinner at a lobster pound along Long Island Sound.

We ordered the "captain's sampler", with clam chowder, shrimp cocktail, a bucket of steamed mussels, and a lobster.  Ymm!

And we enjoyed yet another memorable seascape.