Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in

Mystic, Connecticut Mystic is a village and census-designated place (CDP) in Groton, Connecticut, Groton and Stonington, Connecticut, United States. Historically, Mystic was a significant Connecticut seaport with more than 600 ships built over 135 years starting in ...

is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the crafts and fabric of an entire 19th-century seafaring village. It consists of more than 60 historic buildings, most of them rare commercial structures moved to the site and meticulously restored.

Overview

The museum was established in 1929 as the "Marine Historical Association". Its fame came with the acquisition of the '' Charles W. Morgan'' in 1941, the only surviving wooden sailing

whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...

. The Seaport was one of the first living history museums in the United States, with a collection of buildings and craftsmen to show how people lived; it now receives about 250,000 visitors each year. The Seaport supports research via an extensive library and runs the Frank C. Munson Institute of American Maritime Studies, a summer graduate-level academic program established in 1955 by maritime historian Professor Robert G. Albion of Harvard University. The museum also hosts Williams–Mystic in conjunction with

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

, an undergraduate program in maritime studies. Outreach includes sailing and history classes for area children.

National Historic Landmarks

Four vessels at Mystic Seaport have been recognized by the United States Government as

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

Other vessels

Grounds and programs

The Preservation Shipyard is an important part of the museum, where traditional tools and techniques are used to preserve the Museum's collection of historic vessels, including the 1841 whaleship ''Charles W. Morgan.'' A replica of the slave ship ''

La Amistad ''La Amistad'' (; Spanish for ''Friendship'') was a 19th-century two- masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard colonizing Cuba. It became renowned in July 1839 for a slave revolt by Mende captives, who had been captured and sold to European slave ...

'' was constructed in the shipyard and launched in 2000. ''Amistad'' departed from New Haven on June 21, 2007 on a transatlantic voyage to Great Britain, Lisbon, West Africa, and the Caribbean, marking the Atlantic trade and slave route to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the end of the slave trade in Great Britain. The 19th-century seafaring village contains nearly all the types of general and specialized trades associated with building and operating a sailing fleet. They include a chandlery,

sail loft A loft is a building's upper storey or elevated area in a room directly under the roof (American usage), or just an attic: a storage space under the roof usually accessed by a ladder (primarily British usage). A loft apartment refers to large ...

ropewalk A ropewalk is a long straight narrow lane, or a covered pathway, where long strands of material are laid before being twisted into rope. Due to the length of some ropewalks, workers may use bicycles to get from one end to the other. Many rope ...

, cooperage, shipping agent's office, printing office, bank, and others. Also included is The Spouter Tavern, which is open seasonally and serving "travelers' fare". Each building is used to show the original activity and also to display examples of what was sold or constructed; the nautical instrument shop, for example, displays sextants, nautical timepieces, and so forth, while demonstrations at the cooperage show how casks are assembled. File:MysticModel.jpg, Scale model of

as it was about 1870 File:MysticSeaportCatboats.JPG, Children learning to sail in JY15s and Dyer Dhows Additional buildings house more exhibits. One is a scale model of the entire Mystic River area as it appeared around 1870, complete down to the outhouse that was located behind every residence; the model is long. Another contains a collection of carved ship figureheads. Also among the museum's buildings is a planetarium which demonstrates how seamen used stars for navigation. Sailing instruction is also offered, as well as tourist rides in various historical small craft. Such tours give a good overview of historic ships at their moorings. Mystic Seaport's music program is unusual, as it prominently features

sea shanties A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term ''shanty'' most accurately refers to a specific ...

in their original contexts as work songs. The Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival is held annually in June and is among the oldest and largest in the United States.Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport
– mysticseaport.org. Accessed 22 May 20022.

Gallery

File:Mystic Seaport Light 2008.jpg,

Mystic Seaport Light Mystic Seaport Light is a lighthouse at the south end of Mystic Seaport, upriver from Noank, Connecticut. The light is a two-story white shingled structured topped with a glass-enclosed lantern and is a replica of the 1901 Brant Point Light. T ...

File:I Mystic Seaport, CT, USA (2).jpg, Collection of historic buildings File:Mystic ropewalk.jpg, 1824 ropewalk File:Mystic_oyster.jpg, 1874 oyster house File:Mystic figureheads.jpg, Carved vessel figureheads

References

Notes Bibliography * Bray, Maynard; Fuller, Benjamin; and Vermilya, Peter (2002) ''Mystic Seaport Watercraft''.

External links

Mystic Seaport homepage

Mystic Seaport Podcast

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