Mystic Seaport Museum

From simple beginnings in the 17th century, the village of Mystic grew to become one of the great shipbuilding ports of the East Coast. In the mid-19th century, Mystic’s shipyards launched clipper ships, many from the George Greenman & Co Shipyard, now the site of Mystic Seaport Museum. Today, the museum covers 17 acres and includes more than 60 historic buildings, four tall ships and almost 500 smaller vessels. Some buildings in the museum were originally here, but, as with Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, many were transported from other parts of New England and arranged to recreate a resemblance to the past. Interpreters staff all the buildings and are all too glad to discuss their crafts and trades. Most illuminating are the demonstrations scattered throughout the day, on such topics as ship-rescue procedures, oystering and whale-boat launching. See p321 for a list of festivals held here. Visitors can board the Charles W Morgan (1841), the last surviving wooden whaling ship in the world; the LA Dunton (1921), a three-masted fishing schooner; or the Joseph Conrad (1882), a square-rigged training ship. The museum’s exhibits include a replica of the 77ft schooner Amistad, the slave ship on which 55 kidnapped Africans cast off their chains and sailed to freedom. (In the Steven Spielberg movie Amistad, the museum was used to stage many of the scenes that actually took place in colonial New London.) At the Henry B duPont Preservation Ship­yard, you can watch large wooden boats being restored. Be sure not to miss the Wendell Building, which houses a fascinating collection of ships’ figureheads and carvings. Close by is a small ‘museum’ (more like a playroom) for children seven and under. The Seaport also includes a small boat shop, jail, general store, chapel, school, pharmacy, sail loft, shipsmith and ship chandlery – all the sorts of places that you’d expect to find in a real shipbuilding town of 150 years ago. If the call of the sea beckons during your visit, the Sabino (860-572-5315; adult/6-12yr $5.25/4.25), a 1908 steamboat, takes visitors on excursions up the Mystic River from May to October. The boat departs from the museum hourly on the half-hour.