Page Updated: December 15, 2023
Mystic Seaport Museum
Mystic Seaport Museum - Mystic CT
The largest maritime museum in the United States, Mystic Seaport Museum is a well preserved 19th century seaside village on the banks of the Mystic River. Exhibits include historic ships, salvage and restoration projects, living history demonstrations, collection of maritime artifacts, and the last wooden whaling ship in the world - the Charles W. Morgan.
One of my favorite locations over all of our travels!
If you love boats, ships and history this is the place to go. The museums grounds are extensive; plan to spend an entire day to see everything. Check with the welcome desk to see what demonstrations will be going on that day.
Exhibits and Galleries
In Exhibits and Galleries, visitors get a taste of maritime history. The staff is knowledgeable, friendly, and welcoming. At each location, they answer questions and offered additional information. The gallery contains watercraft spanning centuries; including a dugout closely resembling the nearly 10,000 year old Pesse Canoe discovered in the Netherlands.
Maritime Village
The Maritime Village has examples of buildings key to life in a seaport; from common establishments of a bank, chapel, and doctors office, to seafaring specific businesses including a Cooperage and a Sail Loft.
On a typical day, visitors can see a number of active demonstrations in buildings like printing press office and the mid-1800s shipsmith shop where the blacksmith likes to tell the tale of the wild ride of whalers at 22 knots in their small boat with a harpooned whale.
Two of the most unique locations in the village are the Ropewalk and the Ship, House Ornamental Carvers. No demonstrations were happening in either location the day of our visit so we got to explore unhindered.
Historic Ships
The waters of Mystic Seaport Museum are full of seafaring vessels both historic and reproduced.
Floating exhibits include 1866’s Emma C Berry - one of the oldest surviving commercial vessels in the United States, and the Amistad: Replica Schooner - built in the Mystic Seaport Museum Shipyard.
Cruises are offered on the 1908 steamboat Sabino as well as the Catboat Breck Marshall.
Touring through Mystic’s historic vessels is one of the biggest draws to the museum. Fire Fighter, the most award-decorated Fireboat in the world, is a visitor favorite. We chose to tour the Charles W Morgan, the last wooden whaling ship in the world.
The Shipyard
Actively serving the waterfront and the globe since 1843, the Henry B. DuPont shipyard is renowned for restoring historical ships - the purpose for which it was built. Small group-guided tours are offered just a few times a year. Lucky tourists could stumble upon any restoration in progress; like that of the Viking longship Draken Harald Hårfagre.
Mystic Seaport Museum offers a handful of dining options. For convenience sake, we chose Schaefer’s Spouter Tavern. We wouldn’t dine here again or recommend it to others. The best thing it had to offer was dining was outside under the shade with terrific view if the Charles W Morgan.
There’s a lot to explore outside at Mystic Seaport, and you can easily spend hours roaming between buildings, boats and ships. Visitors should dress for the weather. Bundle up on the cold days and grab a hat and sunscreen for the hot ones.
Great place to bring the family or a place to go if you're a history buff!
scenes from Mystic Seaport Museum
-b&b
Castle Craig
The Charles W. Morgan
