MYSTIC SEAPORT-THE MUSEUM

 We have a whole working town as a museum in the Mother Lode, its Columbia, a gold mining town. Mystic Seaport has a whole bay and harbor as a working museum, called Mystic Seaport. Like Columbia, it has the old buildings, still plying the trades they did in days of yore. Printing, barrel making, clock works and so on. The star of the port when we visited in August was the restoration of a whaling ship, The Charles W.Morgan, though other rescue efforts go on at the same time.

Its possible to see the workers of today, like the sailor below...

and their equivalent occupation from yesteryear.

Of course, these guys were officers of the vessel, not a swabbie like the woman above.

 To me, the most fascinating business on the wharf was the rope making building, because the building had to be as long as the finished rope, which meant about 250 feet, if my memory is correct.

Its a marvel to watch how the strands were twisted to make huge, heavy duty ropes, much needed by the shipping industry.

 Ropes were made of the hemp plant which makes it illegal in the U.S. Too bad! We could use that industry here instead of importing from Canada or Germany or China. Our early colonists knew a good thing. Hemp makes cheaper paper rather than cutting down trees, as well.

Another good occupation might be the carving of figure heads. They are definitely obsolete, but look what beauties. And, collectors love them. This particular vessel was engaged in rescue training for their sailors the day we were there. Young sailors learn real skills in how to operate these vessels and it made for a fascinating day at Mystic Seaport.

The hardest part of this rescue was learning how to lower the small boat.

MYSTIC SEAPORT-THE TOWN

Mystic Seaport has a mysterious name. It conjures up the movie, Mystic Pizza, a romantic comedy filmed partly in Mystic Seaport and nearby Groton, Connecticut. There is an element of mystery as the pizza continues to become well known. Ah, so much for the movies. It did put Mystic Seaport on the map for those of us who didn't know about its other qualities, such as a whaling and fishing history.  Jim and I  spent quite a bit of time, there since Jim's daughter-in-law lived most of her life in Mystic Seaport. Jim and Wendy Jaillet were married there as well. On our first visit we simply walked the town and looked around. Following is some of those photos.

 Rolling into town from Newport, R.I.

 A beautiful lighthouse-still in use.

 Swans are not U.S. natives. They were put here to eat up troublesome algae. Notice the darker, young swan. The Ugly Duckling story.

 New England has many, many bridges. This draw bridge is tough to photograph, the heavy concrete counterweights lift that bridge.

The boats pass through, and down they come.

This picture of a picture gives a better perspective of the bridge. Walking under those huge counterweights takes an element of faith. I guess its always that way, even when crossing a bridge in a car with huge trucks rumbling next to you, with your life depending on steel supports.

In many communities public benches are chained to prevent theft. In Mystic, they simply make them heavier.

 I enjoyed unique and different art work. Different, that is, in topics. Much ado about whaling, boats, sailing and fishing, obviously. The woodcut below is an antique we saw in a museum.

Conclusion: Mystic is the perfect place for a fish-loving, bridge building, romantic, movie-loving artist. And we tourists, too.

AMAZING MYSTIC SEAPORT

Mystic Seaport is a working museum, or so its been described to me. More than that, it is a section of a town, preserved original buildings display or work the businesses they were, some before, some after the turn of the century.
How do you preserve about 50 boats? By "parking" them along the waterfront. How do you repair historic boats? By building a boat building workshop and training people to do it. They employ 22 boat builders in this shop and take in outside work to help keep the cost of visiting this unique place down.

 This building displays the hull of an old ship and explains in detail how it was built, what made it strong, how it was put together piece by piece. I'm guessing the building is about 120 feet long.

The boat works has some awesome tools and you can wander about, watch the restoration workers and view films on the process.
There were so many buildings and crafts, I couldn't post and explain them all. Every element of the fishing industry in the area, from oysters to lobsters is covered here. The town had a cigar shop and had to put out fires; pubs and churches and schools were part of the community. In fact one church has a taped sermon from a former preacher in which he regales the "rum" establishments in fiery oratory. Its a hoot. Welding shops, chain makers, iron mongers, carpenters... After five hours of walking and gawking, we became weary. We could have returned after a respite but gave in and went home. The place is a must visit for everyone including great interactive areas for children.

The last whaling ship left intact, The Charles Morgan, out of 2700 that plied this area, is in for another restoration as the bugs that eat wood, the stresses of sailing and weather take their toll. It was built in 1841. For me, this was the most fascinating exhibit on the waterfront. While she undergoes her scraping and cleaning, and milling of replacement boards etc. we were allowed to walk around inside and ask questions of a docent.

He demonstrated the various harpoons. Unknown to me, the first strike is like a hook to bring the "fish" in, not to kill the whale. The film here is amazing. You are on the small boat as the whale takes you for a "Nantucket slay ride." You see the red foam when the whale is finally bested. You are on the blubber floor as the beast is loaded aboard the ship in slabs. The danger, the muscle it takes, the weariness, the thrill of the siting, the chase. You can almost smell the pungent ambergris as it is removed bucket by bucketful from the great head.

Bringing light below into dark quarters with glass crystals built into the upper deck. Lanterns were used sparingly as the oil soaked decks were so flammable.

The second most fascinating place, was the rope making building. The 250 foot section we were in was once part of a much longer building. When you consider the whaling boats played out 1800 feet of rope as the whale tried to shake its tormentors. How do you make a rope 1800 feet long in one straight, uncut piece? Again, an amazing film shows an old time "rope walker" with fibers tied around his waist walking the rope backward when the task was done nearly by hand with very rudimentary tools to help. This building holds the old mechanical rope making equipment that the film also demonstrates. Here the machine "walks" the rope.

Rope making has changed little from the old days except for more modern equipment. Its still a matter of joining fibers, twisting them into a small strand, then winding the strands together for great, huge ropes. There is one building that holds a  model of the town. The rope making building was the biggest one there.

On one of their sailing vessels, the Joseph Conrad, the crew was exchanging signals with another boat. The crewman yelled, "...is their a doctor aboard?" Then, "Man overboard."  Where upon the crew (in training) lowered the lifeboats and went and rescued a fake body out of the drink.

  Also aboard this vessel was a canvas funnel that catches the wind at the top and brings it below deck to cool the crew on a hot day.

In the cooperage building, a female cooper explained to us the bucket and cask and barrel making procedures. It took me by surprise to learn that barrels were routinely taken apart when empty to store them then reassembled when needed. Especially when loaded aboard ship. Each stave was numbered so it 
could be returned to its original tight form. Ships had their own cooper to perform this task.

At one time,lobster traps were made of wood instead of the plastic coated steel we see today.

One building held figureheads rescued from old boats.

One building had tools and stories and pictures of tugboats. I hadn't stopped to think how these little but mighty boats connected to a great ship. The film shows how this great hook, which weighs about 250 pounds is utilized.

The hook is in the water. The tug makes several passes until it can connect to this hook, then it hauls away. Great film here, too.

Horse and buggy rides are available, as well as boat rides and a water taxi to shuttle you around the port, for an extra fee. If you go, plan to spend the whole day.

The Amistad was parked here after having just returned from Cuba. It hadn't been completely cleaned yet since its recent voyage. It was only open for a short two hours. It has none of the chain and hooks from its horrifying days of running slaves. It has but few artifacts of slave trading, since men of the times tried to hide their nefarious purpose. It serves as an educational tool and memorial of the awfulness of slavery. Like the Holocaust Museum,  NEVER AGAIN.
I took a slug of pictures if you want to thread through them:
http://picasaweb.google.com/1579penn/81310MysticSeaport#