Mystic Seaport Museum CT US

[Kramer]

Went on vacation to New England a few weeks ago and visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut, US. It's a walking museum built to mimic the Mystic seaport, a whaling community, in the 19th C. There is not one central museum, but many museums and demonstration shops laid out along the river for tourists to visit. Some of the shops feature coopers, printers, sailmakers, etc. There were quite a few interesting shops and exhibits I wanted to share. Pics below. Unfortunately, it rained most of the day I was there and the staff had just reported for the summer, so many of the shops and exhibits were closed, but I took some pictures of the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship, a diorama of Mystic Seaport, and some ships from the museum.

Charles W. Morgan whaling ship


Diorama of Mystic Seaport

 

[Kramer]

Whaling Museum

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Thanks for sharing these! I was there as a teenager maybe three generations ago now, when the Morgan was still buried in the mud nearly to the waterline!
A lot's been changed since then. Sadly, the likely hood of my ever getting there again is slim to none. So thanks for the virtual tour. Very elucidating and beneficial for the details of how things look aboard a real period sailing ship in general.

Pete

 

[HPeterB]

I echo Peter Gutter man’s comments. While living in New York a stone’s throw from the Nutmeg State I remember taking a couple of trips to Mystic with my kids. There’s nothing like being able to touch history, to experience the embedded smells of a piece of living history. Thanks for sharing your photos.

 

[Van]

I lived in Mystic for awhile. If you go they have an aquarium nearby. The nearby towns of Stonington and Noank are interesting to see.
The sign on the Lawson says it spilled two million barrels of paraffin oil. Is that possible or did they mean gallons?

 

[vintagemodeler]

The first time I visited Mystic was 1957 and she was in the sand. I remember she had the false painted gunports and I remember she was painted white above the main deck including the masts. I saw a model in a museum in New Zealand that had this color scheme but find little references to it in other sources. Does anybody know more about this or a source for information as this is the one I hope to build from the MS kit.

 

[tomazona]

I also made a 1st trip to Mystic in early June. The small boats were just being refloated after winter storage. I especially enjoyed the shipwrights shop. There was a shipwright working a mast. I think I watched for about an hour as he shaped the taper. The difference in scale between models and the full scale masts was fascinating.

 

[Voncarlos]

Thanks for the photos, would like to go there sometime. I have the kit, it's next on the agenda. I never planned on building her but got the kit from a local ad for $5.
Such a fundamental, though short lived part of the worlds progressing history.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

vintagemodeler,
This is one of two nearly identical tourist models from New Bedford in the 1920s when the Charles W. Morgan, was berthed near there, having been restored and painted as this model represents. She had been converted to a tourist attraction/museum. She was a very popular attraction until 1935, when her sponsor died, the money dried up, and her popularity went the way of all flesh during the Depression. The two models I restored belonged to a client of mine who came from an old New Bedford family who evidently purchased a pair of these models at the time of the Morgan's career as a tourist attraction. A cottage industry evidently grew up around the popularity of the ship, producing these and other models of famous American sailing ships for the tourist trade.
The two ships I restored were as gray as the paint on the roofs of the hurricane house and over the try works, covered with decades of winter dust adhered by summer humidity. The dust bunnies hanging from the rigging looked like Spanish Moss. All the paint and most of the rigging is original as are some of the whale boats. Between the two models nearly half were missing. A metals expert friend of mine arranged to have a mold made from one of the originals and several copies cast. They are high zinc content white metal. I painted them to match what was left of the paint on the originals and then touched them all up for uniformity sake. Having done the restoration pro bono, just to see if I could, my furniture restoration client gave me this one of the pair in compensation. These were my first model ship restorations.
A sailor made bone model that my client had was nearly identical to the one pictured in the museum collection.
I hope this proves helpful

Pete

 

[vintagemodeler]

Thanks so much Pete, I will save those photos for future building,one of my favorie ships.

 

[Peter Gutterman]

Glad to hear it. When I saw your post I knew I had the answers on my book shelf and sitting there collecting dust on top of the wardrobe cabinet we keep the TV in. I cleaned her up for the photo shoot.

Pete

 

[Mash]

Went on vacation to New England a few weeks ago and visited the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut, US. It's a walking museum built to mimic the Mystic seaport, a whaling community, in the 19th C. There is not one central museum, but many museums and demonstration shops laid out along the river for tourists to visit. Some of the shops feature coopers, printers, sailmakers, etc. There were quite a few interesting shops and exhibits I wanted to share. Pics below. Unfortunately, it rained most of the day I was there and the staff had just reported for the summer, so many of the shops and exhibits were closed, but I took some pictures of the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship, a diorama of Mystic Seaport, and some ships from the museum.

Charles W. Morgan whaling ship
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Diorama of Mystic Seaport
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Thanks for sharing, very interesting