Mystic Seaport

Our first visit to Mystic Seaport was 34 years ago. We were on our way to see the Tall Ships come into Newport in 1976 and we saw it off the interstate. We drove back down for the day and had a great time. Little did I understand the significance that it would have on the Wooden Boat movement over the next 30 years. I doubt they knew either. The curator for the museum was a guy named John Gardner. He wrote several books (I have all of them) and documented many of the wooden boats still in existence. They have been able to obtain all the designs of many of the deceased wooden boat designers. Many of the designs have never been cataloged. I have purchased a couple of plans that I found out they had by accident. Many of the designed are listed on line but if you may just have to call them to get what you are looking to find.

Ok I am going to reveal a character fault. I love plans. Just like a good book, you can read plans and mentally escape to another place. I have purchased and studied plans of boats I will never build. It so interesting to visualize what the designer intends. And then to visualize how the builder will build the design. It must be an engineer thing.

There have been a long list of people who worked and studied here. Today we met one very interesting man. He started to work here 52 years ago today. He worked re-caulking the Charles W Morgan in 1974, which was the last time it had major work done on it. We talked to him for about 30 minutes. He knows many of the people I have met thru the years at the Wooden Boat School. He was one of those random people that you come across that make your life more interesting.

For those of you who are don’t have a clue, Mystic is a historical recreation of an early whaling community. Like a Williamsburg for us sailors. It is the home of the Charles W. Morgan the last surviving whaling ship. Currently the ship is out of the water for about a five year restoration project. They are using some volunteer labor, some paid labor, and even with the volunteers, the cost for the work is over six million dollars.


We spend most of the day in the seaport before heading out to see what else we could find. We found a lobster pound. Carole’s favorite food “LOBSTER”!! She is soooooo happy.