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Mystic
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The old whaling port and shipbuilding center of
MYSTIC
, the purists will tell you, does not in fact exist; it is an area governed partly by Groton and partly by Stonington. Nonetheless, it does have a small, well-kept, and somewhat touristy
downtown
, lined with typical New England-quaint clapboard galleries and antique shops. The old bridge across the bustling
Mystic River
that divides it down the middle still opens hourly, and self-guided walking tours take in the many old houses built by well-off sea captains. The
Olde Mistick Village
, at the intersection of I-95 and US-27, is a pleasant enough outdoor mall with over sixty upmarket shops in colonial-style buildings. For a scenic walk or bike ride away from the tourists, take the four-mile river road, which is protected from cars and development and passes by Downes Marsh, a sanctuary for osprey.
What brings the tourists to Mystic is the impeccably reconstructed seventeen-acre waterfront village of Mystic Seaport , at the mouth of the river, where more than sixty weathered buildings house old-style workshops, stores and a printing press. Its Stillman Building exhibits exquisitely carved scrimshaw and a vast amount of products made from whales' wax-like spermaceti, as well as showing film of a bloody whale capture. There are demonstrations of shanty-singing, fish-splitting and sail-setting, among other salty pastimes, as well as storytelling and theater, while in the shipyard you can watch the building, restoration and maintenance of wooden ships. The piA?ce de rA©sistance is the restored Charles W Morgan , a three-masted wooden Yankee whaling ship built in 1841 (daily: summer 9am-6pm; rest of year 9am-5pm; $17, late-afternoon arrivals are granted free entrance on the next day; tel 1-888/9SEAPORT). The last of its kind, the Morgan is a remnant of an age of exploration and arrogant expansion remembered now with a mixture of nostalgia and shame. Done up ready to embark on a hypothetical two-year voyage, the ship is filled with whaling memorabilia; below deck, accessible by perilously narrow stairs, the blubber room is crowded with huge iron try-pots for melting down the stinking blubber.
Over six thousand weird and wonderful sea creatures glug about the
Mystic Aquarium
, at exit 90 off I-95. Hourly shows at the Marine Theater (daily: summer 9am-6pm; rest of year 9am-5pm; $16) showcase porpoises and a beluga whale, and the explanations of the creatures' behavior make this a step up from standard aquarium fare. For those interested in the history of underwater exploration, there's the high-tech "Challenge of the Deep" exhibit, hosted by Dr Robert D. Ballard of the team that found the
Titanic
. Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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United States,
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