Page 33 – Mystic Seaport Museum

New Start Time for Mystic Seaport’s Antique & Classic Boat Parade July 23

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date July 19, 2017

Mystic, Conn. (July 19, 2017) — Mystic Seaport will hold its annual Antique & Classic Boat Parade on the Mystic River beginning at 11:45 a.m., Sunday, July 23. The boats should begin passing through the Mystic River bascule bridge in downtown Mystic at about noon.

The new start time is 30 minutes earlier than previously announced to accommodate the railroad bridge opening schedule for Amtrak.

The name and particulars of each boat will be announced at a public address station on the shore at Mystic River Park as it passes through the bascule bridge. The boats then make their way in a procession down river to the village of Noank.

The parade is the conclusion of the Museum’s Antique & Classic Boat Rendezvous weekend, which showcases high-quality antique vessels, including cruisers, sailboats, and runabouts. Approximately 50 classic vessels will gather along the museum’s waterfront. Visitors are invited to see the displayed vessels Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. An awards competition will recognize excellence in restoration, authenticity, and workmanship.

To celebrate the 85th anniversary of the launching of the museum’s schooner Brilliant, the Rendezvous will highlight boats designed by the naval architecture firm Sparkman & Stephens. Brilliant was design #12, one of the earliest of co-founder Olin Stephen’s designs. She was launched in 1932 at the Henry B. Nevins, Inc. yard at City Island, N.Y. As one of the longest-running sail training programs in the country, she has carried more than 10,000 students on cruises throughout New England and beyond.

For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/event/antique-classic-boat-rendezvous/.

About Mystic Seaport
Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929, the Museum is home to four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the Charles W. Morgan, America’s oldest commercial ship and the last wooden whaleship in the world. The Museum’s collection of more than two million artifacts includes more than 500 historic vessels and one of the largest collections of maritime photography in the country. The newly opened Thompson Exhibition Building provides a state-of-the-art gallery to host compelling, world-class exhibitions, beginning with the current show SeaChange. The Collections Research Center at Mystic Seaport provides scholars and researchers from around the world access to the Museum’s renowned archives. Mystic Seaport is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. Admission is $28.95 for adults ages 15 and older and $18.95 for children ages 4-14. Museum members and children three and younger are admitted free. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/ and follow Mystic Seaport on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

###

Press Releases

Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport to Open ‘The Art of Rowing’ Exhibition July 29

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date July 18, 2017

Mystic, Conn. (July 18, 2017) – The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport is proud to present “The Art of Rowing,” an exhibition and sale of original works that opens July 29.

This year marks the 165th anniversary of America’s oldest collegiate athletic competition: the Harvard-Yale Regatta, which took place for the first time in 1852 and is now rowed on the Thames River in New London, close to Mystic. The occasion became the inspiration for a show dedicated to rowing—not just competitive rowing, but to rowing in all its forms, whether for pleasure or for work.

“Given the large number of rowing devotees in New England, it was a natural decision to have a show at the Maritime Gallery devoted to rowing,” said Monique Foster, director of the Maritime Gallery. “In addition to exceptional art depicting competition, the show will offer artwork related to all types of rowing and we are excited to feature a broad range of media, artists, and subject matters.”

This show will offer new artworks for sale by, among others artists, Peter Arguimbau, Geoffrey Huband, Loretta Krupinski, David Bareford, Carolyn Hesse-Low, Neal Hughes, and Robert Lagasse.

The public is invited to an opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., Saturday, July 29. RSVPs are encouraged.

“The Art of Rowing” will be open through September 17, the day of the annual Coastweeks Regatta at the Museum.

The Maritime Gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, please call the Gallery at 860.572.5388 or email gallery@https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/

About the Maritime Gallery

The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport is the nation’s foremost gallery specializing in contemporary marine art and ship models. For more than 35 years, the Gallery has been privileged to exhibit the works of leading international maritime artists. Located at historic Mystic Seaport, the Gallery overlooks the beautiful Mystic River attracting art lovers and collectors from around the world. For more information, please visit mysticseaport.org/gallery.

News SABINO Restoration

SABINO’s Boiler ‘Took Off Beautifully’

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date July 14, 2017

The old adage ‘where there’s smoke, there’s fire’ was both true and appropriate today at Mystic Seaport, when the first fire was lit in the steamboat Sabino’s new boiler.

A crowd of Mystic Seaport administrators, shipwrights and other interested parties gathered as a wood fire was built and then lit. Others stood on the dock in the Museum’s shipyard or on the Sabino’s bow to watch the smokestack for the first sign of smoke. There was a cheer when the first puff appeared.

Jason Cabral, Sabino’s lead engineer, said the fire was the first step in making the boiler fully operational. Chemicals that are added to the boiler tubes to fight corrosion and scaling needed to be heated in the water to set. It is a similar process to “seasoning” a new cast iron skillet. The Friday fire was to condition the boiler tubes with the chemicals.

“It took off beautifully and everything is doing what it’s supposed to do,” Cabral said of the first firing of the boiler. “We can already hear water circulating through it. It’s a big day, a big day for me at least, because I’ve been waiting two-and-a-half years for this. I’m really excited about getting her running.”

Sabino has been in the Museum’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard since late 2014 for an extensive restoration. Museum shipwrights addressed a number of issues around the vessel, including reframing much of the stern, replacing the keel bolts, installing new planking and decking, and restoring portions of the superstructure. In addition, numerous mechanical and systems upgrades were carried out. On June 14, a new boiler and water tank were installed. The engine and canopy were installed on June 16, followed by the installation of the stack.

Next week, Cabral said, a coal fire will be lit and there will be two important tests conducted. The first – a hydro test – requires the boiler to be filled to the top with water and “we use a pump to pressurize it and make sure all the fittings are correct and don’t leak.” The second test is of the boiler’s safety valves. “In that test we bring the boiler up to full pressure, to where the safety valves let off, and the Coast Guard makes sure they are operational,” Cabral said.

Sabino will return to regular operation beginning August 2, with one 30-minute cruise to start each day followed by two downriver cruises.

“It’s like the heartbeat of Mystic Seaport is returning,” said Dave Childs, Sabino captain.

Press Releases

Mystic Seaport to Host Annual Antique & Classic Boat Rendezvous

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date July 12, 2017

Event to Feature Sparkman & Stephens Vessels, Antique Boat Parade

Mystic, Conn. (July 11, 2017) —Mystic Seaport will hold its annual Antique & Classic Boat Rendezvous at Mystic Seaport Saturday and Sunday, July 22-23.

The event showcases high-quality antique vessels, including cruisers, sailboats, and runabouts. Approximately 50 classic vessels will create a colorful gathering along the museum’s waterfront. Visitors are invited to see the displayed vessels Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday 9 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. An award competition will recognize excellence in restoration, authenticity, and workmanship.

To celebrate the 85th anniversary of the launching of the museum’s schooner Brilliant, the event will highlight the designs of the naval architecture firm Sparkman & Stephens. Brilliant was design #12, one of the earliest of co-founder Olin Stephen’s designs. She was launched in 1932 at the Henry B. Nevins, Inc. yard at City Island, N.Y. As one of the longest-running sail training programs in the country, she has carried more than 10,000 students aboard.

In addition, the museum will host a party, “Docktails & Dancing,” on Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. Guests will enjoy drinks, desserts, and dancing to live music by the band Sugar. Tickets are $40 per person for members and $45 for non-members. A cash bar will be available. Tickets may be purchased by calling 860.572.5331.

The Rendezvous concludes Sunday at 11:45 a.m. with a parade of the classic boats down the Mystic River. Each will be announced on the shore at Mystic River Park as it passes through the iconic Mystic River Bascule Bridge. The boats then make their way down river to Fishers Island Sound in what has become a highlight of the Mystic summer season.

For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/event/antique-classic-boat-rendezvous/.

News

Dedication of Vietor Garden

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date July 11, 2017

The dragonflies and honey bees were having a grand time in The Vietor Garden on Monday afternoon, flitting and buzzing among the daylilies, asters, and bee balm. They were so busy that they did not notice the gathering of a small group of people around the edges of the garden on this beautiful July day.

The dedication of the new Vietor Garden, given to Mystic Seaport in memory of Anna Glenn Butler and Alexander Orr Vietor by their family, under a cloudless sky, was the final piece in the Museum’s redevelopment of the north end of its grounds.

The ceremony began just after noon, and as the last of the Greenmanville Church’s 12 chimes on the hour died away, Museum President Steve White stood to speak.

“If you heard just now the church clock’s chimes, those have been a long time coming,” White said. “Thanks to the efforts of some volunteers and our staff those chimes have been restored. Those, and the dedication of this garden, are the final pieces to bring together this entire landscape. The Vietor Garden is the last piece to create a gorgeous place to be.”

The reworking of the north end into the McGraw Quadrangle was part of a longtime vision for Mystic Seaport, White noted. Anna and Alexander Vietor also had a vision for the Museum.

“Anna Glenn was an extraordinary philanthropist and we were so lucky that Mystic Seaport was a place she decided was deserving of support. Alexander spent 25 years as a trustee, and with the exception of one or two years, for 60 years we have had Vietors involved with our board. Alexander was very involved with the concept and construction of the G.W. Blunt Library in 1964, and Alexander and Anna were very involved with the creation of what has become our PILOTS program.”

In 1981, when Alexander passed away, he gifted his extensive logs and manuscripts collection to the Museum. Since then, Mystic Seaport has grown the collection from 10,000 volumes and 68,000 manuscripts to more than 75,000 volumes and 1 million manuscripts.

The garden was given by the Vietor children: David, Richard, Louise, Pauline, Alexander, and Martha. David Vietor spoke briefly at the dedication, expressing gratitude to Mystic Seaport for the opportunity to create the garden for the area, as horticulture was his mother’s passion. “She loved that gardens are continually renewing themselves, that cycle of life,” he said.

The garden was designed by Brian Kent of Kent + Frost Landscape Architecture of Mystic. Kent said the garden was planned to be sustainable, with plant combinations that replicate the natural landscape, showcasing Mrs. Vietor’s favorite colors, in a way that would be sustainable over the long term without the use of pesticides, fertilizers, and little weeding. He jokingly invited the guests to come back in a year, saying that a new garden is a lot like “a 13-year-old boy. Lots of arms and legs and a big head and it looks like nothing goes together.”

Julia Jankowski, garden supervisor for the Museum, said that while there are 18 varieties of plants in the garden, there are more than 1,000 actual plants. It took two days, a squad of 12 volunteers, plus staff to plant the garden in the spring.

Mrs. Vietor’s Garden Plant List:

Veronicastrum virginicum – Culver’s Root

Aster oblongifolius ‘Raydon’s Favorite’- Aromatic Aster

Erigeron pulchellus – Robin’s Plantain

Hemerocallis x ‘Ice Carnival’- Daylily

Meehania cordata – Meehan’s Mint

Salvia x sylvestris ‘May Night’- Sage

Sesleria autumnalis – Autumn Moor Grass

Symphyotrichum ericoides ‘Snow Flurry’- Heath Aster

Waldsteinia fragarioides – Appalachian Barren Strawberry

Quercus bicolorr – Swamp White Oak

Panicum virgatum ‘Heavy Metal’- Blue Switch Grass

Agastache foeniculum – Blue Giant Hyssop

Amsonia hubrichtii – Arkansas Blue Star

Baptisia australis – Blue False Indigo

Eryngium x ‘Big Blue’- Sea Holly

Liatrus spicata – Gayfeather

Monarda bradburiana – Eastern Bee Balm

Sporobolus heterolepis – Prairie Dropseed

News

Mystic Seaport Receives Maritime Heritage Grant

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date July 7, 2017

Ship’s cabin from the BENJAMIN F. PACKARD. This will be the centerpiece of a new long-term exhibit.

The National Park Service announced today that Mystic Seaport is the recipient of a National Maritime Heritage Grant.

The Museum is one of 27 recipients in 13 states and the District of Columbia who will collectively receive $1,752,073 in grant awards. In partnership with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration (MARAD), the National Park Service awarded grants for projects that teach about and preserve sites and objects related to our nation’s maritime history.

“Protecting our nation’s maritime history is an important part of the National Park Service’s mission to share America’s story,” said Acting National Park Service Director Michael T. Reynolds. “These grants will support efforts to conserve important parts of our maritime history and educate students of all ages.”

Mystic Seaport was awarded $49,959 to support development of “From Clippers to Containers: The Benjamin F. Packard and the History of U.S. Deepwater Cargo Transport,” a long-term exhibition that will deliver to a broad public audience important historic content about the changes in the maritime cargo trades from the mid-19th century to the present.

The centerpiece of this exhibit will be the recently reinstalled cabin from the Down-Easter Benjamin F. Packard which Mystic Seaport salvaged in 1939 before the ship was scuttled. The Packard ship’s cabin is a favorite with visitors because of the immersive experience: “beyond-the-ropes” access allows visitors to walk into the dining area, parlor, and captain’s stateroom, an ornate Gilded Age setting complete with velvet settees and burled wood panels. This unique artifact is an ideal vehicle to frame the history of American merchant vessels.

In addition to the compelling story of the Packard, the exhibition will focus on the evolution of American cargo handling and deep water trade using examples of various vessel types to illustrate the changes in society and technology that occurred over time. “From Clippers to Containers” will use interactive technology as well as ship models, period paintings, photos, and other artifacts to illustrate these stories.

The National Maritime Heritage Program Grant awards are made possible through a partnership between the two federal agencies, which both share a commitment to maritime heritage preservation and education. They are funded through recycling of vessels from the MARAD’s National Defense Reserve Fleet. The grant program supports a broad range of maritime education and preservation projects, without expending tax dollars, while ensuring that the vessels are dismantled in an environmentally sound manner.

For a complete list of the recipients and the award amounts please see the National Park Service press release.

News

Pinhead Institute Intern

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date July 5, 2017

News

Rosenfeld: Guy Lombardo as Speed Racer

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date June 29, 2017

News

WoodenBoat Honors Hewson

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date June 28, 2017

Retired Mystic Seaport Vice President Dana Hewson will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award at this weekend’s 26th annual WoodenBoat Show.

Hewson, the Seaport’s vice president for watercraft preservation and programs and Clark Senior Curator, retired in April after 39 years. He was in charge of the museum’s collection of more than 550 boats and helped oversee the restoration of the Charles W. Morgan, Roann and construction of the replica of the Amistad.

“The WoodenBoat Show team has worked closely with Dana and his staff over the years producing the shows at Mystic Seaport. We are thrilled to honor and thank him for his dedication to Mystic Seaport and his support of the WoodenBoat Show,” said Jim Miller, president of WoodenBoat Publications.

Hewson will be honored at a Saturday dinner held in conjunction with the show. Also set to be honored for lifetime achievement that night is Boatbuilder George Luzier. He has built hundreds of boats, ranging from daysailers to outboard skiffs to cruising sailboats. Several of his boats are cherished by longtime owners, including the 39′ 1967 John Alden-designed ketch Horizon of Castine, Maine.

The WoodenBoat Show is presented by WoodenBoat Magazine and attracts about 13,000 wooden boat enthusiasts each year. The show will run Friday through Sunday. Information and tickets are available at www.thewoodenboatshow.com.

Press Releases

Arts on the Quad Begins July 12

Post author By Mystic Seaport Museum
Post date June 27, 2017

Mystic, Conn. (June 27, 2017) — Pack your picnic baskets, blankets, and lawn chairs, the Arts on the Quad outdoor performance series returns to Mystic Seaport this summer. The series will feature a different performance on Wednesday evenings during July and August on the Museum’s McGraw Quadrangle.

Arts on the Quad offers guests the opportunity to experience a diverse talent of artists in a variety of musical genres as well as some drama and comedy. The series kicks off Wednesday, July 12, with high-energy string band Rockspring. All performances begin at 6:30 p.m.

July 12 – Rockspring: Combining original songwriting with eclectic cover choices, Rockspring puts on an entertaining live show blending bluegrass, rock, and other influences.

July 19 – Flock Theatre presents William Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

July 26 – Rock & Soul Revue, a local eight-piece dance and party band specializing in Motown, Swing, Pop, Latin, and Rock.

August 2 – M Shanghai, a Brooklyn-based folk string band, named after the Asian bistro in Williamsburg that hosted the band’s monthly residency from 2002 through 2009. M Shanghai’s concerts are known for their unbridled joy, raucous energy, and intimate subtlety.

August 9 – Salt Marsh Opera: Singers and an accompanist straight from the main stage productions of the Stonington-based opera company will perform a 60-minute program of well-known arias, duets, and trios by operatic composers such as Mozart, Puccini, and Strauss.

August 16 – The Guthrie Brothers present “Scarborough Fair: A Simon & Garfunkel Experience.”

August 23 – Flock Theatre presents William Shakespeare’s Richard II.

Tickets for each performance are $18 for members, $20 for non-members, children ages 3 and younger are admitted for free. Tickets for the performances by Salt Marsh Opera and the Guthrie Brothers are $20 for members, $25 for non-members. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 860.572.0711.

The gate opens at 5:30 p.m. Guests are expected to provide their own seating on lawn chairs or blankets and picnicking is encouraged. Guests are welcome to bring their own nonalcoholic beverages and a cash bar will be available for adult beverages and soft drinks. All performances will be held rain or shine. In the event of rain, the performance will be moved under cover and seating will be provided.

Links:
mysticseaport.org/artsonthequad/

MYSTIC SEAPORT MUSEUM

HOURS

Search the site

HOURS

DIRECTIONS And Contact

VISIT

Find Your sea Story

LEARN

RESEARCH

SUPPORT

JOIN

SHOP

Search