Mystic, Conn. (September 28, 2016) — The world’s largest Viking ship, the Norwegian Draken Harald Hårfagre, will be docking at Mystic Seaport beginning October 2.

The Draken will arrive at Mystic Seaport 11 a.m. on Sunday, October 2. They will be docked near the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan, and there will be a brief ceremony welcoming the crew. Pending US Coast Guard inspection on Monday morning, the ship will be open to the public from 2 to 4 p.m. each day from Monday, October 3 to Monday October 10.

Draken Harald Hårfagre is a clinker-built Viking longship, a reconstruction of what the Norse Sagas refer to as a “Great Ship.” On April 26, 2016, Draken left her home port Haugesund in Norway to begin an expedition to sail to America. The aim of the expedition is to explore and relive one of the most mythological sea voyages – the first transatlantic crossing and the Viking discovery of the New World, more than 1,000 years ago. So far the ship has crossed the Atlantic, sailed throughout the Great Lakes, and ventured through the Erie Canal and Hudson River to New York City.

Captain Björn Ahlander will recount their adventures as the first speaker in the Museum’s 2016-2017 Adventure Series. He will give two presentations Thursday, October 13, at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. in the River Room at Latitude 41° Restaurant. Tickets are $15 for Museum members and $20 for the general public. Tickets are available online at the Museum’s website: http://bit.ly/2dmdSjU

Draken Harald Hårfagre will stay at Mystic Seaport for the winter, but the crew will cover the boat in November and she will not be open to the public.

Link to dropbox for still images and video:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/abvi1h636vbg85g/AADgJgRIfqZQs2JVhTX3RUQLa?dl=0

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 exhibits, beginning with SeaChange, which opens December 10, 2016. 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 $26 for adults and $17 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Museum Completes Transformation of Grounds, Strategic Expansion of Indoor Exhibit Capacity

Mystic, Conn. (September 24, 2016) — Mystic Seaport celebrated the opening of the Thompson Exhibition Building, a 14,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility to enhance and increase the Museum’s ability to host world-class exhibits and succeed in its mission to inspire an enduring connection to America’s maritime heritage.

“Today we embark on a new era for the Museum,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport. “The Thompson Building provides expansive, modern exhibit space that enables us to showcase the treasures of our vast collections in new and exciting ways. With its completion, we strengthen our position as a year-round destination and create a new gateway to Mystic Seaport and the Mystic area.

“This is an exciting expansion that will add to the magnetism of one of eastern Connecticut’s most cherished institutions,” said U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT 2nd). “Mystic Seaport has long been a leading attraction in our region for both locals and out-of-state visitors alike. The addition of the brand new Thompson Exhibition Building and the completion of the north end of the museum will greatly enhance its ability to tell the story of our maritime past.”

The Thompson Building is the cornerstone and final element of the McGraw Gallery Quadrangle, a $15.3 million project which integrated existing buildings and grounds with new construction and unified the buildings of the north end of the Museum by focusing on their common role as formal exhibition galleries.

Named for the late Wade Thompson, a Mystic Seaport trustee for 27 years who believed passionately in the need for modern exhibition space and its importance for the future of the Museum, the Thompson Building houses the Collins Gallery, a 5,000-square-foot hall featuring soaring ceilings and a flexible layout that provides the caliber of conditions required to curate not only exhibits from the Mystic Seaport collections, but also permit the borrowing of outstanding art and artifacts from other museums around the world.

Other elements of the building include a prominent visitor’s entrance, a sweeping reception lobby, a ticketing center, a retail shop, and a meeting space, and the Masin Room, a conference room and meeting space which looks out over the Mystic River. A wraparound deck invites visitors to enjoy the riverside setting and serves as a covered overlook to the quadrangle’s common area.

Designed by the Connecticut firm Centerbrook Architects and Planners, the building seeks to evoke the “geometry of the sea,” drawing design cues from the interior of a wooden ship, the undulating sea, and a spiraling nautilus shell. Construction was managed by A/Z Corporation of North Stonington, CT.

The Thompson Building was funded through private and public sources, including generous support from individual philanthropists and foundations, the Thompson family, and a $2 million grant from the State of Connecticut.

Unveiled Saturday was a mural commissioned specifically for the lobby. Titled “Away,” the 59-foot-long work of art was created by Nikki McClure, an artist from Olympia, WA. The image was cut from black paper using an X-ACTO knife, then enlarged and fabricated in vinyl to install on wall. “Away” depicts a figure in a boat dragging his or her hand in the water, reflecting the continuing human desire “to touch the water and feel the wake,” in the words of the artist.

The first exhibit to be installed in the Collins gallery will be SeaChange, a dramatic presentation of a range of beautiful and unique objects drawn from the collections of Mystic Seaport. A handful of these intriguing artifacts will be on display for the first time, and all will be presented in a new setting which reveals surprising stories of transformation that continue to impact a contemporary audience and its experience with the sea. The exhibit opens December 10.

The Collins Gallery will also be the site of the presentation of the 2016 America and the Sea Award honoring Rod and Bob Johnstone and their company J/Boats. Given annually by the Museum, the prestigious award recognizes individuals or organizations whose contribution to the history, arts, business, or sciences of the sea best exemplify the American character. The award will be presented at a gala dinner on October 22.

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 state-of-the-art 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 $26 for adults and $17 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, Conn. (September 22, 2016) — The Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport opens the 37th Annual International Marine Art Exhibition and Sale Sunday, October 2.

The International is the most comprehensive collection of contemporary marine art in the United States. Award-winning artists from around the world will present nearly 100 examples of their most recent work. Represented in this show are exceptional paintings, sculptures, and scrimshaw. The show is a commemoration of America’s maritime heritage with both intricately researched historical scenes and contemporary images that document the relationship of man to the sea.

“We are excited and honored to present the 37th International Marine Art Exhibition and Sale at the Maritime Gallery at Mystic Seaport. Award-winning artists from eight countries will be displaying works of contemporary marine art of the highest quality. Paintings on display will include coastal scenes and marine wildlife as well as historic vessels, racing yachts, and working boats. The show will visually inspire and delight art connoisseurs, sailors, and visitors alike,” said Monique Foster, director of the Gallery.

Participating artists include John Stobart, Don Demers, Russ Kramer, Patrick O’Brien, Richard Loud, Neal Hughes, Laura Cooper, and Robert Lagasse.

The exhibition will honor participating artists with five awards of excellence and eight named awards–including the Rudolph J. Schaefer Maritime Heritage Award, which recognizes the work that best documents America’s maritime heritage for future generations.

The exhibition will open to the public at 10 a.m. Sunday, October 2. There will be an artists’ walk from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the Gallery. The walk is an opportunity for the public to meet some of the participating artists and listen as they share how they created their works and what inspires them to produce their art.

All works in the exhibition are available to view and purchase daily between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. The show can also be viewed on the Gallery website beginning on September 26.

The exhibition runs through December 31, 2016.

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 state-of-the-art 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 $26 for adults and $17 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Museum Celebrates “History on the Half Shell” with Food, Music, and Fun

Mystic, Conn. (September 15, 2016) — Mystic Seaport will host the first ever Mystic River Oyster Festival on Saturday, October 1. The festival is a new event to celebrate the history, growing, and cuisine of the popular shellfish in Mystic and southern New England.

The Museum is opening its grounds to a variety of growers, restaurants, educational and advocacy organizations, and others with an interest in the cultivation, conservation, heritage, and eating of oysters. Visitors will be able to sample all sorts of oysters, both raw and in prepared dishes.

Participants include Mystic’s Oyster Club and Engine Room, the Noank Aquaculture Cooperative, Matunuck Oyster Bar, Fishers Island Oyster Farm, Behan Family Farms, Broad Street Kitchen, Jonathan Island Oyster Co., Norm Bloom & Son’s Copps Island Oysters, and Coastal Gourmet.

Mystic Knotworks and R. Murphy knives will be on hand to sell their wares.

Connecticut Sea Grant, Save the Bay, and CUSH (Clean Up Sound and Harbors) will be present to share information on aquaculture, shellfish conservation efforts, and clean water initiatives in Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay.  Guest speakers from the Noank Oyster Cooperative and The Nature Conservancy will give presentations on oyster farming, aquaculture, and ocean preservation.

Throughout the day, the Museum’s historic interpreters will offers talks and demonstrations on the history of oystering and New England fisheries, and visitors can check out the Thomas Oyster House exhibit, the 1891 oyster sloop Nellie, and take in an oyster-shucking contest.

Live music will be provided by local musicians Craig Edwards and Don Sineti.

The festival will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Food service will be from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Mystic River Oyster Festival is free with regular Museum admission. Food is subject to an additional charge.

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 state-of-the-art 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 $26 for adults and $17 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Mystic, Conn. (September 12, 2016) — On September 24, 2016, Mystic Seaport will celebrate the opening of the Thompson Exhibition Building, an event that ushers in a new era at the Museum and completes a transformation of the north end of the grounds that will enhance and increase the Museum’s capacity to succeed in its mission to inspire an enduring connection to the American maritime experience.

There will be a brief ceremony to commemorate the occasion at 9 a.m. on the Cambridge Plaza, the public space in front of the building, after which visitors will be invited inside to explore the structure for the first time.

“The opening of the Thompson Exhibition Building is the culmination of many years of work and the fulfillment of a vision to focus on the display of our collections in ways we have never been able to do before,” said Steve White, president of Mystic Seaport. “This increase in our exhibition capacity creates a more robust year-round experience for the visitor, which makes this project not just an investment in the future of Mystic Seaport, but also an investment in the future of tourism for the entire region.”

The Thompson Building is the cornerstone and final element of the McGraw Gallery Quadrangle, which integrates existing buildings and grounds with new construction and unifies the components of the north end of the Museum by focusing on their common role as formal exhibition galleries.

Named for the late Wade Thompson, a Mystic Seaport trustee for 27 years who believed passionately in the need for new, state-of-the-art exhibition space and its importance for the future of the Museum, the 14,000-square-foot building will house the Collins Gallery, a 5,000-square-foot hall featuring soaring ceilings and a flexible layout to accommodate objects of varying size and installations of all types. This will be the largest among the Museum’s seven formal galleries and will provide the caliber of conditions required to curate not only exhibits from the Mystic Seaport collections, but also permit the borrowing of outstanding art and artifacts from other museums around the world.  A riverfront meeting space, the Masin Room, graces the west side of the building and can be reconfigured for conferences or lectures, additional gallery space, or educational programs adding to its versatility.

The building incorporates a wraparound deck that will allow visitors to enjoy the riverside setting and serve as a covered overlook to the quadrangle’s common area. Other elements include a prominent Museum entrance, a sweeping reception lobby, ticketing center, retail shop, and visitor amenities.

Designed by the Connecticut firm Centerbrook Architects and Planners, the Thompson Building evokes the “geometry of the sea,” drawing design cues from the interior of a wooden ship, the undulating sea, and a spiraling nautilus shell. Construction was managed by A/Z Corporation of North Stonington, CT.

The Thompson Building and McGraw Quadrangle are the result of a decade of strategic and master planning, and will provide:

• An iconic point of arrival at the north end of the campus
• All-weather and all-season operational capabilities
• Sweeping, unobstructed views of the Mystic River
• Outdoor celebration areas for both Museum and community use
• 21st-century upgrades and improved access to existing galleries around the Quadrangle’s perimeter, including those in the Stillman and R. J. Schaefer buildings
• Environmentally responsible features that respond to the riverfront location, including a storm water treatment system and geothermal heating and cooling
• Increased wheeled accessibility for the north campus
• Galleries and venues suitable for schools’ year-round educational visits

The Thompson Building is being funded through private and public sources, including generous support from individual philanthropists and foundations, the Thompson family, and a $2 million grant from the State of Connecticut.

Inaugural Exhibit

The inaugural exhibit in the Collins Gallery, SeaChange, will open on December 10, 2016. The exhibit presents a range of beautiful and unique objects drawn from the vast collections of Mystic Seaport. Each object is a survivor of the past that speaks to a notable transformation – in material, technology, the sea itself, or the broader American culture over the past 200 years. A handful of these intriguing artifacts will be on display for the first time, and all will be presented in a new setting which reveals surprising stories. Together, they give glimpses into people’s lives in different places and times, from scientific surveyors charting the Atlantic coast on the eve of the American Revolution to western merchants trading for silk and tea in 1850s China, from Arctic explorers to laborers harvesting bird guano off Peru for American farmers. The stories of transformation they relate continue to impact a contemporary audience and its experience with the sea.

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 state-of-the-art 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 $26 for adults and $17 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Free Admission for Children All Day

Mystic, Conn. (September 1, 2016) — Mystic Seaport announces Citizens Bank will be hosting Family Fun Day at Mystic Seaport on Saturday, September 17. Children ages 17 and younger will receive free admission when accompanied by a paying adult.

“Citizens Bank is proud to sponsor the Family Fun Day at Mystic Seaport, bringing the community together for a day of learning and fun the whole family can enjoy,” said Lisa Maass, President, Citizens Bank, Connecticut. “It’s a great opportunity for first-time visitors and frequent guests to spend time at this historic museum and enjoy activities for all ages.”

A quintessential New England experience, Mystic Seaport offers visitors of all ages a unique link to America’s seafaring past and the opportunity to immerse themselves in hands-on history.

In addition to the Museum’s exhibits, historic ships, and 19th-century seafaring village, the schedule for the day includes:

• Face painters, balloon artists and glitter tattoo artists on the Membership patio from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• Activities for children include crafts and games in Home Port, the Discovery Barn, the Children’s Museum, a Navigation Quest scavenger hunt, and the Playscape playground.
• Free lemonade and coffee served in the Membership Building.
• A free cookie from the Bake Shop to all Citizens Bank card holders, compliments of Citizens Bank.
• Rowboat and sailboat rentals, waterfront cruises, toy boat making and Planetarium shows. (Subject to additional fees.)

Adult admission is $26, with a $3 discount for Citizens Bank employees with identification.

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 state-of-the-art 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 $26 for adults and $17 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. For more information, please visit https://mysticseaport.wpengine.com/  and follow Mystic Seaport on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.