Flash Card Quiz

All right all you educators out there. Now it’s your turn to take a quiz (with a little blogger help!).

 

Q.   What special event is happening at Mystic Seaport this weekend (April 4 and 5)?

A.   Educators’ Weekend. This year’s event will celebrate the International Year of Astronomy.

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Q.   Who is invited?

A.   Teachers, school administrators, support staff and their families (but of course, the general public, too!).

 

Q.   How much will it cost Educators?

A.   Show your school or union ID card or a copy of school letterhead at the Museum gate and your admission is FREE! (Up to four people total.)

 

Q.   What does the weekend offer educators?

A.   Planned activities will acquaint you with all the Museum has to offer in helping you reach your classroom goals in a fun, outside-the-textbook manner.

 

Q.   Some examples?

A.   Attend the amazing Treworgy Planetarium program, “Finding Your Way through the Stars.” Learn more about celestial navigation in the Planetarium lobby’s exhibit.  Go on a special compass-guided scavenger hunt in the Museum’s Nautical Instruments Shop.  Take a 30-minute sampler tour of the Museum’s science-based guided tours, specially designed for school groups.  Try out different shipbuilding tools and do some hands-on rope making. All this an much more… you get the idea!

 

Bull’s Eye — you passed the quiz!

 

A $5,000 grant from Target has enabled Mystic Seaport to host Educators’ Weekend for a seventh year.  Your assignment is to take advantage of this very special opportunity. For more information and a detailed list of scheduled activities, visit www.mysticseaport.org/ews.  

It’s Back!

June 6 and 7 will be BYOB (Bring Your Own Boat) time at Mystic Seaport.  The John Gardner Small Craft Workshop is back after a one-year hiatus!

The excitement is already palpable as news of the event spreads through word-of-mouth and through upcoming featured articles in WoodenBoat magazine and Messing About in Boats.

Hundreds of owners of traditionally designed and built small craft are expected to again gather along the Museum’s waterfront to proudly display and share the use of their boats. Peapods, white halls, sharpie skiffs, canoes, kayaks, dories, dinghies and more will undoubtedly be in the mix. Here’s a unique chance for workshop participants to “test drive” an impressive variety of small craft and also try their small boat related skills on vessels other than their own.   

The Small Craft Workshop returns to Mystic Seaport this June.

Peter Vermilya, the Museum’s curator of small craft and supervisor of traditional craft programs, describes the weekend as one of special camaraderie amongst small craft enthusiasts. “It’s also an opportunity for anyone interested in building a boat themselves to talk with others who have successfully done it.”

You don’t have to bring a boat to participate in the Small Craft Workshop. All you need to bring is yourself. Workshop organizers are planning a great weekend. Watch for registration forms and more information on our website: www.mysticseaport.org/smallcraftworkshop.

Five Questions with… Museum Security Guard Jim Conlin

This week we meet Jim Conlin, sergeant in the Museum’s security department. If you’ve had any reason to visit the small yellow building mid-grounds, you have undoubtedly met Jim. He calls joining the security staff at Mystic Seaport “the luck of the Irish” because he has always wanted to work and live in the Mystic area.

Jim Conlin

 

 

1.      How long have you been at Mystic Seaport?

JC:  Seven years. This is actually my second career; I worked in the insurance industry for many years before coming on board here.

 

2.      What’s the best part of your job?

JC:  I would have to say meeting and talking with visitors from so many different states and countries. In addition to our regular duties, our office is almost like a public relations kiosk. We answer questions about restaurants, room accommodations, other tourist attractions in the area – you name it!

 

3.      What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?

JC:  Maintaining safety throughout the Museum is top priority, of course. The job gets more challenging in high tourist season, naturally. Our staff handles all kinds of medical emergencies and we are all trained in First Aid and CPR. Mostly, we treat minor cuts and bruises from falls, but we’ve also had to deal with heat stroke, seizures, broken bones and diabetes-related problems. Finding lost children is also part of the job. 

 

With challenges also comes rewards. I have received four or five letters from people, thanking me for the services they had received and that is very rewarding for me.

 

4.      What’s the funniest or most notable on job experience you’ve had?

JC:  There have been times when a Museum visitor reports hysterically that their car has been stolen from the parking lot. Inevitably, the visitor either forgot which parking lot they were in or where they parked in the lot. Also, you wouldn’t believe our lost and found discoveries – everything from a wedding dress to a baby stroller. Since our staff walks the entire Museum grounds on a rotating schedule, we’re likely to find anything!

 

It’s also quite funny to see people trying to gain free access into the Seaport – either under or over a gate. We even caught a gentleman in a suit and tie trying to sneak in!

 

5.      What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?

JC:   Basketball ranks high, both playing and watching the game. I also do a lot of bicycle riding and enjoy motor boating and fishing.

 

 -          Jim was interviewed by volunteer Trudi Busey.

 

Check back often to learn a little bit about the people behind the scenes at Mystic Seaport.

I’m Hooked

“What did you do at work today?”

“Oh, you know, pounded iron.”

Working at Mystic Seaport definitely has its privileges. Having a bad day? Can’t seem to escape writer’s block? A visit to the Museum’s Shipsmith shop and a lesson with blacksmith Craig Hill quickly erases all worries. Emails, deadlines and meetings are long gone. Now, for a brief respite, it’s just the methodical pounding of iron, the twisting of molten metal and the practicing of tried and true 19th-century techniques.

Mystic Seaport’s James Driggs Shipsmith shop can be found in the heart of the Museum’s  re-created village. Originally located in Mew Bedford, MA, the shop arrived at Mystic Seaport in 1944. It is the only manufactory of ironwork for the whaling industry known to have survived the 19th century.

Museum visitors can not only visit the shop and watch Craig in action, they can try their hand at the trade as well. Hands-On History returns in late June, giving everyone (not just lucky Museum employees like me!) the chance to hammer away on something other than a computer keyboard. And when you’re finished, you walk away with a one-of-a-kind keepsake.

Make a bit of your own history at Mystic Seaport.

Not too bad, huh?  I think I just might quit my day job.

For more information about the Museum and its offerings, visit www.mysticseaport.org.

Ahoy! Sea Squirt & Sea Stars: Preschool Programs at Mystic Seaport

Do you know a preschooler who likes boats and fish? Mermaids and pirates? Stories and science? Crafts and play? (Um, is water wet?)

Well, we’ve got the programs for your ocean-loving preschooler. Spring is definitely in the air at Mystic Seaport, and our spring preschool programs at the Children’s Museum are starting this week. This active hour of maritime fun starts each week in the Children’s Museum with crafts, science activities, songs, stories and play. It’s a new maritime adventure each week, with field trips around the Museum on sunny days—exploring the grounds with a Museum Teacher and your preschooler is a whole new way to see Mystic Seaport.

And new this spring, we have programs for up to age four! We’ve expanded our preschool offerings, so our Sea Squirts program is still just for 2 1/2-year-olds to 3 1/2-year-olds and their caregiver, while a new program, Sea Stars, suits the developmental needs of three- to four-year-olds who attend with a caregiver. And now, choose from classes on Wednesdays, Thursdays or Fridays.

There are a few spots still remaining for Sea Squirts and Sea Stars—call now (860.572.5322) to register for classes starting Wednesday, March 11. Classes are one hour in length, and meet for six sessions. Member discount is available, of course.

Calling all Gardeners!

Yes, there is still snow on the ground. Yes, there’s a chance there might be more. But to quote the great Hal Borland, “No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.”

Spring is coming and we’re more than ready. In preparation, the Membership Department at Mystic Seaport is hosting a Spring Garden Series at Seamen’s Inne to help you get your gardens ready for the coming season.

The three-part luncheon series begins Friday, March 13, with Anne Duncan, owner of the Salem Herbfarm in Connecticut. Anne will explain the most cost-effective way to grow, maintain, preserve and enjoy popular culinary herbs.

On Friday, April 10, the Museum’s Supervisor of Gardens Kara Franco will detail the flowers and vegetables that are grown in Mystic Seaport’s greenhouse for the Museum’s period gardens (betcha didn’t know that we even grow our own veggies, huh?!). After lunch, attendees will visit the Museum’s greenhouse to check out the new seedlings and plants.

County Master Gardener Coordinator Susan Munger wraps up the series Friday, May 15, with a discussion about the ease of creating sustainable landscapes with the use of rain gardens, a low-maintenance feature that allows surface water to return to the underground aquifer. Copies of Munger’s book, Common to this Country: Botanical Discoveries of Lewis and Clark will also be available.

Gardens, history and much more. All waiting at Mystic Seaport.

So replace those mittens with gardening gloves and those shovels with trovels. It’s all about sunshine, fresh vegetables and plentiful gardens from here on out…we hope.

For more information, times and prices, visit our Membership Department online or call 860.572.5339.

Of Course We Have Seals…

With all due respect to our friends down the street, there are seals at Mystic Seaport, too.

At least there was Wednesday morning of this week.

I could get used to this, thinks the newest visitor to Mystic Seaport.

While we haven’t officially confirmed this, we believe this visitor to the dock near our Boathouse is either a harp or harbor seal.

There is a colony of harbor seals near Fisher’s Island, so that’s one possible explanation. We’ve also learned that this is the time of year juvenile harp seals come down from the Arctic to explore (perhaps they’ve heard of our Frozen In exhibit?). 

Either way, it doesn’t make a difference to us. What it means to us is that Mystic Seaport attracts all kinds. And in the harshest of winters, there’s no problem with that.

Warm up by the fire

It’s March in New England, and as of about 7 a.m. this morning, Mother Nature dumped a little inside joke on us. Between 8-15 inches of fluffy, white inside joke, depending on where you are.

Given what’s going on outside, I can think of a lot of places INSIDE that I’d like to be, and near the top of my list would be the Buckingham-Hall House at Mystic Seaport. I’d like to head inside, and warm up in a room heated by a fireplace so big I could stand in it.  I’d like to linger in the warmth of the kitchen while watching the deft work of the Museum interpreter while drinking in the heavenly aroma of baking bread, codfish cakes and warm, cinnamon-scented apple pie.

Want to try this yourself? The Buckingham-Hall House will be open for an evening of cooking by the fire this winter. For one night, on March 7, you can join the calico-skirted Museum interpreter at Mystic Seaport and learn just how a woman in the 1870s fed her family without a gas range and a microwave oven—and no takeout menus, either.

Just be sure to save me a piece of pie.

Open-Hearth Cooking at Mystic Seaport

DATES	TIME	COST
March 7, 2009	6 – 9 p.m.	$50 / $45 (member)

To register, go to www.mysticseaport.org/registration.