Remembering Don

Don Treworgy, May 2009, at the naming of the Treworgy Planetarium

We are saddened to share the news that our beloved Don Treworgy, Mystic Seaport staff member for 48 years, died on September 13.

Today, on this bright and clear September day, we are comforting one another by sharing our stories and recalling this exceptional friend, scholar and gentleman who would not have failed to recognize the simple joys of a glorious late summer day.

Please join us here, in the comments section of our Mystic Seaport blog, and share your stories about life with Don, who made us all richer for the time we spent with him. Honor him with your humor, your recollections, your discoveries and your memories.

If you’d like to look back at some Mystic Seaport photographs of Don over the years, click here.

And if you have photos of your own to share (and you know how important stories, people, photos, history and archiving were to Don!) please share them in our Donald Treworgy  Remembered Flickr group.

Mystic Seaport remembers Don Treworgy

The Way it Was

While America lost a legendary journalist and beloved voice with the death of Walter Cronkite last Friday, Mystic Seaport has lost a dear friend.

In addition to the numerous and remarkable career highlights we’ve been reminded of this week, Cronkite was also an avid sailor, a member of the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, with the honorary rank of commodore, and a longtime trustee of Mystic Seaport. Former Mystic Seaport President and Director J. Revell Carr took a few moments to recall the Walter Cronkite that he knew.

“Walter truly loved the ‘mystique’ of Mystic Seaport – he loved coming in on his yacht Wyntje, tying up at the Cruising Club Dock and just wandering around. Like so many others visiting by boat, he reveled in the Museum after the other visitors had left. He allowed himself to drift back in time among the evocative images of Mystic Seaport at twilight or dawn. On one occasion, as I made my way down to visit with him after the Museum had closed, I found him standing on the dock with a video camera, making his own home movie of Mystic Seaport. I made some remark about the ageless scene before him as I approached and he made me back up and repeat the words and the approach to be recorded by his camera.

Walter Cronkite aboard his yacht Wyntje.

Obviously, he was a man of endless curiosity who was fascinated by the Museum’s exhibitions but who enjoyed even more glimpses into the stored collections with the myriad of wonders from paintings and models to bizarre curiosities.

He was always responsive when we called on him to contribute his image and voice to films about Mystic Seaport. While his schedule made it difficult to regularly attend Board meetings, he participated in the Museum’s activities whenever he could. At a Mystic Seaport benefit auction held at Sotheby’s in New York, various celebrities got up and auctioned items. Peter Yarrow, of the singing group Peter, Paul and Mary, had just gotten the audience, including most of our Trustees to sing “Puff the Magic Dragon” and then sold an autographed copy of one of his albums for some vast price. Next up was Walter, who said, “Obviously, the way to get really large bids is to sing!” Walter then sang the description of the reticulated ivory box he was to auction, to the delight of the audience and the significant benefit of Mystic Seaport. A rare moment.

Walter Cronkite in front of the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport.

On an occasion when he was at a Board meeting in the Munson Room, toward the end of the meeting, amid nearly fifty people virtually all clad in blue blazers, Walter got up and went into a fairly long oration about the group and their attire, but no one could figure out where it was leading. Ultimately he got to the point that someone was “out of uniform” and produced a blazer button that he had found on his way into the room. A perfect way to end a long morning of intense work by the Board.

Walter was just a regular guy, who had casual conversations with those moored around him or people he encountered in the Seamen’s Inne. Once when he had spent the night at my house, we stopped in the Old Mystic Store where he picked up the New York Times and chatted amiably with the astonished store clerk. Just a regular guy.”

Slip into Mystic Seaport by boat this summer

Cocktails on the Mystic River? Sounds good to me!

Want to spend a summer evening on 17 acres of prime waterfront real estate, with all the comforts of home?

Come with your boat and dock in a slip at Mystic Seaport!  Put the nation’s premier maritime museum on your list of ports of call, and enjoy first-class docking facilities at an unparalleled location. Unlike any other marina or docking area, you’ll get to experience the quiet and calm beauty of an evening on our riverside grounds—yours to stroll as an after-hours special guest of the Museum when the grounds are closed to other visitors.

Docking amenities include heads, showers and laundry machine, free pump-out facilities, shore power, ice, fresh water and, for Mariner Members and above,  the Membership Building’s Mariner’s Lounge is available M-F, 9-5 with hot coffee and cold lemonade, as well as a quiet haven to read a book or or browse the Internet. Mariner members and above get discounts or free nights on dockage at the Museum’s beautiful waterfront—click here to learn more about the benefits of membership at Mystic Seaport.

See you at the docks! Call our Docks office at 860.572.5391, or go online to learn more at our Docks page.

Music on the River

It’s (nearly) summertime, and the livin’ is easy, as the old song goes.

And speaking of songs, we’ve got a fabulous lineup of Music on the River this season, and when we say Music ON the River, we mean ON it. Join us on board Sabino, our 101-year-old steam ship, for a special downriver cruise every Wednesday evening and enjoy the acoustic sounds of some of the area’s finest musicians, performing live.

We kick off the season tonight, June 10, with a preview of our 30th annual Sea Music Festival.  Geoff Kaufman—well-known folk musician “with a pinch of salt”— is on deck with his songs of the sea, songs of the earth, songs of the heart and the spirit.Whether singing sailor songs with his quartet, Forebitter, environmental songs on board the Sloop Clearwater in the Hudson River or in solo performances at coffeehouses and festivals throughout the United States and  Europe, Geoff has entertained and touched audiences near and far.

A cash bar and light snacks will be available. Tickets are $25 per person ($22 for members). Tickets may purchased online or by calling the Sabino Dock Office at 860.572.5351.

Event series sponsored by Shipyard Brewing Company.

DATE	PERFORMER	BUY TICKETS
JUNE 10	MSM – Geoff Kaufman; folk and sea music	<Buy tickets online now>
JUNE 17	Dan Stevens; acoustic blues	<Buy tickets online now>
JUNE 24	Ron Drago; folk, rock, and jazz	<Buy tickets online now>
JULY 1	James Harris; classic and modern rock	<Buy tickets online now>
JULY 8	Darin Keech; folk, blues, rock, and bluegrass	<Buy tickets online now>
JULY 15	Dan Stevens; acoustic blues	<Buy tickets online now>
JULY 22	Ron Drago; folk, rock, and jazz	<Buy tickets online now>
JULY 29	James Harris; classic and modern rock	<Buy tickets online now>
AUGUST 5	Dan Stevens; acoustic blues	<Buy tickets online now>
AUGUST 12	Dan Watson; acoustic rock	<Buy tickets online now>
AUGUST 19	James Harris; classic and modern rock	<Buy tickets online now>
AUGUST 26	Ron Drago; folk, rock, and jazz	<Buy tickets online now>

World Ocean Day

World Ocean Day was officially declared by the United Nations to be June 8 of each year, starting in 2009. The Day celebrates the world’s oceans, and our connections — past, present, and future — to the oceans.

The world’s oceans serve as the corridor for transporting 90% of all world goods and products, generate much of the oxygen we breathe, feed nearly a billion people, regulate climate, offer a pharmacopoeia of potential future medicines, and provide recreation, relaxation, and unlimited inspiration for hundreds of millions of people all over the world (among many other benefits and good things that the seas, which comprise most of the world, provide).

Participating in World Ocean Day are aquariums, zoos, maritime museums, conservation organization, schools, colleges and universities and businesses.

– James T. Carlton, Director of Williams-Mystic and Williams College Professor of Marine Ecology

For more information about World Ocean Day please go to http://www.theoceanproject.org/wod

A Brilliant Season

While this cool, wet spring has most of us in New England still in fleece jackets, the Museum’s schooner Brilliant has already set sail for its spring sailing season, featuring two-day sails for adults. Teen sailing voyages, five and 10 days in length begin June 15, and adult sailing getaways begin again on September 11. In anticipation of warmer days and fair winds, we offer a few tidbits about Brilliant‘s gleaming acomplishments.

Year the Brilliant sailing program began at Mystic Seaport: 1953

Approximate number of people who have sailed on Brilliant since her arrival at Mystic Seaport: 10,000

Approximate number of nautical miles sailed in 53 seasons: 160,000

The record-setting number of days it took Brilliant to cross the Atlantic in 1933: 15

Place of Brilliant in the Tall Ships Race from Halifax to Amsterdam in 2000: 1

Number of fleet firsts Brilliant has taken in Nantucket’s Opera House Cup: 2

Approximate number of races Brilliant has won in the last 20 years: 20

Number of those races that the author of this blog post sailed in: 3

May Flowers

Our copious April (and May) showers have done the trick–Mystic Seaport is positively bursting into bloom!

Museum garden volunteers have been hard at work alongside garden staff Kara Franco and Steve Sisk, as well as our facilities team, and their hard work shows in all the beautifully cared for beds, and the lush, glorious planters now making an appearance around the grounds, now that the risk of frost is past in our coastal climate (three cheers!).

We know—if you’re a gardener, the only place you want to be right now is in the dirt. But if your aching body needs a brief respite, why not spend a few extra moments at your computer, touring through the (always growing) garden section on our site. We’ve got weekly garden tips from Supervisor of Grounds Kara Franco, an online plant list for each of our many gorgeous gardens, a collection of articles on gardening by the sea and some “Garden Delights,” a closer look at some of our noteworthy growers in each season.

If you enjoy learning in the company of like-minded gardeners, you won’t want to miss our continuing Spring Garden Symposium. This month we’re hosting Master Gardener and author Susan Munger. She’ll discuss the ease of creating sustainable gardens and landscapes with the use of rain gardens.

And finally, if you want to join our dedicated crew of garden volunteers, we would love to have you!

Just click here to sign up . (Make sure to check off the gardens/landscaping box.)

Piloting our way

Pilots hard at work, despite the damp weather!

Get any of those spring projects done this weekend? We did!

Fender making

This past weekend, May 9th & 10th, was the 73rd Pilot Weekend at Mystic Seaport. Mystic Seaport Pilots are special Museum volunteers who devote an on-site weekend of service twice a year. These dedicated folk come from all over the country to roll up their sleeves and work side by side with Museum staff on a variety of projects.

What did  75 Pilots accomplish this weekend?

They spread one ton of mulch on our peerless gardens

They created one new garden

They planted 45 plants

They dug 22 plants for replanting

They built three floats

They launched eight boats

They deployed 25 fenders

They scraped eight davits from the Charles W. Morgan

They sorted and cataloged 900 rowing magazines

They made four muslin patterns from 1871 pattern books, to be used in the creation of role player costumes

They rehoused 2100 Rosenfeld images

They scraped 50% of the bulwarks on the Charles W. Morgan

They created three rope fenders

They serviced two antique engines were serviced

They scrubbed the decks of five small craft

President Steve White and his wife, Maggie, joined the 75 Pilots who spent a weekend doing service projects for Mystic Seaport.

Scrubbing the decks

Recognize this Shipyard volunteer? It’s former Museum President Doug Teeson, an active Museum volunteer and member of the Pilots.

This hearty crew built three floating docks last weekend!

Supervisor of Grounds Kara Franco and her helpful garden crew.

*          *            *

Our Fall Pilots’ Weekend is October 17-18 and we’d love to have you be part of the crew! To join in the fun, go to  http://www.mysticseaport.org/pilotprogram
or e-mail chris.freeman@mysticseaport.org.

And to all our Pilots, a simple thank you just isn’t enough for all you do. We are so deeply grateful for your continued service and hands-on commitment to your Museum.

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.

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.