With Special Thanks to Ric Burns, Steeplechase Films Inc., WGBH and Connecticut College

There was no red carpet. Those of us arriving at Connecticut College‘s Palmer Auditorium on May 1st weren’t dressed in glittery finery or tuxedos. But the mood of anticipation and excitement was comparable to any Hollywood premiere, knowing we were about to view a film the general public won’t see until May 10^th. That’s when Ric Burns‘ documentary, Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World is scheduled to air on PBS. 

The film is an awesome account of the era during which Mystic Seaport‘s Charles W. Morgan, now the last surviving wooden whaleship in the world, played an integral part. But aside from this wonderful historic and graphic film, I had a feeling of pride knowing the significant role Mystic Seaport staff played in the shooting of this film. Some appeared on camera, but many, many others participated in behind-the-scenes efforts to ensure the film’s authenticity regarding the rigors of life aboard a whaling ship. The amazing expertise of Mystic Seaport sailors was a major factor in exciting, live scenes shot aboard a variety of ships utilized by the filmmaker. 

"Into the Deep" being filmed aboard the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport, September 2007

I wonder how many in the audience, like me, came away with a new respect for what Mystic Seaport is dedicated to doing….restoring the Charles W. Morgan to make her seaworthy once again in 2013. Any naysayers regarding that goal need to see this film. 

Filming "Into the Deep" aboard the Charles W. Morgan at Mystic Seaport, Sept. 2007

 The handout at Palmer Auditorium said: Be a Part of History: Help The Charles W. Morgan Sail Again. Each of us who gives any amount toward her restoration could, and really should, feel that way – a part of history. 

What’s in your piggy bank? A little history in the making maybe? Think about it. (Donations gratefully accepted online or directly to Mystic Seaport, 75 Greenmanville Ave. Mystic, CT 06355). 

Now don’t forget. Tune in American Experience on PBS – Monday, May 10, at 9 p.m. to watch Into the Deep. It’s a fascinating epic story covering three centuries of American whaling. 

Blog written by Trudi Busey.

Meet Mystic Seaport Horticulturist Steve Sisk

Mystic Seaport’s greenhouse takes on a totally different look during the winter months. Just a few trays of seedlings dot the benches. However, according to the Museum’s Assistant Horticulturist, Stephen Sisk, all that changes by the second week in May when the greenhouse incubator transforms into a nursery full of plants waiting to welcome spring outdoors.

1. How long have you been employed at Mystic Seaport?
SS:  June 2010 will be my 40th anniversary of working here. I actually began working part-time during the summers when I was a junior in high school. I continued my schooling at Mohegan Community College in Norwich, (now Three Rivers College) and at Boston’s Arnold Arboretum. I also took classes to achieve the title of Master Gardener.

 

2. What’s the best part of your job?
SS:  I love being outdoors, and a side-perk of that is meeting and talking with visitors on grounds. I get asked all kinds of questions regarding their own home gardening and gardening problems. Sometimes it’s a little hard to diagnose the problem without seeing the patient, so to speak, but I try to help if I can.

3. What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
SS:  We’re dealing with living plants and want them to look their best when planted in our Museum gardens. It’s very gratifying to see the fruits of our labor thrive during the growing season. Kara, our terrific volunteers and myself all strive for the same goal; we want our Mystic Seaport gardens to look beautiful. We try to visualize the Museum gardens through visitors’ eyes and work towards giving them a fresh look each year. We’re already looking at seed catalogues to choose what we might plant this season.

4. What’s the funniest or most notable on-the-job experience you’ve had?
SS:  I’ve got one of each. It was some years ago; I was laying down sod when a school group came by. The kids were fascinated; they had never seen grass in a roll before. I decided to let them lay down a section of sod themselves. Boy, did they love doing that! Who knows, maybe that little experience whetted their interest in gardening.

On a more poignant note, some 20 years ago, when I was working at the Buckingham House garden, an elderly German visitor approached. He saw the gooseberries growing there and tears came to his eyes. They reminded him of home in Germany.

5. What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
SS: Photography!  When you see Mystic Seaport’s 2010 calendar, one of my photographs is on the cover. The Museum store and area stores carry a book of my photographs called Mystic Memories. Aside from photography, I enjoy watching old black and white movies and reading history books that teach you something. Basically, my two cats run my life. There’s “red-headed” Lucy and sidekick Ethel. You can guess where their names originated!

Steve was interviewed by Trudi Busey and photographed by Museum photographer Andy Price.

Low Bridge, Everybody Down

At Mystic Seaport, it wouldn’t be unusual for a sea chantey to stick in your mind. But ever since I found out that a new exhibit, Building America’s Canals, is opening at the Museum January 30th, I can’t get a certain folk song out of my head.

You may know it as “Erie Canal.” Burl Ives, Pete Seeger, Bruce Springsteen and others have recorded versions of the original 1905 song, written by Thomas S. Allen, who titled it “Low Bridge, Everybody Down.” I can practically guarantee that once you hear this song, you too will be quietly humming, whistling or singing it. (Google: <Bruce Springsteen Erie Canal song> for a listen.)

More than a century ago, thousands of miles of canals were built to bring goods from the hinterland to coastal ports. During this rather short-lived era, canal locks and masonry arches, pulleys, cranes and acqueducts, as well as the humble mule, played an integral role in what was then deemed a maritime transportation revolution. The men, women and children who lived and worked along a canal route were called “canalers.”

Here comes the fun part. The Museum’s Building America’s Canals exhibit is a hands-on opportunity for visitors of all ages to role-play as a “canaler.”  Want to be  a canal engineer, a  lock tender, a canalboat captain or maybe a crane operator? You can do it! The 1,600-foot exhibit has a bench for each activity you choose. For computer  buffs, there’s also a computer game in which you build and operate a lock, virtual dynamite included to blast the route your canal will take!

Although railroads gradually replaced the necessity and importance of most of these waterways, the nostalgia for the canal era lingers on in folk songs like “Erie Canal.” I’ll leave you with the first verse:

I’ve got a mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She’s a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal

 I can hear you singing it now!                                              

Blog written by Trudi Busey.                                               

Building America’s Canals, an exhibit organized by the National Canal Museum, will be open in the Mallory Building at Mystic Seaport January 30 – October 11, 2010.

There’s A New Lady in Our Village

You can’t miss her. She’s a lady with quite a past and she is making Mystic Seaport her home until Memorial Day 2010. Her name is Amazon, appropriate considering she is 124-years-young, strong and still turning heads wherever she goes!

You guessed it; Amazon is the 102-ft. LOA screw schooner docked opposite Sabino here at the Museum, her British flag hoisted daily making her presence known to visitors and staff. Amazon has come a long way – from Malta via Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, the Cape Verde Islands, Barbados, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda and Rhode Island ports. Quite a trip for an old gal!

If this lady could talk, she would give a riveting account of her many owners, where she has been and what she has done.

Amazon was built at Southampton, England, in 1885 from designs by the renowned Dixon Kemp. Her builder and first owner was Tankerville Chamberlayne, Esq., owner of a small non-commercial boat yard in Northam on the River Itchen. He personally supervised construction of Amazon, using high quality materials that have ensured her longevity to this day.  Amazon was used for summer cruising, attending sailing regattas along the south coast of England until she was sold in 1897 to a Frenchman; she returned to British ownership in 1900, where she has remained.

She was too old-fashioned for the First World War and just plain too old for the Second World War and so lost her bronze propeller and shaft to the war effort, becoming a houseboat in a west London yacht basin until British actor, Arthur Lowe, bought her in 1968.  Bought as a houseboat, the surveyor’s report on this 83-year-old was so favorable that it was decided to make her seaworthy again and Amazon was used as a floating base while touring coastal theaters. After Lowe’s death in 1982, his son used Amazon as a charter boat until she was put up for sale at the start of 1990, having migrated to northern Scotland that year.

After lying for sale in Scotland for seven years, Amazon was looking sad. The broker described her as difficult to sell because she was something of a “dinosaur” with four factors deterring potential buyers: Amazon was old, wooden, long (and therefore expensive to keep in a marina) and single screw!

None of these factors were deterrents to Ted and Melody, who could see beyond the cosmetics and the ill-informed ‘received opinion.’  Amazon was certainly no has-been. After all, the yacht was unrestored, substantially the original hull and fundamentally sound.  As if to prove this in April 1997, Amazon sailed from Scotland to a new home in Malta (the furthest she had then been) without difficulty to undergo some repairs and to blossom into the family’s cruising boat and continuing obsession.

This family is very familiar and comfortable with living afloat; son George is an intelligent and engaging 12-year-old and has taken a year off from school to travel here with his father. George’s mother and 10-year-old sister, who are in Malta, will be coming to Mystic Seaport to spend the Christmas holiday. Melody’s career in Malta is financing this voyage.

When asked about how George and he will adapt to our New England winter weather, Ted professes they will enjoy the cold and crisp air. Perhaps we’ll check back with them in February!

Although the Museum’s visitors cannot board Amazon, Ted and George are happy to share their knowledge of her history in friendly conversation with those who stop by to have a look.  Believe me, it’s a treat talking to Ted and George.

Blog written by volunteer, Trudi Busey.

An “Attic” Full of Treasures

As a child, did your family or a relative have an attic that called out to you to explore its contents: perhaps trunks full of old things – pictures, keepsakes, clothing and toys stored away because they held too many precious and personal memories to dispose of them? My uncle’s and aunt’s attic was a fascinating place to me as a youngster.

I don’t think we ever outgrow our curiosity about places usually off-limits to us. That’s why I’m so eager to tell you about the guided tours Mystic Seaport is offering visitors.

Explore the Museum “Attic” takes you behind the scenes at the Collections Research Center. You will be amazed at the awesome treasures Mystic Seaport has there which cannot be displayed on a regular basis due to space and other limitations. When I took the tour, I was blown away by the extent and variety of  the Museum’s collections and the history attached to them.

Tours are limited in size and are given at 12:45 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Tour guides will meet visitors outside the Benjamin F. Packard ship cabin exhibit before the group heads across the street to the Collections Research Center.

Don’t miss this opportunity. You will love it!

Blog written by Trudi Busey.

How About a New Tradition?

What’s your Thanksgiving holiday tradition?  Do you watch the Macy’s parade on TV?  Do you bundle up to watch a local football game? Or, if you’re in charge of preparing the Thanksgiving feast, do you even have time to relax at all?

Well!  Here’s a new tradition for you to consider.

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast; take your seat in the bleachers at a football game or sit in your easy chair at home and flip the TV channel to the Macy parade. Then, sometime between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., meander over to Mystic Seaport country and celebrate the season’s bounty at the Seamen’s Inne Thanksgiving Grand Buffet. Just think how nice it would be to simply enjoy the food without worrying if the turkey is tender, the mashed potatoes lumpy or the gravy too thick or too thin!

Then, right next door is Mystic Seaport, Yes, even on Thanksgiving Day the Museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and….admission is half-price!  True, not all the exhibits will be open, but you can either work up your appetite or walk off the calories you just ate by climbing the staircase up to the Charles W. Morgan whaling ship deck. If that’s too strenuous, than board the L.A. Dunton.  Visit the Buckingham-Hall House and imagine cooking a Thanksgiving feast in that kitchen!  Then, visit the Voyages exhibit where it’s easy to spend a good chunk of time, either before or after your dinner.

Mystic Seaport this time of year has a tranquil charm. The village streets are quiet and the allure of the sea is ever present. It’s a special place for all seasons.

So how about it? Ready to start a new tradition? Then make your reservations for the Thanksgiving Day Grand Buffet at Seamen’s Inne (860.572.5303) and pop over to Mystic Seaport to  enjoy the view along the Mystic River and visit the open exhibits. Don’t forget to tell the exhibit interpreters  you’re thankful for them working on this day of thanks!

We wish you all a happy Thanksgiving!

Blog posted by Trudi Busey.

Can Jingle Bells be Far Behind?

It’s a sure sign that the holidays are upon us. This morning I saw Kara Franco Lally and some of her “elves” – Margaret, Amy, Irma and Allen – starting to decorate the South entrance courtyard at Mystic Seaport with sprigs of holly, juniper, pine, larch, spruce and yew. 

Kara, who is garden supervisor/horticulturist for the Museum, stated that all the greens they were using were collected on Mystic Seaport grounds. The Museum store, the Visitor Reception Center and the Seamen’s Friend Society Reading Room were on the “to do” list for decorating today. 

In total, about 16 volunteers help beautify Mystic Seaport for the holidays. Right now, in the greenhouse, they’re hard at work making pine roping, wreaths and other decorations that will be in place for visitors to enjoy this holiday season.

Although folks walking through Museum gates may not be aware of all this pre-holiday busy-ness, the proof is in the pudding.  Visiting Mystic Seaport at holiday time is a  beautiful and unique experience.

 Check out the Museum’s website at www.mysticseaport.org and see the special gifts of the season in store for you and your family.  If you’re an early shopper (and you need to be for these holiday offerings) the fun begins on November 29^th  and carries through on selected days throughout December.

The Season’s Splendor (a Victorian Village Holiday Ride), Lantern Light Tours (a New England Holiday Tradition), crafts and stories for kids, a journey to the zoo in the sky at the Planetarium – so many wonderful choices. A word to the wise – ticketed events sell out quickly.  Don’t be disappointed. Shop now!      

Blog written by Trudi Busey.

No Tricks, Just Treats at Mystic Seaport this Saturday!

With symbols of Halloween jumping out at us at every turn, I wondered – how and where did this October 31^st day originate? Turns out, we owe it largely to Irish immigrants. They brought versions of their Celtic festival, Samhain (pronounced sah-wen), to North America. Combine that with the northern European pagan tradition and religious festivities associated with “All Hallow’ Evening” (now known as All Saints Day) and VOILA – October 31^st is what we all now know as  Halloween!     

Too much information? Sorry. But wait – here’s some really important information for anyone with children ages 10  and under. Want a really safe place to take your little goblins trick-or-treating on Halloween?  Then come to Mystic Seaport. From 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, October 31^st , children in costume will gather up treats at designated locations within the Mystic Seaport village. It’s a scene guaranteed to bring a smile to the faces of all, whether participants or simply onlookers.

Parents, you can vicariously relive this fun time of childhood because it’s a requirement that children be accompanied by an adult. You don’t have to come in costume yourself,  but please come with  $2 for each child you bring (to help defray candy costs). If you’re lucky, maybe your little ghosts and goblins will share some of their Halloween treats with you!

Park in the Seamen’s Inne parking lot, enter through the Museum’s library gate and follow the pumpkin path. You’ll be given a map to lead you to all those treats in waiting.

Sound fun?  You betcha!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Blog post written by Trudi Busey.

Five Questions with…Mystic Seaport Staff Member Shannon McKenzie

This week we meet Shannon McKenzie, assistant to the vice president of watercraft preservation and programs. Shannon’s office is located in the Museum’s Shipyard, giving her an up-close view of the activity surrounding the Charles W. Morgan. Shannon was at the Morgan haul out last November (of course!) and snapped a photo of her then four-month-old son, Sammy. She plans to take another picture of her son the day the Morgan goes back into the water, capturing just how much her little man has grown during the restoration project.

1. How long have you been employed at Mystic Seaport?
SM: I have been working here for about 3 years. My husband and I moved to Mystic four years ago from Cape Cod where we both worked at Sea Education Association. When I was sailing with that school, I took a winter off and worked as a rigger here while Amistad was being built. It was that experience that made me want to come back to work here.

2. What’s the best part of your job?
SM: The best part of my job is the people that I work with and the variety of work that I do on a daily basis. There is always something new and exciting going on in the Shipyard outside of my window. I have learned a lot and been exposed to all sorts of different techniques, tools, organizations and legends in the industry.

3. What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
SM: I get directed all sorts of inquiries from the public. People call up who want to donate trees, boats, tools… I often end up tracking down whether or not we want to accept these donations. Some are more complicated than others, and some people have a history with the items which makes them vested in what will ultimately happen to their donation.

I also get calls from people all over the country who are looking to find out some specific fact, group or individual or technique that is maritime related. It is often a challenge to help them hunt down the answers. Although, frankly, sometimes I just Google to find them the answers and I still come away sounding like a wealth of knowledge!

4. What’s the funniest or most notable on-the-job experience you’ve had?
SM: Coordinating the WoodenBoat Show is my most notable. It is such a huge event, takes so much time to plan for and requires the coordination of all of the departments at the Museum. Standing on the VRC overlook eating a popsicle on Saturday afternoon knowing that there are over 5,000 people on the grounds and a waterfront full of wooden boats is a great moment. Although, going out on the water in those little race boats right after that sure was fun, too!

5. What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
SM: Right now, my favorite thing is hanging out with my little boy who celebrates his first birthday this week. There really is nothing I would rather do, which is a good thing, since entertaining him takes up all of my free time! We have a little sailing skiff that we take him out in. It isn’t the same as the off-shore voyaging that I used to do, but I’ll take my time on the water in smaller stints now. I also enjoy gardening and did the Master Gardner program when I lived on the Cape. My brother and his family and my parents all live close by, so I spend a lot of time with them as well.

Shannon was photographed by Dennis Murphy.

There’s a Ghost Living in my House!

Okay, so it’s really my very much alive husband I’m talking about. But he really is a ghost in Mystic Seaport’s Nautical Nightmares production, which kicks off for a 3-weekend run on Friday, October 16.

This year’s theme, “Blood of the Mutineers,”  is not geared to the faint of heart nor children under the age of 12, but if you want to experience something a bit more jolting than carving a jack-o-lantern or going to a costume party, Nautical Nightmares is your ticket for a haunting and memorable evening during this Halloween month.

The nightly small group tours begin at 6:15 p.m. and leave every 15 minutes from.Mystic Seaport’s North Gate entrance. Ticket holders will be met there and guided along darkened Museum village streets in search of clues related to the unfolding drama they’ll witness in various stops along the way.

You might want to put a flashlight in your pocket to scare away any ghosts you might encounter.  However, you can sock it to them simply by donating a pair of new or gently worn women’s or children’s socks, shoes or athletic footwear on performance nights. Donations will benefit the Women’s Center of Southeastern Connecticut. 

Nautical Nightmares has become a very popular event at Mystic Seaport since its debut eight years ago. The sooner you buy tickets, the better. The cost (which includes a $2 handling fee) is $21 for adults ($19 for members) and $20 for children ($18 for member youth). Again, Mystic Seaport does not recommend bringing children under age 12 to this event.

Purchase tickets online at www.mysticseaport.org/nauticalnightmares or by calling 860.572.5322 Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. To 4 p.m.

Blog written by Trudi Busey.