TechnoTourist recently visited Mystic Seaport, a village and
museum of maritime history in Connecticut.
Mystic Seaport is more than a collection of old boats - the village's
buildings show and tell life and the workings of a whaling and a fishing
village. You can see everything from
shipbuilding to rope making to a working cooperage.
The Ships
There are quite a few ships
at Mystic Seaport, both in and out of the water. The Charles W. Morgan is a whale ship that is
currently undergoing restoration.
TechnoTourist climbed aboard the L.A.
Dunton, a 123-foot 3-inch fishing schooner built in 1921, to see what life
was like below decks. The bunks were
stacked four high and built into the bow and stern of the ship. Those at the front and rear were the
smallest, angled with the curve of the ship's sides. A small galley is located at the ship's bow
and the center of the ship is reserved for storage.
The Village
Mystic Seaport is home to more than 30 shops and businesses
from the 1800s. All of the buildings
were transported to the village from locations around New England. Read on to learn about just a few of the
buildings.
The Plymouth Cordage Company Ropewalk was built in 1824 and
operated until 1947. The museum has just
250 feet of the building's original 1,000 foot length. A 100-fathom (600-foot) rope required a
1,000-foot straight line to be created.
Rope was made from hemp or manila by twisting strands and then twisting
three strands together in the opposite direction.
A cooperage is not where chickens live (get it - chicken
coop?). It is, in fact, where barrels
are made. Barrels were important on
ships for holding provisions, cargo, and the catch. Barrels and casks were often made prior to a
journey and disassembled for storage onboard the ship. The cooper would reassemble them as needed.
The Mystic Press Printing Office represents a 19th
century newspaper and job printing shop.
It contains several types of presses and other equipment. While visiting the press, TechnoTourist
learned where the terms uppercase and lowercase come from. Letters were set individually to create a
document and when not being used they were stored in cases. The capital letters were stored in the upper
case and the small letters in the lower case.
It is also interesting to note that the letters were not stored
alphabetically, but rather by frequency of use, with the more-frequently used
letters having more pieces.
View more photos from TechnoTourist's visit to Mystic Seaport on the CR4 Facebook page.
TechnoTourist also visited the beluga whales at Mystic Aquarium.
Resources:
Mystic Seaport - The
Museum of America and the Sea
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