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Marvelous Mystic!


The Pequot Indians called it Miss-tuk, meaning "Great River." The Dutch explorers, who settled there in 1654, called it a coastal paradise. By the 18th century, this prime location by the sea was a major shipbuilding center catering to whaling and fishing industries.
The Mystic Coast is comprised of 33 towns located midway between New York City and Boston. Courtesy of Mystic Coast and Country.

 

Nowadays, Mystic is not really a town, but a community formed by the towns of Groton and Stonington. It boasts three distinct areas straddling the Mystic River: Historic downtown Mystic, an area brimming with diverse boutiques; Mystic Seaport, an indoor and outdoor museum housing the largest collection of boats and maritime photography in the world; and Olde Mystik Village, a recreated New England village featuring more than 60 shops and eateries.

Mystic Seaport, scene of the filming of Steven Speilberg’s Amistad, was founded in 1929 with an eye toward the preservation of America’s rapidly disappearing remnants of its maritime past.

1880’s sailing vessel at Mystic Seaport. Courtesy of Mystic Coast and Country. Housing more than 480 vessels, and an average of three rotating exhibits, this unusual "museum" draws some 425,000 visitors a year from around the globe.

The Seaport replicates a quaint 19th-century fishing village, complete with a bank, grocery and hardware store, chapel, schoolhouse, tavern and nautical instrument store. Many of the shops and homes located here were brought from locations in Mystic or from other sites around New England and are authentic.

On March 25, the local shipbuilding yard launched a reproduction of the schooner Amistad. The original vessel marked its place in history when, in 1839, it was commandeered off the coast of Cuba by 53 Africans bound for slavery. The ship made its way up the coast of America before eventually being captured in New London. In a landmark decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the slaves were free men and could not be returned – a decision that launched America on its slow journey toward racial equality.

The modern Amistad will make her "big splash" July 2, just in time to sail with the July 4 OpSail 2000 tall ships parade in New York Harbor. After that, she will sail with hundreds of vessels to New London for Connecticut’s largest festival this year, OpSail CT, where she will be docked from July 11 to14.

With more than two years and 45,000 hours in her construction, the modern-day Amistad is outfitted as a floating classroom and museum. She is slated to spend her first year at sea touring the waters of Connecticut and later, the nation’s waterways, as an educational ambassador bringing to life the lessons inherent in the Amistad incident.

To ensure that visitors from around the world see Amistad before she sets sail, tourism partners in Mystic Places are offering a special "History in the Making" package through April 30. The package features two nights’ accommodations at select nearby hotels, admission for two to Mystic Seaport and the Mashantucket Pequot Museum & Research Center. In addition, they will include the Mystic Places Coast Card and Kids’ Guide, both of which offer discounts throughout the region.

Historic, downtown Mystic is a magical place, where the charm of a typically serene New England village meshes with the sizzling sophistication of a popular coastal resort. Get there by passing over the Bascule ("scale" in French) Bridge, which opens a full 80 feet over the Mystic River to allow tall-masted ships to pass, sometimes causing quite a traffic jam. Once in town, you can browse along a mile-long Victorian district brimming with boutiques, art galleries and restaurants.

Movie buffs should visit Mystic Pizza, inspiration for the 1988 movie about the lives and loves of three young waitresses. It helped lunch Julia Roberts, and this restaurant, with memorabilia from the film, dishes up "a slice of heaven" with pizzazz.

Tucked into a corner of the Mashantucket Pequot forested reservation, the Museum and Research Center (opened in August 1998) is a state-of-the-art, tribally owned and operated complex where the story of the tribal nation is brought to life. Computer interactives with a touch-screen, three-dimensional graphics and a series of film and video presentations on tribal events, help bridge any cultural gaps. Rising above the lush forest seven miles from Mystic, the $1.9 million superstructure is divided into five levels and is designed to interact with its surrounding environment while maintaining the ecological integrity of the area.

mystic_3.jpg (19404 bytes)Nearby, Mystic Aquarium and Institute For Exploration (IFE), which opened in 1973 and completed a $52 million expansion in 1999, affords a spectacular peek at more than 3,500 denizens of the deep. Challenge of the Deep, a new high-tech voyage unveiled by renowned oceanographer Robert Ballard of Titanic fame, offers a view of marine life at 3,000 feet via a simulated dive. Film footage of Titanic shows officers’ living quarters, and the ship’s bow pointing aimlessly as photos of lost passengers flash sporadically across a gossamer screen. Throughout the underwater trek, a movie explains life at the bottom of the ocean, ending in Amphora Alley, which showcases surprisingly well-preserved artifacts recovered from ancient Greek and Roman shipwrecks. Outside, another world awaits with wooden bridges spanning gently gurgling brooks, leading to seal island, and penguin pavilion, a 2.5-acre complex where an exotic collection of seals and sea lions pirouette and cavort in icy pools, and diminutive black-footed African penguins are on parade.

Next door, Olde Mystik Village, a reconstructed colonial New England town is a perfect, one-of-a-kind shopping experience. Each shop resembles an early 18th century house and paved paths lined with lampposts lead to a general store, an ice cream parlor, bakery and chocolate shop sure to tempt the palate. A charming duck pond with a waterwheel provides the perfect photo "op."

For more information: Call the Mystic Coast & Country Travel & Leisure council at (800) MY-COAST. Ask for information about the "History in the Making" packages, the free "Kids’ Guide" and Coast Card, offering regional discounts. For an overview of Mystic Places, visit www.mycoast.com.

Historic, downtown Mystic is a magical place, where the charm of a typically serene New England village meshes with the sizzling sophistication of a popular coastal resort. Get there by passing over the Bascule ("scale" in French) Bridge, which opens a full 80 feet over the Mystic River to allow tall-masted ships to pass, sometimes causing quite a traffic jam. Once in town, you can browse along a mile-long Victorian district brimming with boutiques, art galleries and restaurants.

Movie buffs should visit Mystic Pizza, inspiration for the 1988 movie about the lives and loves of three young waitresses. It helped lunch Julia Roberts, and this restaurant, with memorabilia from the film, dishes up "a slice of heaven" with pizzazz.

Tucked into a corner of the Mashantucket Pequot forested reservation, the Museum and Research Center (opened in August 1998) is a state-of-the-art, tribally owned and operated complex where the story of the tribal nation is brought to life. Computer interactives with a touch-screen, three-dimensional graphics and a series of film and video presentations on tribal events, help bridge any cultural gaps. Rising above the lush forest seven miles from Mystic, the $1.9 million superstructure is divided into five levels and is designed to interact with its surrounding environment while maintaining the ecological integrity of the area.

mystic_3.jpg (19404 bytes)Nearby, Mystic Aquarium and Institute For Exploration (IFE), which opened in 1973 and completed a $52 million expansion in 1999, affords a spectacular peek at more than 3,500 denizens of the deep. Challenge of the Deep, a new high-tech voyage unveiled by renowned oceanographer Robert Ballard of Titanic fame, offers a view of marine life at 3,000 feet via a simulated dive. Film footage of Titanic shows officers’ living quarters, and the ship’s bow pointing aimlessly as photos of lost passengers flash sporadically across a gossamer screen. Throughout the underwater trek, a movie explains life at the bottom of the ocean, ending in Amphora Alley, which showcases surprisingly well-preserved artifacts recovered from ancient Greek and Roman shipwrecks. Outside, another world awaits with wooden bridges spanning gently gurgling brooks, leading to seal island, and penguin pavilion, a 2.5-acre complex where an exotic collection of seals and sea lions pirouette and cavort in icy pools, and diminutive black-footed African penguins are on parade.

Next door, Olde Mystik Village, a reconstructed colonial New England town is a perfect, one-of-a-kind shopping experience. Each shop resembles an early 18th century house and paved paths lined with lampposts lead to a general store, an ice cream parlor, bakery and chocolate shop sure to tempt the palate. A charming duck pond with a waterwheel provides the perfect photo "op."

For more information: Call the Mystic Coast & Country Travel & Leisure council at (800) MY-COAST. Ask for information about the "History in the Making" packages, the free "Kids’ Guide" and Coast Card, offering regional discounts. For an overview of Mystic Places, visit www.mycoast.com.