Saturday, January 26, 2008

Garrett and I decided to head to Connecticut this weekend. We weren’t sure where, but we decided along the way. Our friends Savine and Karen had recommended Mystic, CT, and since it was also listed in the book 1000 Things to See Before You Die, we set our GPS. We’re so glad we did. The town was a quaint little seaside touristy town with a history that was still visible in the old sea captain’s homes, complete with the widow’s walks where the wives would look out in expectation of their loved ones’ arrivals.

We ate lunch at the Seaman’s Inne which seemed ancient. We cozied up to a fireplace and enjoyed real New England clam chowder and seafood. The nice waitress was a cross somewhere between a motherly icon and the cheeky barmaid who might have tended a tavern hundreds of years ago. Strange combination.

Next, we wandered to the must-see Mystic Seaport, the world’s largest maritime museum. A village has been built to resemble one from the heyday of whaling. Among other things they have the only surviving harpoon blacksmith’s shop. Much to Garrett’s delight, the last surviving wooden whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan, is harbored there, too. We joined a walking a tour led by the man who is regularly the blacksmith. With him, we were able to enter buildings that weren’t usually open in the off-season. Unfortunately, most of them were not heated. Brrr!

We learned …
--A cooperage is where casks are made. A barrel is a unit of measurement that holds 42 gallons. Other containers we call barrels have other names. They’re all casks. Yes, like Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado.”
--A black man revolutionized whaling in the 19th century when he developed a harpoon that stayed in the whale’s side rather than slipping out. It cut whaling trips from four years down to two. Because of the color of his skin, he was unable to patent his invention.
---People must have been really short because when we went on the whaling ship, neither one of us could stand up straight in the “blubber room” where they do the work of preparing and storing the whales.
--The term “grandfather clock” didn’t come around until the 19th century. The name changed due to a popular song of the time. Originally, they were called “tall case” or “long case” or simply “floor” clocks.
--Crew usually went into debt about $60 to purchase gear when they signed on. Many of them returned in debt. To be a crewmember seems to have meant one had run out of life choices.
--A chandlery was a sort of general store for sailors; although, it originally sold only candles.
-- Navigation is cool. We learned how the sexton measured degrees using the chronometer.

We ate dinner at Mystic Pizza. “The pizza that made the movie famous” is their motto. I don’t know about that, but it was fun anyway.


The Inn at Mystic is a beautiful place. We were lucky enough to get to stay in the little gate house behind the big colonial mansion. Our room had a fireplace, which Garrett put to use. This cottage is where Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall honeymooned.