Mystic Seaport Museum — Attraction in Stonington

Mystic Seaport Museum is a snapshot of a moment in time, a look back at the era of whaling, and a reality check of just how recently that era faded into the past. The historic buildings are beautiful. The amount of care that went into that architecture is wild. Most of the buildings are authentically from the 1800s, including some that have been moved onto the grounds from other locations in the northeast. The result is stepping into a time capsule of the heyday of the whaling era.

The "Museum" is active and alive, with regular demonstrations of things like their mid-1800s blacksmithing shop, their original printing press, and even demonstrations of things like rope making. The volunteers are well-informed, friendly, and happy to teach you something new. Make sure you check out the daily calendar to find out what demonstrations will be going on that day. I do wish they had printouts of the day's schedule instead of just telling you to take a picture of the sign. (Tip: Make sure you favorite that picture before it gets buried in your pictures of the museum!)

The whaling ship is gorgeous, truly a special piece of history. The lower deck still kind of smells... Like whale guts. Ninety years of whale guts. I can't imagine having been on that ship when it was in use. Make sure you stop to read the signs explaining things, you'll learn a lot. The firefighting boat was closed inside when we went, but it was still really cool to look at from the outside.

Most of your museum day will have you walking around outside, going from building to building with minimal shade. Make sure you wear sunscreen, bring plenty of water, and plan on a very active day. There is a cafe, but it's at the far end of the grounds and not exactly intuitive to get to early-on in your day unless you skip past a bunch of stuff and double back.

That said, I do have a few caveats for visitors with different accessibility needs, including people who use mobility devices like wheelchairs or canes, people who tire quickly (including the elderly or small kids), and parents with strollers. 1, It's a LOT of ground to cover. It's really spread out. Be prepared for a lot of movement or plan on spending two days if you want to see everything. 2, They've done their best to adapt some of the buildings to be accessible, but most of the buildings (and ships) date to the 1800s and there's only so much they can adapt a lot of that architecture. So a lot of things, like the whaling ship (arguably the main attraction) remain inaccessible to wheelchairs, walkers, & strollers. As it is, I was only just barely able to navigate some of the staircases with my cane. 3, Use the bathrooms when you come across them. They're spaced out weirdly and not the easiest to find when you're looking for them. 4, The entrance is nowhere near the exit. It doesn't matter whether you park by the entrance or the exit, expect a long trip at one end of your day. We parked by the entrance. In retrospect, we should have parked by the exit.

Still, overall it's definitely worth checking out and there's definitely a lot of things to fill...

“Mystic Seaport Museum” is a terrific place to visit in Mystic. It’s not to far from I-95, they have two car parking places: South entrance opposite the tugboat and North Entrance which is opposite the Thompson Exhibition building, a wooden boat building which reminds me of an eye. It’s not too far from Downtown Mystic (approx 10min by foot) and Olde Mistick Village (20min by foot). It’s definitely worth booking your general admission tickets but can you also buy them when you enter at either entrances. During the Winter period/season, the south entrance is closed, but the north entrance is open. Their Winter hours are Thursday to Sunday, then when Spring season returns, I think they’re open full days 7 days a week. When the MSM have events, definitely recommend buying your tickets in advance. I’ve been to many of their events, so much fun. What Lurks Beneath- their Halloween event was terrific and terrifying. You can also become a member! I really like Spineless: A Glass Menagerie of Blaschka Marine exhibition and Entwined exhibition. There’s an awesome historical shipyard! The Charles W Morgan, oldest maritime whaling ship. You can climb in and look around. Beware, there are other private boats parked around. Don’t climb into those. Wintertide event in February, they had reindeer’s! There are plenty of restrooms across the (19 acres) grounds. I like the building where you can watch the staff making food that was made in the old days. The views of Mystic River is very pretty. The Sabino steamboat, only runs when it’s warm, it’s definitely worth checking out. They do a 30min cruise and a longer one (120 or 90min). They have a historical seaport village, some of the building are open. (Look out for the flags!) This place is ideal for the whole family and individuals are like history, boats and water. There are 4 restaurants on the grounds. Anchor Cafe (south entrance) do the best coffee, love their fish sandwich and Conrad sandwich! The coffee shop at north entrance, does the best banana cake. On the grounds, there is a pub and a bigger restaurant. The staff are very friendly and knowledgeable, never assume that the new staff don’t know information. They’re always willing to help. There’s also a lovely gift store filled with MSM merchandise, books, treats etc. MSM is wheelchair accessible. Children under age of 4 years are free. They have an awesome Planterium which is an additional cost. Don’t mix this place up with the Mystic Aquarium, you won’t see...

I’ve been coming here for over 20 years now. And now I can enjoy it with my son. We drove here from Brooklyn and it felt like we took a machine back in time. I love this place! My son had so much fun today and I may have even had more fun than him. First I love how you can walk through all the buildings and not just read about how they lived but actually see it! Everything is as it was from that exact period, untouched and authentic. I noticed they did so many upgrades since I was here the last time. I was speechless. It’s worth so much more than they charge. Every house and building is an experience. And many of the buildings you could not enter years ago are no open and have such amazon displays. It’s very informative. I recommended coming early so you don’t have to rush. There is so much to digest, it takes hours. You definitely don’t want to rush this trip. Ugh, the ships - you can actually go inside and see how they slept etc. Hands down one of the best museums on the East Coast. This place doesn’t get the recognition it deserves! It’s educational and fun for everyone. Ah, the selfie posts places so strategically in all the right spots! How did y’all know 🤗had to be a woman who decided to do that! Everything here is just amazing! You learn so much I can go on and on all day. My so was running into all the exhibits with so much excitement. They have restaurants and seating as well. They also have a boat tour that was so relaxing and informative. The museum in Seaports entrance, phenomenal. They have videos and visuals and diorama’s as well as life size authentic actual tools that give you so much insight into how things were done from using whale blubber to making ropes and sails for boats. They have playrooms for kids and even a shop that you can make a sail boat! All the upgrades and changes made here make this one of my top 10 weekend trips. There are tours and people who show how the machines and devices were used. There are workers who show you and explain everything. You see how newspapers were made back then. Listen, I recommend. I loved this place before the changes and now I love it even more. This place can’t get any better! I can’t wait until I...