On a short road trip from Long Island, New York, to New England states, we arrived in Connecticut on the Cross Sound Ferry from Long Island. We spent the day in Mystic before carrying on to our next overnight location in Newport, Rhode Island. Mystic, Connecticut turned out to be a fascinating stop on our road trip – read on to find out why.
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The Cross Sound Ferry
You can read about the practicalities of booking the Cross Sound Ferry in my blog Travel Planning a Road Trip from Long Island to New England. But what was it like in reality?
The Cross Sound Ferry leaves the north fork of Long Island from Orient Point, just outside the town of Greenport. We were advised to arrive at least 30 minutes before our booked departure time of 10.00am, however we seemed to arrive early enough to be allocated a space on the 9.30am departure, which was helpful.
All the cars were loaded swiftly, and the ferry set off as an incoming ferry arrived. This is a popular route with ferries coming and going almost every half an hour throughout the day. We sourced a cup of tea and sat on the top deck soaking up the sun and watching life on the water – boats, birds, and islands – pass by. I must say, it was a very relaxing hour and a half indeed.
On the approach to New London, Connecticut, my hubby Ricardo became very animated about the electric submarine factory as we passed by. I was more excited by the house on stilts sitting on some rocks in front of huge waterside houses on the shoreline!
Mystic, Connecticutt
We decided not to stop in New London, but to head straight over to Mystic, Connecticut only a 15-minute drive east.
Parking in Mystic
On arrival we parked in the Mystic Parking LLC on Pearl Street with the plan that we would walk through the town to the Mystic Seaport Museum and back. However, should you wish to save your legs then Mystic Seaport Museum has a large on-site carpark.
Mystic Parking LLC wasn’t very big, but we arrived around 11.30am and managed to get a space. It was free for the first 3 hours with parking fees for each hour spent over that time. There was a car parking attendant on site for assistance if needed.
What to see in Mystic, Connecticut
As we left Mystic Parking LLC, we turned right up a small hill with a cute white clapboard church at the top.
Mystic Pizza
For those of us growing up in the 1980s, you might have seen the rom-com film Mystic Pizza (1988) starring a young Julia Roberts? If so, you’ll be pleased to spot the actual restaurant building on your right.
Mystic Pizza has been open since 1973 and initially became popular due to a ‘secret ingredient’ in the pizzas. After Hollywood filming took place here and in town, its popularity grew, and it regularly had queues around the block. Merchandise was available! We wanted to get sightseeing so didn’t eat there but the pizzas smelt so good….
Statue of John J Kelly
Just above Mystic Pizza is a statue of a runner called John J Kelley – an American long-distance runner and two-time Olympian who also won the Boston Marathon. The statue is called Fast Friends as it features Brutus his dog. He was born in Norwich, Connecticut in 1930.
We then double-backed down the hill to the bridge ahead of us, passing lots of souvenir style stops and the Mystic Drawbridge Ice-cream shop (more of that later).
Mystic River Bascule Bridge
The town of Mystic, Connecticut is named after the Mystic River which runs through its centre. Spanning the river is a bascule bridge, or drawbridge, allowing both pedestrians and cars to cross. It was built in 1922 and has a moveable span of 66 meters (218 ft) long and 26 meters (85 foot) wide.
From 1 May to 31 October each year the bridge opens at 40 minutes past the hour during daylight hours, or on demand, to allow sailboats and yachts to pass through.
When we walked over the bridge, we could see several yachts assembling on the river, so knew that we were close to opening time. We hung around, along with many others keen to see this spectacle. Right on cue, the warning bells sounded, and lights flashed to inform cars and pedestrians to exit the bridge quickly.
Barriers were lowered on the road, and pavements, to prevent new people entering the bridge before the drawbridge swung into action – exciting if you like mechanical things! Then all the queuing yachts and boats made their way through the gap before continuing along their merry way.
Greetings from Mystic Mural
Facing the Bascule Bridge, you will spot the Greetings from Mystic mural, which is a popular photo stop, although the mural itself was looking faded from the sunshine. It could do with a new coat of paint…
Walking from the Mystic Mural to the Mystic Seaport Museum takes about 13 minutes without stops. There are plenty of places to stop for lunch in this area, such as the S&P Oyster Restaurant, AJ’s Bistro, and the Engine Room.
Karma Kitchen Mystic & Juicery
We decided to have a light lunch and grabbed healthy wraps and juices from the Karma Kitchen on the waterfront, before continuing along Holmes Street towards the Mystic Seaport Museum.
Along the way we passed a lighthouse looking structure, a large anchor and a Chandlers selling everything you might every need for your boat, plus some funny signs and boaty souvenirs as well. Boats are definitely the main theme of Mystic!
The Mystic Seaport Museum
The Mystic Seaport Museum is the big attraction in town, offering an extensive replica Seaport Village to explore. There are two entrances, North and South, both with parking.
Replica Seaport Village
You could wander in and out of the many village clapboard buildings to see ship related exhibits or learn about skilled trades in the cooperage, printers, and ship carver’s shop. We found a lady making a ‘black cake’ in Buckingham-Hall House which smelt amazing.
I particularly enjoyed the Figureheads exhibition which was brilliantly lit to make the faces come alive.
Whaling history
One of the main sights of the Seaport Museum is the Charles W Morgan (1841) – the only remaining wooden whaling ship in the world. It once travelled the world to bring back whale oil for lighting and the requirements of the industrial revolution, crossing the Arctic Circle and rounding the Cape Horn along its way.
You can board this ship to see the cramped living quarters and the areas where they used to ‘deal with the whales’ out at sea. This is all rather grim, but highlights the different methods used to elsewhere in the world, such as in Albany, Australia, where they would bring the whole whale back to the processing site on land.
We managed to visit on the birthday weekend of Charles W Morgan in July so there was an extensive list of activities and demonstrations taking place throughout the weekend.
There is a large exhibition, Monstrous: Whaling and Its Colossal Impact, dedicated to the history of whaling in this region, which was done as sympathetically as possible to the whales (without gory photographs etc).
Preservation Shipyard Gallery
The boat preservation Shipyard is to the left as you enter the Seaport Village through the South Entrance, and learn more about making and maintaining a range of historic boats, including:
- Fishing schooner LA Dunton – under cover for restoration.
- Keel exhibit of The Thames – the keel is the last piece of the ship to survive, preserved in the mud. It was the same size as the Charles W Morgan whaling ship, and carried passengers before also becoming a whaling ship.
- Merchant Ship Susan Constant – a modern recreation of a 3-master square rigged ship which sailed from London to establish America’s first permanent English colony in Jamestown, Virginia in 1606. Currently behind scaffolding for restoration.
- Smack boat Emma C Berry.
You could quite happily spend most of the day here if you signed up to all the tours on offer, went inside each village building, ate in the restaurant or visited the Schaefer’s Spouter Tavern. Similarly, you can also pick up a waterfront cruise on the Sabino steamship or take out a rowing boat on the water.
Make sure to take a selfie at the replica of the Brant Point Lighthouse before leaving and visit the nearby Ropework with rope making machinery set out along its long length.
We allotted ourselves 2.5 hours to see as much as possible, before heading off. This was a good time limit as you do hit ‘exhibit overload’ quite quickly.
Walking back to downtown Mystic, Connecticut from the Seaport Museum we noted that most of the colourful historic houses were displaying the date the house was built and the jobs done by its owners back in the day – carpenter, hardware merchant, lawyer.
Mystic Drawbridge Ice-cream
After a very educational visit to the Seaport Museum, and hot walk back to downtown Mystic, I rewarded myself with an ice-cream from the Mystic Drawbridge. Choosing a flavour was the biggest challenge – Seaport Salty Swirl, Wild Maine Blueberry, Mystic Mud? Delicious!
Onwards travel to Newport, RI
From Mystic, Connecticut we collected our car and set off east towards Newport, Rhode Island (our third US state on the trip, and second new state for us).
Final thoughts…
Mystic had a very different vibe to the places we’d visited on Long Island – it was busier and more touristy (less ‘preppy’), whilst still retaining lots of charm. I’m sure there is lots that we missed as we were only passing through, however what we saw, we liked.
It was a very picturesque town where the Mystic River is front and central, so you can enjoy a harbourside stroll and watch all manner of boats passing by. If we’d stayed longer, we would most likely have tried to get out on the water as the water was calling…
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