page_title: Mystic Seaport
section_title: Grounds and programs
hierarchical_section_title: Mystic Seaport / Grounds and programs
caption_attribution_description: English: Young people learn to sail at Mystic Seaport. #2 and 5 are JY 14s, the single sailed craft are Dyer Dhows. Image August 2002 by User:Leonard G.
context_page_description: Mystic Seaport Museum or Mystic Seaport: The Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut is the largest maritime museum in the United States. It is notable for its collection of sailing ships and boats and for the re-creation of the crafts and fabric of an entire 19th-century seafaring village. It consists of more than 60 historic buildings, most of them rare commercial structures moved to the 19-acre site and meticulously restored.
context_section_description: The Preservation Shipyard is an important part of the museum, where traditional tools and techniques are used to preserve the Museum's collection of historic vessels, including the 1841 whaleship Charles W. Morgan. A replica of the slave ship La Amistad was constructed in the shipyard and launched in 2000. Amistad departed from New Haven on June 21, 2007 on a 14,000-mile (23,000 km) transatlantic voyage to Great Britain, Lisbon, West Africa, and the Caribbean, marking the Atlantic trade and slave route to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery in Great Britain.
  The 19th-century seafaring village contains nearly all the types of general and specialized trades associated with building and operating a sailing fleet. They include a chandlery, sail loft, ropewalk, cooperage, shipping agent's office, printing office, bank, and others.  Also included is The Spouter Tavern, open seasonally and serving "travelers' fare".  Each building is used both to show the original activity and to display examples of what was sold or constructed; the nautical instrument shop, for example, displays sextants, nautical timepieces, and so forth, while demonstrations at the cooperage show how casks are assembled.
  Additional buildings house more exhibits.  One is a ​¹⁄₁₂₈ scale model of the entire Mystic River area as it appeared around 1870, complete down to the outhouse behind every residence; the model is 40 feet (12 m) long. Another contains a collection of carved ship figureheads.  Also among the museum's buildings is a planetarium which demonstrates how seamen used stars for navigation.
  Sailing instruction is also offered, as well as tourist rides in various historical small craft. Such tours give a good overview of historic ships at their moorings. Mystic Seaport's music program is unusual, as it prominently features sea shanties in their original contexts as work songs. The Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival is held annually in June and is among the oldest and largest in the United States.
caption: Children learning to sail in JY15s and Dyer Dhows
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