Living Our Dream

Out and About in Mystic

Mystic, CT - Events of Friday, September 20 to Sunday, September 21, 2013

The weather was beautiful on Friday so it fit in nicely with our plans to take a drive around the area to check out the scenery. All the coastal areas of New England we have seen so far have proven to be very picturesque, and the area around Mystic is no exception.

We started by heading to Stonington to the east of the Mystic River. European colonists first established a trading post in the area of Stonington in 1649. It was originally called Souther Towne (or Southerton) and later Mistick. It's name was changed to Stonington in 1666.

Stonington grew wealthy in the late 1700s because of a fleet of boats that harbored there that were engaged in the profitable seal trade. Today, Stonington Harbor is home to a fleet of fishing boats.

Some of Stonington's fleet of commercial fishing boats

Commercial fishing boat in Stonington Harbor

Fishing goes on all winter, but lobster season was pretty much over. There were large stacks of lobster traps being stored on the town dock.

Lobster traps being stored on the dock

Commercial fishing boats share the harbor with pleasure boats. Fishing boats are located at two larger piers to the north, and pleasure boats are docked to the south.

Pleasure boats docked at the town dock

Recently, Stonington has become a popular location for summer homes as evidenced by large number of sailboats also moored in out in the harbor.

Sailboats moored in Stonington Harbor

From the harbor, we headed to the east side of Stonington to see the Stonington Harbor Light. The original light built in 1824 was relocated to the current site in 1840. Another light was built farther out in the harbor, and this one was decommissioned in 1889. It currently houses the museum of the Stonington Historical Society.

Stonington Harbor Light

There is a small beach adjacent to the lighthouse where the cormorants were drying their wings on the rocks. Cormorants don't have oil in their feathers like ducks and geese. This enables them do dive and swim underwater to hunt. Because their feathers don't have oils, however, they have to dry their wings before they can do much flying.

Cormorants

There was also a brave soul at the beach swimming, and it wasn't a young kid either. In fact, we saw a couple of other people swimming later on as well. Brrr! New Englanders seem to really be into fitness. Swimming, biking, kayaking and jogging are big.

Swiming in the cool cold waters of New England

We drove through the downtown area. There are a few shops, but not many catering to tourists. Without the tourists, the streets, although narrow, weren't nearly as congested as other places like Bar Harbor, Kennebunkport and Provincetown. Like so many other New England towns, however, Stonington has its share of quaint, old buildings.

Quaint buildings in Stonington

From Stonington, we headed to the western side of the Mystic River to a little village called Noank. We wanted to get a look at Morgan Point Lighthouse in Noank, but we discovered the lighthouse is now privately owned and the road leading to it is also private. Therefore, we headed to Groton Long Point, which is a peninsula to the west, to try to get a look.

Groton Long Point is a subdivision of the city of Groton, which is located farther to the west. Since Groton Long Point is made up of primarily summer residents, the Connecticut Legislature passed a law in 1921 that enabled the summer residents to tax and provide services independently from the city of Groton.

Along the shores of Mystic Harbor are many summer homes with sailboats moored in the small inlets and bays. Kayaks were stacked on the small beaches, and we saw more swimmers.

Summer homes along the shore in Groton Long Point

We were able to get a view of Morgan Point Light from Groton Long Point. The current lighthouse was built in 1868 and replaced a smaller tower built in 1831.

Morgan Point light

From Groton Long Point, we headed back to the motor home for lunch. We relaxed the rest of the day and most of Saturday and Sunday.

On Monday, we headed out on two long days of driving to Pittsburgh for our annual doctor appointments and for family visits. After that, we'll stop at a few of our favorite locations on our way south for the winter.

This brings to a close our travels for the summer of 2013. Until this summer, New England was the last major U.S. geographical area that we had not explored.As we left Connecticut, we had visited 46 states since we hit the road in 2006. New Jersey and Delaware are the states we still want to visit in the motor home at some point in the not too distant future. We won't be taking the motor home to Hawaii for obvious reasons, nor to Alaska because of the long distance and the age of our motor home.

With doctor appointments and visits with family and friends while we're in Pittsburgh, there probably won't be much to report for the next week or two. Therefore, the frequency of our blog posts will be reduced somewhat, but we will still have some updates, so stay tuned.

More Mystic Seaport

Mystic, CT - Events of Thursday, September 19, 2013

As we said in our last post, Mystic Seaport has about 60 historic buildings that have been relocated to Mystic Seaport and restored. Some of those buildings represent maritime-related trades and some are homes and shops. There are also a few buildings that are recreations and a few modern buildings where some of the museum's many collections are displayed.

The maritime buildings include a shipsmith that was similar to a blacksmith except he made metal items for ships; a nautical instrument shop that sold sextants, compasses and chronometers for navigation; a hoop shop that made wooden hoops to which the sails were attached to enable them to slide up and down the masts; a sail loft; a rigging loft; a cooper and more. Naturally, most of the maritime buildings are located near the waterfront.

Maritime shops near the waterfront

One of the first waterfront buildings we came to was the Thomas Oyster House built in 1874 in New Haven, CT. It was used for sorting, grading and shucking oysters.

Thomas Oyster House

Margery checking out the display of baskets and rakes used for harvesting oysters

The John Gardner Boat Shop builds replicas of small, wooden watercraft. It is named for John Gardner, who was renowned for reviving interest in traditional wooden boats. The shop not only builds and repairs small, wooden boats, but it conducts research into boat building techniques and holds periodic workshops on boat building.

John Gardner Boat Shop

The ship carvers shop is where figureheads, name boards, stern boards and other wood carvings would have been done. In the second half of the 1800s, there were 6 ship builders in Mystic and one carving shop did the carvings for most of them. The shop also did carvings for homes, store signs and things such as cigar store Indians.

Carved figureheads, name boards and signs in the carver's shop

The young man who was the docent for the shop gave us some insight into the reason we have seen so many ornate, carved store signs with gold leaf lettering during our travels in New England. Those ornate signs stem from the tradition of carved name boards and stern boards for ships. Also, the use of gold leaf, while expensive, was often used on ships because it lasted much longer than paint in the salt spray ships are subject to.

Speaking of figureheads, Mystic Seaport has an extensive collection of figureheads and billetheads. A billethead is a scroll-type carving used in place of a figurehead. Billetheads were frequently used by Quaker ship owners because the billethead is less ornate and less ostentatious.

Figurehead collection

Mystic Seaport also has a collection of some very nice scrimshaw. The collection isn't as big as that of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, but the pieces are every bit as elaborate and artistically done as the ones at New Bedford. The detail of the scrimshaw is even more remarkable when you realize the sailors worked by candlelight while on a rocking ship. We were particularly impressed by the example below with the very realistic likeness of General Sherman. The image of Sherman is done on walrus tusk. As whales became more scarce, whaling ships began to hunt walrus for their blubber.

Scrimshaw on walrus tusk

The next example of scrimshaw is on the tooth of a sperm whale, and it's finished in color. Click on the photo to enlarge it to see the detail.

Naval battle scene on whale tooth

Large sailing ships contained miles and miles of rope in their rigging. The museum has a 250-foot section of the ropewalk of the Portsmouth Cordage Company. The original ropewalk was over 1000 feet long.

Portsmouth Cordage Company ropewalk

In the ropewalk, hemp or manila fiber was tristed into yarn, the yarn was twisted into strands, and three or more strands were twisted into rope. In the photo below, yarn is being fed through holes in a head that is designed to keep the yarn from tangling. The truck in the far background traveled down the length of the ropewalk as it twisted the yarn into a strand.

Yarn being fed out to be twisted into a strand

Behind the ropewalk is a 1966 replica of the Brant Point Light. The original lighthouse was built on Nantucket in 1746 and was the second lighthouse in New England. The first was built in Boston in 1716. The replica of the Brant Point Light is modeled after the replacement light built at Brant Point in 1900.

Replica of 1900 Brant Point Light

The village at Mystic Seaport also has several homes. The one shown below is the Buckingham-Hall House. Built by Samuel Buckingham in the 1700s near the mouth of the Connecticuit River in Saybrook, CT, the house was occupied by the William Hall family in the 1830s.

Buckingham-Hall House

The kitchen of the Buckingham-Hall House is the location of open-hearth cooking demonstrations. The docent had prepared rotisserie-roasted chicken, potato casserole baked in a Dutch oven and steamed kale.

Kitchen of the Buckingham-Hall House

The Mystic Bank was built in 1833. The primarily purpose of the bank for loans and mortgages for businesses such as shipbuilders. The building was dismantled and moved to Mystic Seaport from its original location two miles away in 1951.

1833 Mystic Bank

The building that houses Stone's Store was originally built as a house, but it was set up as a general store when it was moved to Mystic Seaport.

George W. Stone General Store

Shaeffer's Spouter Tavern is a 1956 recreation of an 1800s tavern. It serves lunch daily.

Shaeffer's Spouter Tavern

There is also a drug store with an attached doctor's office. Since the whale ships didn't have a doctor on board, treating sailors who became ill or were injured on a voyage usually fell to the ship's captain. He would need to restock the ship's medicine chest when the ship came back to port.

Drug store

We really enjoyed seeing the maritime crafts and the historic boats at Mystic Seaport. We also appreciated seeing the Charles W. Morgan while it was in the midst of restoration.

Farewell photo of a window box at Mystic Seaport

We left Mystic Seaport and headed back to the motor home for the evening. We had some informal sightseeing we wanted to do the next day, so stay tuned.

Mystic Seaport

Mystic, CT - Events of Wednesday, September 18 to Thursday, September 19, 2013

Wednesday was another short travel day with a two-hour drive to Mystic, CT where we stayed at Seaport RV Resort. Seaport RV Resort is a recent acquisition of Sun RV Resorts, which is the same company that owns Blueberry Hill where we stay in Florida in the winter. In fact, the couple that managed Blueberry Hill during its makeover after having been bought by Sun two years ago is now at Mystic, and they spent the summer overseeing the makeover of Seaport RV. We don't know what Seaport RV was like before, but from what we hear it needed a lot of work. Thanks to Skip and Donna's oversight, it looks great now.

Seaport RV Resort has about 130 sites, about 25 of which are pull-throughs. Roughly half the sites have 30-amp electric and half have 30/50 amps. All the pull-throughs have 30/50-amp electric. Although there are no sewer hookups, free pump-out service is available every day but Sunday. Cable is free, and Wi-Fi is available for a fee. There is fairly strong Verizon 4G coverage at Seaport RV.

The roads are dusty gravel. That's the one thing that still needs to be done, but presumably they held off getting new gravel for last because there is still a little construction going on. The pads of the pull-throughs are fairly fresh gravel while the pads of the back-ins are mostly grass. The sites are pretty widely spaced for a private campground except that the pull-through sites have side by side hookups, which means the sites are pretty close together on the drivers side because you're sharing pedestals. That also means you also sharing living space on the door side. However, the pull-throughs are so long that the RVs can be positioned so they aren't immediately adjacent to one another so it isn't too bad.

Our extra-long pull-through at Seaport RV Resort

Looking down the road from our site

Mystic, CT has a rich, seafaring history, and it is the location of Mystic Seaport, which is one of the largest maritime museums in the United States. Mystic Seaport was started in 1929 as the Marine Maritime Association. We headed to Mystic Seaport on Thursday.

Mystic Seaport has a large collection of sailing ships and boats that includes the last remaining wooden whaling ship, the Charles W. Morgan. There are also around 60 historical buildings than have been relocated to Mystic Seaport and restored to recreate an 1800s seafaring village.

Entrance to Mystic Seaport

One of the advantages to sightseeing after Labor Day is smaller crowds. One of the disadvantages is school groups. Two school buses pulled into the parking lot about the same time we did. It took a while to get all the kids off the buses and organized, so we were a little ahead of them. We figured they were most likely to go the the Charles W. Morgan first, so went directly there as soon as we got our tickets. Admission is $24 for adults, $22 for seniors over 65 and $21 for AAA members.

We saw models of the Charles W. Morgan at the New Bedford Whaling Museum, so we were looking forward to seeing the real thing. Paul kept looking for the masts sticking up above the buildings and was surprised when we rounded the corner of the last building and saw the hull of the ship sitting there at the dock with no masts.

The hull of the Charles W. Morgan

It turned out the Charles W. Morgan was undergoing a restoration. She has undergone two previous restorations. The third and latest one began in 2008 when the vessel was hauled out onto the drydock of Mystic Seaport's restoration shipyard to renew the hull from the waterline down and to address problems with the bow and the stern. The hull was re-launched on July 21, 2013. Restoration of the deck structures, the masts and the rigging continues. The Charles W. Morgan will celebrate the completion of her latest restoration in 2014 with a voyage to several historic New England ports.

Volunteer sanding a structure on the deck

Another worker working to the bow

We also got to watch them lower lead ingots down into the hold to be used as ballast. They would have used stones for ballast back in the day, and the stones would have been tossed overboard as they hunted whales and put more barrels of oil into the hold. Lead is being used today because more dense to save space, and the rectangular ingots won't roll around as easily.

The Charles W. Morgan was built in 1841 in New Bedford, MA. She was named for her original owner, a Quaker whaling merchant. During her life, she made 37 voyages. The last whaling voyage was in 1921.

On the deck of the Morgan, we got a good look at the tryworks, which is the brick furnace that held several large cauldrons where the blubber was heated and processed into oil. After rendering, there was still enough oil remaining in the blubber that it made good fuel to fire the furnace.

Tryworks where the oil was rendered

After exploring the decks and hold of the Morgan, we headed to the shipyard to check out the work on the masts. On the way, we stopped for a photo beside one of the whaleboats, in which 6 or 8 men would pursue the whale and harpoon it. Can you imagine hunting a 60-foot whale weighing 125,000 pounds in that little boat?

Paul with a whaleboat

From the gallery, we could see workers shaping and sanding new masts for the Morgan.

New masts for the Charles W. Morgan

There was also a nice display on shipbuilding back in the 1800s. We learned about that when we visited the Maine Maritime Museum in Bath several weeks ago, and the exhibit at Mystic Seaport added to our knowledge. Mystic had a display of a number of shipbuilding tools with a video playing beside each one so we could see exactly how the tools were used back in the day.

There was also a diagram that showed how different types of wood were used for different parts of the ship. For example, live oak is used for some critical parts of the ship because of its high strength. Wood salvaged from live oak trees downed by Hurricane Katrina was used in the restoration of the Morgan.

There are dozens and dozens of smaller wooden sailboats at Mystic Seaport along with several larger sloops and schooners. The ship in the photo below is the Joseph Conrad, which is one of the few iron-hulled ships at Mystic Seaport. She was built in 1882 in Denmark, and she was used as a ship to train seamen. During WWII, she trained U.S. Merchant Marine personnel in Florida. After the war, she was turned over to Mystic Seaport where she is still used in the museum's youth sailing program.

Training ship Joseph Conrad

The masts and rigging have always been part of the allure of tall ships.

Mast and rigging of the schooner L.A. Dunton

After checking out the sailing ships, Paul tried out a dory.

Paul trying out a dory

One of the buildings has a 50-foot long scale model of the Mystic River area in the 1800s.

Scale model of the Mystic River area in the 1800s

There were many shipyards along the banks of the Mystic River, most of which specialized in clipper ships. As we learned, clipper ships were built for speed. Their popularity was born out of a high demand for tea from China starting in the 1840s and was spurred by the California Gold Rush of 1849 and by one in Australia a few years later. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 was the beginning of the end for clipper ships, because they had difficulty getting through the canal.

Model of a clipper ship being built along the Mystic River

Another building had the hull of the schooner Australia. The Australia was built in 1862 as the Ella Alida, and was used as a blockade runner for the Confederacy. She was captured by the Union and renamed the Alma.

After the Civil War, she was again renamed, this time as the Australia, and she carried lumber, grain and shellfish to various ports around the Chesapeke Bay. In 1939, E. Paul DuPont bought the Australia and converted her into a yacht. Upon DuPont's death, the family donated the Australia to Mystic Seaport.

The Australia was a floating dormitory for boys and girls in Mystic Seaport's youth training program. She was hauled out in 1964 for restoration and was never returned to the water. From the looks of what is left of the Australia, we're supposing they removed the planking from the hull to do repairs and gave up when they saw what bad shape she was in. There is evidence of rot and shipworm damage in many of the main timbers.

Hull of the schooner Australia

In addition to the many sailing boats, there are about 60 restored buildings from the 1800s that have been relocated to Mystic Seaport. Some of them are buildings related to maritime trades and some are homes, shops, schools and churches that would exist in any thriving seafaring community of the time. We'll explore some of the buildings of Mystic Seaport in our next post.

Plymouth, MA

Sagamore Beach, MA - Events of Sunday, September 15, 2013

We all learned about the Pilgrims when we were in school, so one of the things we wanted to do while we were staying in Sagamore Beach was to check out Plymouth. Plymouth was only about 15 or 20 minutes from where we were staying, and we headed there on Sunday morning.

When we came to New England this summer, we originally planned to see the sights around Boston, but not to go into the city itself. We don't like big cities, and we usually avoid them. However, because we were running early on our way to Plymouth and since it was Sunday and we figured there wouldn't be as much traffic, we decided on the spur of the moment to keep driving about another 35 or 40 minutes to Boston just so we could say we were there.

We had no definite destination in mind, but Margery decided she would like to see Boston Harbor. Paul plotted a course on the GPS to the waterfront.

We were surprised at how much traffic there was heading into Boston at 10:00 on a Sunday morning. The downtown area was busy, but nothing like it would be during the week.

We got to the waterfront, and of course, there was no place to park. We were only there for a quick look, so we didn't want to pay high rates at a parking garage. We drove around a little and found a permit-only lot that was shared by a marina and a small, waterfront inn. The lot was almost empty, so we drove in. We took turns taking a 5-minute walk out onto the pier while the other stayed with the car just in case.

Old warehouse that has been turned into condos at the Boston waterfront

View out into Boston Harbor - the Boston Tea Party happened out there somewhere

After we each had our turn walking on the pier, we checked the GPS to see what else might be nearby, and we found we were very close to Paul Revere's house. We headed there hoping to get a photo of the outside. After following a maze of one-way streets, we caught a glimpse of the house. Unfortunately, there was no place to pull over even for a few seconds to snap a photo much less to park. We were quickly reminded of the reason we didn't plan to go to Boston in the first place - narrow streets, traffic and no place to park. We decided it was time to "get out of Dodge," so we gave up on Paul Revere's house and headed for Plymouth.

Our first stop in Plymouth was at the harbor where the Mayflower II is tied up at the State Dock. The Mayflower II is a replica of the Mayflower, which was the ship that the Pilgrims used to sail from England to the New World. Visitors can board the Mayflower II to see what it was like to spend over two months in cramped quarters on the voyage across the Atlantic, but we dedided to pass and just stroll along the waterfront.

Mayflower II

View of Plymouth Harbor

A few of the buildings at the Plymouth waterfront

A short distance from the Mayflower II at the Plymouth waterfront is Plymouth Rock. Almost everything we read about Plymouth Rock said it is unimpressive, but we were right there in Plymouth, so we couldn't pass by without taking a look.

Plymouth Rock is where tradition says the Pilgrims first set foot on shore in Plymouth, but there is no mention of the Pilgrims stepping off the boat onto a rock in of the writings of any of the Pilgrim leaders from the time of the landing. The first reference to the existance of a rock wasn't made in writing until 121 years later. The rock was pointed out in 1741 by the 94-year old son of one of the original Mayflower passengers. Although we'll probably never know whether or not the Pilgrims actully stepped off the Mayflower onto a rock and whether or not Plymouth Rock is that rock, Plymouth Rock has nevertheless become a symbol for freedom.

Everybody was right - Plymouth Rock isn't very impressive because it's not that big. The reason for that is over the years, pieces have been broken off and given away or sold, and it has been chipped away by souvenir hunters. Today, only about 1/3 the original boulder remains. What is left of Plymouth Rock sits under a fenced-in granite canopy built in 1920 at the Plymouth waterfront.

Protective granite structure where Plymouth Rock is housed

Plymouth Rock

There are several opportunities in and around Plymouth to learn more history about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony. One is Plimoth Plantation, which is a living-history recreation of an English Village as it would have appeared back in 1627 Plymouth. Having recently been at the living-history museum at Sturbridge Village, we decided not to visit Plimoth Plantation even though it and Sturbridge represent distinctly different time periods. We decided to go to Pilgrim Hall Museum instead.

Pilgrim Hall Museum

Pilgrim Hall Museum opened in 1824 and is the oldest, continuously-operating museum in the United States. The top half of Plymouth Rock sat in front of the museum from the 1830s until it was returned to the Plymouth waterfront in the 1880s and reunited with the bottom half. The museum still has a small piece of Plymouth Rock inside. They also have artifacts, manuscripts, paintings and a library relating to the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony. Some of the artifacts in the museum came over on the Mayflower. These include the Bible that belonged to William Bradford, governor of the colony. Admission to the museum is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors over 62 and $6 for AAA members.

Unfortunately, photography isn't permitted inside the museum, but their website has some fairly good photos if you're interested. They had a good video with a history of the Pilgrims and Plymouth Plantation.

Pilgrim is the name given to the early settlers of Plymouth Colony, but that name wasn't used until about 1798. They were called Brownists back in the day after their early leader, Robert Browne. The group wanted to separate themselves from the Church of England in the late 1500s and early 1600s. In those days, the church was part of the state, and any dissension was considered treason. Many of the Pilgrims had left the volatile atmosphere in England for the Netherlands, which was more tolerant. However, they still considered themselves to be English, and they were afraid they were losing their English identity as time went on.

By the early 1600s, colonization of America by various European countries was taking place, and the Pilgrims decided establishing their own colony in the New World would be a good way to preserve both their religious freedom and their English heritage. They convinced a group of English investors to help finance their new colony in America.

There were originally two ships that were to transport 121 passengers to the New World - the Speedwell and the Mayflower. Unfortunately, the smaller of the two ships, the Speedwell, began to take on water and was deemed unseaworthy.

Supplies were consolidated and 102 of the original 121 passengers were chosen to cross the Atlantic on the Mayflower. After a difficult voyage of over 60 days, land was finally sighted. They were heading for the mouth of the Hudson River, but they were off course and had arrived at Cape Cod. When they attempted to sail around the cape toward the Hudson River, they encountered difficulty because of the treacherous shoals. Therefore, they decided to drop anchor at the end of Cape Cod near present-day Provincetown.

After several exploratory expeditions in a smaller boat, it was decided to sail to the mainland at Plymouth. Because they got such a late start due to the leaking of the Speedwell, it was already December and they needed to find safe harbor before the weather turned bad.

Although the first winter was hard (45 of the 102 immigrants died), Plymouth Colony eventually prospered. More ships arrived in subsequent years bringing more settlers. By 1630, there were an estimated 300 people in Plymouth Colony; and by 1657, there could have been as many as 2,000. The colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of what was to become Massachusetts.

After we toured the museum, we walked past some of the statues and historical markers in Plymouth.

William Bradford, governor of Plymouth Colony

The Wampanoag Indians inhabited the area around Plymouth and much of present-day Massachusetts. The Pilgrims established a good relationship with the Wampanoag that lasted several decades. Their chief, Massasoit, signed a treaty with the Pilgrims guaranteeing them security in exchange for their alliance against the Narragansett People, who were the neighboring tribe in Rhode Island.

Massasiot, chief of the Wampanoag Indians

Plymouth Colony lasted until 1691 when it was merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony.

After our visit to the museum and our walk around Plymouth, we headed back to the motor home. We relaxed around the campground on Monday. On Tuesday, we headed to a laundromat in Sandwich. We really prefer to use our onboard washer/dryer, but we couldn't because we didn't have sewer hookup at this stop. We didn't have sewer at our last stop, and we won't have sewer at our next stop either. This laundromat wasn't quite as new or as clean as the last one we went to in Narragasett, and it was almost twice as expensive.

On our way back from doing laundry, we stopped at Marshland Restaurant in Sandwich for lupper. The last time we were there, we had fried clam strips, but we were both tempted by an item on the menu called a Steak Bomb. It's essentially a Philly cheese steak, but we liked the name. The Steak Bomb comes with fries for $9, and we substituted sweet potato fries and onion rings for an additional $1.50 for each.  The sandwiches had excellent flavor, but we thought the steak could have been a little more tender.

Steak bomb sandwiches

After we ate, we headed back to the motor home to put away our laundry then spent the evening watching TV.  On Wednesday morning, we headed out to our next destination.

New Bedford, MA

Sagamore, MA - Events of Friday, September 13, 2013

New Bedford, Massachusetts, was one of the most important, if not the most important, whaling ports in the late 1700s and early 1800s. New Bedford, which is located about 45 minutes southwest of where we were staying, has a whaling museum we decided we wanted to see, so we headed there on Friday morning.

There is on-street metered parking in downtown New Bedford, but we couldn't find an empty space, so we went to a parking garage that we thought was close to the museum. The rates weren't too bad - $1.50 an hour.

The museum wasn't where we thought it was, so after walking several blocks in the wrong direction, we remembered, duh, we had our smartphone with us, so we looked up the location of the museum on Google Maps and eventually found it. (We're still getting used to how smart our phone is!) Wouldn't you know, there is free, two-hour parking on the street where the museum is located. Oh, well. You win some and you lose some.

New Bedford Whaling Museum

Admission the New Bedford Whaling Museum is $14 ($12 for seniors over 65). Right inside the lobby there is an awe-inspiring display of three whale skeletons. They are (left to right) a 49-foot right whale, a 66-foot blue whale and a 37-foot humpback whale. All these skeletons came from whales that were found dead or were killed accidentally.

Three whale skeletons inside the entrance

Closer shot of the 37-foot humpback

There is a theater on the main floor that shows a video of the history of whaling. Early settlers in America rowed out in small boats to pursue whales that happened to come close to shore. After the whales in the immediate vicinity of shore had been hunted out, larger boats went out longer distances from shore.

In the early days, whale carcasses were always brought back to shore for processing. Strips of blubber were boiled in large pots called try pots to render the oil. The blubber would turn rancid if not processed within a short time of killing the whale, so the distance the ships could travel to hunt whales was limited.

Eventually, someone discovered they could build a furnace from bricks, called a try works, right on the deck of a ship and process whale oil while they were at sea. The ability to process oil at sea enabled it to be stored in barrels in the hold and allowed ships to travel great distances in search of whales. Whaling ships traveled to South America, the South Pacific and even Antarctica. Whaling voyages typically lasted three to five years.

Whaling began in New England in the late 1600s around the island of Nantucket, which lies to the south of Cape Cod. Cape Cod had an advantage because it was away from the mainland and therefore closer to the migratory routes and feeding grounds of the whales. As larger ships began to be used for whaling, the advantage shifted to New Bedford because of its deep harbor, which Nantucket did not have. New Bedford was also more conveniently located on the mainland.

The primary use of whales was for oil, which was used for lubrication and for oil-burning lamps. Some species of whales also have rows of fringed plates called baleen attached to the roof of their mouths. Baleen whales eat tiny sea animals such as krill, and they use the baleen to strain the krill from huge mouths-full of seawater. Baleen, which is the same type of tissue as human fingernails, was used back in the 1700s and 1800s for corset stays and for ribs of parasols.

The museum has three floors. After viewing the video in the theater on the entrance level, we began our tour on the second level, which is the main level.

What would any maritime museum be without ship models. The New Bedford Whaling Museum currently has a temporary exhibit of a large collection of models of whaling ships and whaleboats on the main level. A whaling ship was the large vessel that went to sea for several years to hunt whales. Each whaling ship carried 4 to 6 whaleboats, which were smaller boats used to actually pursue the whales once they were spotted by the larger whaling ship.

Whaling ship

The Charles W. Morgan is a well-known whaling ship, and is the oldest surviving merchant ship. She was built in New Bedford in 1841 and was in service for about 80 years. The ship has been restored and is on display at Mystic Seaport, CT.

The museum had several models of the Charles W. Morgan on display as part of their special exhibit of ship models.

Models of the Charles W. Morgan

Whaleboats are open boats that were used to chase down the whales so they could be harpooned. Most whaleboats were equipped with a centerboard and a sail to make it easier to chase down the whale. Once the whaleboat got close, the crew of 6 or 8 men would take down the mast and sail and use oars to maneuver into the proper position for harpooning. The whaleboats were pointed on both ends to make them easy to maneuver. The exhibit included several models of whaleboats.

Models of Whaleboats

There was also a large, one quarter-size model of a sailboat.

Margery checking out the extra-large sailboat model

At the other end of the spectrum was a tiny model of a whale-hunting scene that included several whaleboats and a whaling ship. The whaling ship was only about an inch long, but it included incredible detail. Don't forget you can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Whale hunting scene

Sailors on long whaling voyages needed something to keep themselves busy, so they used the byproducts of the whale harvest, the teeth and pieces of bone, to make decorative items. Scrimshaw is the name given to engraving images onto animal bone or ivory. The Whaling Museum has a very extensive collection of scrimshaw and other decorative items made from whale teeth and bone. Many sailors had their wives and girlfriends in mind when they were at sea, because the items in the upper right of the photo below are for unwinding skeins of yarn. There were also jewelry boxes, pie-crimping wheels and holders for spools of thread.

Scrimshaw and decorative items made from whale teeth and bone

We have seen numerous examples of scrimshaw in several museums while we have been in New England, and the examples at the Whaling Museum are by far the most intricate, detailed and artistic of any we have seen.

Intricately detailed scrimshaw work

Relief-carved whale tooth

There were also larger works made from whale bone like a chair (not shown) and the banjo in the photo below.

Banjo made from whale bone

There were a couple of galleries that had maritime paintings on the third floor where we headed next. The third floor also has an observation deck where visitors can see New Bedford Harbor with hundreds of commercial fishing boats.

New Bedford Harbor from the third floor observation deck of the museum

By the mid-1800s, whales had been hunted to the point where their numbers had been greatly reduced. The discovery of oil in Titusville, PA in 1859 came in the nick of time because the use of kerosene for lighting reduced the demand for whale oil. New Bedford sailors made the transition to commercial fishing following the decline of whaling. Unfortunately, regulations in the 1990s to prevent overfishing have greatly hampered the fishing industry.

From the third floor, visitors can also see the half-size replica of the whaling ship Lagoda. After checking it out from above, we headed back down to the second floor for a closer look. Visitors can actually board the replica of the Lagoda, but you need to be careful you don't bump your head. Because it is only half-size, there are lots of low clearances.

Half-size replica of whaling ship Lagoda

Paul at the bow of the Lagoda

After we finished at the museum, we walked across the street to take a look at the Mariners' Home. Many sailors who went on whaling voyages for years at a time had no permanent home when they were back in port. Built in 1787, the Mariners' Home provided a place for the sailors to stay while they are in port waiting for their next voyage. The home is still in operation.

1787 Mariners' Home

There are a lot of historic buildings in New Bedford, and there is a walking tour with informational plaques around the downtown area. Our feet were tired from walking the museum, so we didn't do the walking tour; but we did stop to check out some of the buildings on our way back to the parking garage.

One of the historic homes we passed belonged to Benjamin Rodman, who, although he was born into a prosperous whaling family, devoted his life to helping the poor of New Bedford. The house was built in 1821 in the Federal style.

1821 Benjamin Rodman House

On our way back to the motor home from New Bedford, we stopped at the Qdoba Mexican Grill in Wareham, MA for lupper. Then, with our bellies full, we made our way back to the motor home to rest up for our next sightseeing outing. Stay tuned.