Change Surrounds The Museum

There is a saying that “change is the only constant” and that is certainly true about the Museum campus. Covering 50 acres and consisting of 170 buildings, including a 125-year-old velvet mill, and 4,415 feet of river frontage, the Museum is an extremely diverse and complex property to manage. It also needs to be fit for purpose be it historic houses, working docks, or modern exhibition space. That is why every two years or so the Museum team brings master plan changes to the town’s planning and zoning board to seek both permission and public review of changes it intends to make. This is exactly what happened this January when the Museum presented the plan you see here along with 14 potential physical changes. These potential capital changes include the very small, like the 192-square-foot stage area to the very big 37,000-square-foot Rossie Velvet Mill, but all were driven by the same commitment, to develop Mystic Seaport Museum for the future and to ensure that everyone who wishes to can enjoy this amazing place.

Perhaps the most important and certainly the largest potential change is with the historic Rossie Mill, housing the watercraft collection of over 450 small crafts spanning 182 years of American craftsmanship from the 1824 dugout canoe to the modern-day Mini Transat racer. The proposed plan reimagines the space into a new Watercraft Hall (1) with a new entrance to welcome visitors, and for the first time providing public access to the vessels and stories that embody the human desire to move, survive, work, travel, create, enjoy, innovate, and compete on the water.

On the main campus of the Museum, the Membership Patio (4) will receive a much-needed reconstruction to provide a larger, ADA-compliant, shaded area connected to adjoining buildings and surrounding amenities for our Members to enjoy! The Performance Stage (5) has been replaced and rotated for optimum view of both the Mystic River and the many performances held outside the re-energized Schaefer’s Spouter Tavern. Here visitors can relax and have a drink and a meal while watching our ever-changing program of entertainment.

In our continuing initiative to partner with the Town of Stonington to help alleviate vehicular traffic, the southern half of the South Parking Lot has been converted to a Paid Parking and Shuttle (14) service. New this summer is the Water Taxi (9). A game changer, this will create a public water docking location for taxi service to downtown Mystic. Just around the corner from the Museum you will soon find the Seaport Pocket Park (13). The Museum has always owned this little plot of land and although we always kept it tidy this new project will create a pocket park on the corner of Greenmanville Avenue and Isham Street, providing a wayfinding node and place of respite for pedestrians between the Museum and Downtown, further reducing the number of cars on the streets.

Visitors entering the Henry B. du Pont Preservation Shipyard will be greeted by the beloved L.A. Dunton, one of our most historic ships, in the new Dunton Restoration Area (10). Come watch her restoration firsthand in our historic shipyard. Full article on page 26.

Improving accessibility for everyone, the Print Shop and Toy Boats Building ADA Ramps (6 & 7), the Main Entrance Ingress/Egress Improvements (11), opening up the vista to the Museum at the South entrance, and Anchor Bake Shop outdoor tables (12), providing outdoor seating, have been completed. The Youth Team Building Area (8) creates a ground-based skills challenge course used by visiting school groups.

We hope you will visit the Museum this summer and year-round to enjoy the many improvements to the Mystic Seaport Museum experience!

Peter Armstrong, President