Mystic, Connecticut

In the back of our 2007 Atlas, there are 22 places that are listed as "must see" areas in USA and Canada. Mystic, Connecticut was one of them -- as are many places we've already seen or will visit at some time. It was raining the day we went to Mystic, so the colors of the trees or water along the Mystic River were not as scenic as it would have been. But we enjoyed going to the Historic Seaport area. We walked around the re-created village from the 1800's, and were able to go on several old ships, including a whaling ship. Lots of interesting areas -- learned more about ship building, rope making, rigging boats, making sails, fishing processes, shipsmiths, etc. when real life people were making things from that period.

In the print shop, we found out how the terminology "Upper Case" and "Lower Case" came about. Before automated printing, each letter was individually placed to make words for the newspapers, and the capital letters all fit in the upper cases (drawers), and the small letters were in the lower cases! It would take someone 10 hours to individually place all the letters for one side of a newspaper, so weekly papers were the norm. No wonder! We also went into one of the older homes where a woman was making stew and cornbread in the fireplace. She said that each home would need about 30 cords of wood to get through the winters, and that each family needed 5 acres of land to keep that many trees. Learned about some of the treacherous activities of the whaling ships. I think I'd prefer a cruise than a whaling ship ride!