Letter 12 Connecticut, RI, Plymouth
Monday May 18 we left NY for Connecticut and almost drove across the whole state. We stopped short at the old sailing town of
Mystic, made famous by the movie with Julia Roberts, “Mystic Pizza.” We didn’t know about the movie, but Patti had told us, so we stopped in the 
Mystic Pizza restaurant and bought a small special pizza and put it into the freezer for when we don’t have seafood to eat. We did tour the area and decided on what to do the next day.
Tuesday, May 19 we started the day at the 
Mystic Seaport which was a very interesting interaction park where we watched a 
whaleboat presentation, how to 
set sail on a fishing schooner, how to 
split a cod fish
and even remove it’s 
ear bones for jewelry and eye lenses for marbles. Keep in mind the fishing ships were working with much larger fish.
The tongue 
was a good piece of meat the cook used on ship. From there we witnessed a
“Dead Horse Ceremony,” the sailor’s celebrated when their first month of fishing was up and their debt was paid for their supplies. They made a mock horse, sang about their debt, beat the horse and finally threw it overboard. Later we learned 
how to make 
a rope.
We wandered all over this park to see items like 
the Morgan in dry dock. Even though it looked like Noah's Ark, this was a whaling ship and we were allowed on board.
Below deck we saw the 
Captain’s berth, and his 
pottie where the ceiling was at the top of this picture. It would be a challenge to sit on this throne. At the other end of the ship, past the whale rendering section was the 
crew’s quarters. On the deck was a 
large oven to melt the blubber into oil, later put into kegs. The framework above the oven is actually to hold a canvas tent, used to cover the preservation work.
The Sea Swirl drive in had caught our eye so we stopped for a late lunch. We had fish and chips and clam strips. It was all delicious. They also sell swirl ice cream so we planned to come back for supper of ice cream. We took off for 
Newport, RI to see the many mansions. We were too late to take the guided trolley tour so we purchased a CD guided tour to do it ourselves. The CD told us about all the 
mansions, the good things and the scandals, but it was hard to follow to make sure we were looking at what it was talking about. We recommend getting there early enough to take the trolley tour.
Getting a photo op was difficult so taking pictures was hard. We were able to get a shot of 
Marble House built by Alva Vanderbilt and contains 500,000 cubic feet of the finest marbles from around the world. Breakers was another photo op of the 
70 room estate built by Richard Morris Hunt for Cornelius Vanderbilt. It is the largest of the 50 or more mansions here.
Toward the end of the tour the stop was to see the 
Cliff Walk around the end of the island. The back yards of the mansions can be see from it and walkers/joggers enjoy it too. At this stop it was 
“40 steps” down to a closer look at the water.
One of the last points of interest was in the town and we were told the 
oldest Methodist Church in America. So we stopped to get pictures. The flag says it was since 
1800 but the story was that Wesley preached here in the early 1700’s. We noticed another Historical marker by the 
United Methodist Church. Newport was very interesting to see. We recommend it highly, however it is story of excess wealth and how one family bested the others to show their great wealth. Today many of the mansions are donated to charity. Upkeep is enormously expensive.
Wednesday, May 20 we moved through 
Cranberry Bogs to 
Myles Standish State Park near Plymouth to see the 
Mayflower 
and 
Plymouth rock. 
We were too late in the day to see 
Plimoth Plantation, a replication of pilgrim and Indian villages. We ate at another recommended fish and chips place on the harbor and saw a
miniature pirate ship.
We grossly missed our plans. We should have budgeted several more days each in Mystic, Newport and Plymouth. There was so much we missed, such as the Nautilus submarine, Indian Museum north of Mystic, the trolley in Newport and the Plimouth Plantation. We also missed going out to Hyannis Port where the Kennedy compound is, and going out whale watching.
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