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Tuesday 9am - 12pm Wednesday 1pm - 4pm Thursday 1pm - 4pm

Mystic River Historical Society

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Mystic, CT
Mystic River Historical Society

Founded in 1973 to preserve and promote the history of the Mystic area

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day from the Mystic River Historical Society and the Rossie Velvet Co.! The first Labor Day celebration was held in New York in 1882 and the holiday was officially recognized by the Federal Government in 1894.

08/31/2026

Hurricane Carol brought some of the worst flooding that Mystic has ever seen on August 31, 1954. This view shows a fireman wading in water up to his knees down West Main Street. Note that the Union Baptist Church is missing its steeple. The original steeple was a casualty of The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 and wasn't rebuilt until 1969.

Photograph donated by Virgil Huntley.

08/27/2026

August's full moon is called the sturgeon moon, and it's peaking tonight! Here's the CHARLES W. MORGAN under the sturgeon moon, August 2014, photographed by Wil Langdon.

08/20/2026

From the late 1860s through 1911, tourists swarmed to Mystic every August to attend meetings at the Universal Peace Union's Peace Grove (now known as the Peace Sanctuary). The Peace Temple pictured on this postcard was built c. 1890 and could accommodate up to 1,000 people - just a fraction of the 10,000 attendees who participated in meetings at their peak popularity.

08/12/2026

During the War of 1812, Mystic earned the nickname "a cursed little hornet's nest" from the enemy for their clever pranks and acts of resistance against the British Navy. On August 12, 1814, a group of Mystic men put one of these schemes into action when they boarded a decoy ship, sailed out to the British blockade in Fishers Island Sound and lured a British barge aground at Groton Long Point. The British were met with a round of fire from a local militia hidden along the rocky coast of the point. Although the Americans had only meant to capture the British crew for ransom, one Scotsman was killed in the skirmish. He was buried with ceremony in an unmarked grave under an apple tree in the Packer Cemetery.

News clippings from "The Connecticut Gazette," August 17 & 24, 1814.

08/05/2026

On August 5, 1947, the JOSEPH CONRAD traveled up the Mystic River on its way to a permanent mooring at the Mystic Seaport. This photo shows the Conrad sailing upriver past the Strand Theater, Davey's Newsstand, the Newbury Block, the Whaler's Inn, Santin Chevrolet and the Lathrop Engine Co. 79 years ago. This view of Downtown Mystic was drastically changed by one of Mystic's most devastating fires in December 1960 and also by the construction of condos in the 1980s.

Photo donated to MRHS by Kenneth Reid.

07/28/2026

Camp Mystic girls taking swim lessons off River Road, summer 1917. The camp was run by famed explorer Mary Jobe Akeley who believed that “girls find health, happiness and their highest development out-of-doors, where they leave behind them the artificialities of towns and cities for the joyous realities of the wooded hills and seashore.”

07/08/2026

MYSTIC COMMUNITY CENTER

The Mystic River Historical Society is putting together a PowerPoint lecture for April 28, 2027, about the original Mystic Community Center and its long-serving director Roger Quesnel. Do you have photos of the old community center on Pearl Street or of any of the programs the center offered? Did you run in the Tarzan Brown Race or play in any of the men’s basketball or baseball leagues, or women’s fast-pitch softball teams? Did you take swimming lessons at Williams Beach or take any of the gymnastic classes?

Please share your memories of the old center and of Roger Quesnel and any photos you have from the days when the center operated out of the old Pearl Street garage.

05/31/2026

Thank you to everyone who walked with MRHS in the Memorial Day Parade. Thanks especially to Marilyn Comrie, who led the effort to engrave the names of Mystic's fallen on the Civil War Monument. These eight Mystic soldiers were honored during the parade. Thanks also to MRHS board member Carmine DeStefano, who designed and built the replica of the Portersville Academy which served as the main feature of the MRHS float.

04/22/2026

Reminder: Wednesday night!
On Wednesday, April 22, 2026, the Mystic River Historical Society will present a talk by Frank Fulchiero on "Passenger Carrying Schooners Out of Mystic: 1967 to 2026" at 7:30pm in the parish hall of the Mystic Congregational Church. Refreshments will be available at 7pm. The program is free for all MRHS members, with a suggested donation of $10 for non-members. Various MRHS items will be for sale. (Credit cards accepted.)

Frank Fulchiero will present the history of the modern commercial passenger-carrying sailing vessels that sailed out of Mystic, starting with the Mystic Whaler in 1967. He will discuss the design and building of the schooner VOYAGER in 1977, and his captaining and operating it out of Mystic and the Caribbean. He will also discuss his design, construction and operation of the schooner ARGIA in 1986, still sailing out of Mystic. The history of other historic Mystic vessels, including the Charllotte Ann, Sylvina W. Beal and Marmion, will be included.

Frank Fulchiero has been involved in commercial sailing and held Merchant Mariner Credentials for 30 years. He worked on the MYSTIC WHALER and captained the 106’ Hudson River Sloop CLEARWATER. He also worked at the Mystic Seaport Henry Dupont Shipyard and designed and built the 96’ passenger schooner VOYAGER. He captained and operated it until its sale in 1994. He designed and built the 81’ schooner ARGIA in 1986 and operated it until its sale.

Address

74-76 High Street
Mystic, CT
06355

Opening Hours

Tuesday	9am - 12pm
Wednesday	1pm - 4pm
Thursday	1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+18605364779

Website

http://www.mystichistory.org/

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