Buildings
The Preservation Shipyard is an important part of the museum. It is where traditional tools and techniques are used to preserve the Museum's collection of historic vessels, including a recreation of the ship La Amistad. To commemorate the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery in Great Britain, on 21 June 2007, La Amistad departed from New Haven, Connecticut on a 14,000-mile (23,000 km) transatlantic voyage to Great Britain, Lisbon, West Africa and the Caribbean, marking the Atlantic trade and slave route.
The 19th-century seafaring village contains nearly all the types of general and specialized trades associated with building and operating a sailing fleet. They include a chandlery, sail loft, ropewalk, cooperage, shipping agent's office, printing office, bank and others. Also included is The Spouter Tavern, open seasonally and serving "travelers' fare". Each building is used both to show the original activity and to display multiple examples of objects sold or constructed; for instance, the nautical instrument shop displays sextants, nautical timepieces and the like. Demonstrations at the cooperage show how barrels are assembled.
Additional buildings house more exhibits. One is a 1⁄128th scale model of the entire Mystic River area c.1870, complete down to the outhouse behind every residence; a model over 50 feet (15 m) long. Another contains a collection of carved ship figureheads. Also among the museum's buildings is a planetarium that demonstrates how seamen used stars for navigation.
Read more about this topic: Mystic Seaport
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