New programming and tours featured in winter schedule at Mystic Seaport

MYSTIC, CT – Free planetarium programs, a daily tour of the Museum’s Collections Research Center and a hands-on activity center designed for visitors of all ages highlight the new winter schedule at Mystic Seaport.

Beginning November 30, Mystic Seaport will be open to visitors Thursday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Winter hours will remain in effect through March 26, 2010. Beginning January 1, the Museum Store and Bake Shop will remain open six days a week. For the first time during the winter season, most of the buildings in the 19th-century re-created seafaring village will remain open, offering the complete Museum experience year-round.

Further enhancing the visitor’s indoor experience, the Treworgy Planetarium will host two complimentary programs daily. “Zoo in the Sky” – a program of particular interest for children five and under – will be shown daily at 10:30 a.m., while visitors of all ages can discover the winter sky at 2 p.m.

Additionally, the Museum’s state-of-the-art Collections Research Center, which houses more than two million examples of maritime art, tools and other artifacts, will offer a daily free tour of select areas, providing visitors with a rarely seen look at Museum objects.

Skills of a Sailor, a new hands-on activity center in the Museum’s Schaefer Gallery, encourages visitors of all ages to try their hand at traditional sailor’s arts and skills. Children and adults can learn to stitch ditty bags, practice tying nautical knots, make baggywrinkle, create a piece of maritime art to take home, learn to use ship’s signal flags and listen to special sea performances led by the Museum’s chantey singers.

For a list of daily Museum activities, visit www.mysticseaport.org/dailyschedule.

Founded in 1929, Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Visitors can explore American maritime history first-hand while climbing aboard historic tall ships, strolling through a re-created 19th-century village or watching a working preservation shipyard in action. The Museum is located one mile south of exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. Admission is $24 for adults and $15 for children ages 6-17. Children 5 and under and Museum members are admitted for free. For more information, visit www.mysticseaport.org or call 888.973.2767.

Tags: All Ages, Mystic, Mystic Country, Mystic Seaport, New London County, Planetariums, Winter Activities

Category: Upcoming Events