Mystic, Connecticut, is a destination for tourists, history buffs, boat-folks, and coastal enthusiasts. There's no where quite like it. You can fill your days with all that is Mystic—explore local tidal pools, wander historic streets, have a lobster roll, and go sailing past Mystic Seaport (with an ice cream break somewhere in the middle).

Mystic, CT is a community of nearly 10,000 residents located on Long Island Sound. The name "Mystic" was derived from the Native American word Missi-tuk, meaning great tidal river. This area was likely explored for the first time by Europeans in the 1600s by Captain Adrian Block, and settled by the English in 1654.

Mystic became a shipbuilding center for the whaling and fishing industries by the 18th century. One Mystic-built ship of note, the 47-foot sloop Hero, carried Stonington native Captain Nathaniel B. Palmer to his discovery of Antarctica in 1820.

Ship building in Mystic continued through whaling and sealing days, and during the California Gold Rush, when the Mystic yards launched numerous ships, including the famed clipper ship David Crockett, whose average speed around Cape Horn to San Francisco was never equaled.

During the Civil War, shipbuilding efforts in Mystic peaked. Mystic produced the greatest tonnage of ships than any other port of her size in the U.S. However, after the war, ship building in Mystic dwindled, and the boatyards were replaced with woolen mills. Other factories local to Mystic produced velvet, soap, and razors.

In 1929, a group of men interested in preserving the maritime past of the region founded the Marine Historical Association. This non-profit historical association has grown into Mystic Seaport, the nation's largest maritime museum. Thousands of visitors arrive at the gates of Mystic Seaport each year, eager to learn more about the long history of America and the sea. Among the throngs of visitors to the museum include a small group of college students who have chosen to spend a semester of their college education at Mystic Seaport to study the sea with the Williams-Mystic Program.