Decoration Day at the Mystic Seaport
During this special rememberance, the Seaport’s roleplayers share stories of life and the sea to ensure that no soldier or sailor, even one from the 19th century, is ever forgotten. In the morning, visitors are invited to the Fishtown Chapel to witness the memorials laid for local Civil War soldiers.
At midday, amid the tolling of steeple bells, all are welcome inside the Greenmanville Church for a brief service complete with sermon and hymns. A color guard leads everyone to the waterfront, where wreaths are laid for the artillery and the infantry. Every participant, staff and visitor alike, is then offered a flower to strew upon the river in memory of their own lost soldiers from any century.
In the afternoon, a special presentation by the Chantey Program Staff illustrates the different roles of music on the home-front, in camp, and on the field – or sea – of battle during wartime. The day’s observances conclude in the Sailors’ Reading Room with a discussion of the long-term repercussions of war on 19th-century Mystic and its residents.