Mystic Bridge Historic District


The Mystic Bridge Historic District is a historic district in the village of Mystic, Connecticut on the Stonington side of the Mystic River. It includes the Mystic Seaport Museum, whose grounds and floating vessels represent the area's history, and the 1924 Mystic River Bascule Bridge. The district is significant as a well-preserved shipbuilding and maritime village of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

History

Mystic developed in the early 19th century as a small seaport and shipbuilding center, businesses that were mostly located on the eastern shore of the Mystic River. The village is divided between the towns of Stonington and Groton, Connecticut. The Greenman family operated one of the village's largest shipyards, which now serves as the grounds of the Mystic Seaport Museum and still has some of the buildings used for that original purpose. The village declined in the late 19th century, as wooden ships gave way to those built of iron and steel.