Rattlesnake Guy and I took a fieldtrip yesterday to
Mystic Seaport, the Museum of America and the Sea in Mystic, Connecticut.
The 1969 copy of Farewell Old Mount Washington makes mention of the starboard lunette from the Mt. Washington being on display at Mystic Seaport.
R. Guy was preparing me for disappointment. Given how many years it has been since the publication, it wasn’t likely that it was still there.
The museum was exceptional and very large. It is very similar to Sturbridge Village, but of a seafaring town.
Upon getting the map, I gave up my quest and decided to just enjoy the tour. Finding the lunette would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Walking around a corner, there was a building with figureheads on display. We went in, I turned to the right and there it was.
I was very excited to have found this piece of historic memorabilia it and to have recognized it so easily.
The carving is of a mountain sunrise over Mount Washington. (The namesake of the ship.)
This adorned the starboard Paddlewheel box on Mt. Washington excursion steamboat on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Called a lunette, this fan-shaped panel was the center of one of the two huge boxes that covered the steamboat’s paddle wheels.
The half-round paddle boxes protected the wheels from damage and shielded passengers from the turning wheels and from the water thrown up by their blades. The base of the carving is approximately 8 feet wide.
Full sized photo
This elaborately carved lunette adorned the Mt. Washington’s Port paddlewheel box.
It represents sunset over Mount Washington. (Notice the waves.)
I was also on the lookout for Nellie, the first propeller driven boat on Lake Winnipesaukee.
Happily, she is still at the museum. What a beauty.
I still need to organize the photos and put together a post. (I took quite a few.
)