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Tuesday 9am - 12pm Wednesday 1pm - 4pm Thursday 1pm - 4pm

Mystic River Historical Society

Name: Mystic River Historical Society
Address: 74-76 High Street, Mystic, CT, 06355, US
Telephone: +18605364779
Price range: Not applicable

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Mystic River Historical Society

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Founded in 1973 to preserve and promote the history of the Mystic area

10/21/2026

Join us Wednesday, October 28, 2026, for a talk by Matthew Reardon on Benedict Arnold’s raid on Groton and New London at 7:00pm in the parish hall of the Mystic Congregational Church.

To help commemorate the 250th anniversary of the Revolutionary War, this presentation will discuss the often-forgotten American defense of New London against the British forces led by Benedict Arnold. Matthew Reardon is a Captain and the Command Historian of the Connecticut Military Department. He is a scholar of Connecticut’s participation in the Revolutionary War and the Civil War. He has contributed numerous scholarly articles to the Journal of the American Revolution and was the executive director of the New England Civil War Museum and Research Center for more than 15 years. He is the author of the book, “The Traitor’s Homecoming—Benedict Arnold’s Raid on New London, Connecticut, September 4-13, 1781.

Refreshments will be available at 7pm. The program is free for all MRHS members, with a suggested donation of $10 for non-members. For further information email [email protected] or call 860-536-4779.

10/15/2026

This photograph shows the original Mystic Liberty Pole, erected in 1862 on West Main Street directly west of the drawbridge. It was moved to a new location at the corner of Cottrell and East Main Streets in October 1876, following a political dispute with Capt. Thomas Williams, the man who leased the land to the "flag pole committee." It was moved again to its present location and East Main and Holmes Streets in October 1886 and has stood there ever since.

10/09/2026

On October 11, 1910, Mystic's third Central Hall was destroyed by a spectacular fire. While members of the Mystic Hook & Ladder Co. (seen here) fought the blaze on West Main Street, a grain elevator near the Mystic depot was also consumed by flames. Both fires were suspected to be the work of arsonists and resulted in the loss of nearly $40,000 in property damage.

09/22/2026

The replica viking ship ISLENDINGUR (Icelander) is guided through Mystic River Railroad Bridge, September 2000. The ship was docked at Mystic Seaport as part of an intercontinental voyage to commemorate the 1,000th anniversary of Leif Erikson's voyage to North America 500 years before Columbus. Photo by Wil Langdon.

09/15/2026

It's c***r season! Here's a recipe for "Mystic C***r" that was published in "The Pewter Pantry," a historical cookbook produced by the Mystic Junior Women's Club in 1974.

09/07/2026

Happy Labor Day from the Mystic River Historical Society and the Rossie Velvet Co.! The first Labor Day celebration was held in New York in 1882 and the holiday was officially recognized by the Federal Government in 1894.

08/31/2026

Hurricane Carol brought some of the worst flooding that Mystic has ever seen on August 31, 1954. This view shows a fireman wading in water up to his knees down West Main Street. Note that the Union Baptist Church is missing its steeple. The original steeple was a casualty of The Great New England Hurricane of 1938 and wasn't rebuilt until 1969.

Photograph donated by Virgil Huntley.

08/27/2026

August's full moon is called the sturgeon moon, and it's peaking tonight! Here's the CHARLES W. MORGAN under the sturgeon moon, August 2014, photographed by Wil Langdon.

08/20/2026

From the late 1860s through 1911, tourists swarmed to Mystic every August to attend meetings at the Universal Peace Union's Peace Grove (now known as the Peace Sanctuary). The Peace Temple pictured on this postcard was built c. 1890 and could accommodate up to 1,000 people - just a fraction of the 10,000 attendees who participated in meetings at their peak popularity.

08/12/2026

During the War of 1812, Mystic earned the nickname "a cursed little hornet's nest" from the enemy for their clever pranks and acts of resistance against the British Navy. On August 12, 1814, a group of Mystic men put one of these schemes into action when they boarded a decoy ship, sailed out to the British blockade in Fishers Island Sound and lured a British barge aground at Groton Long Point. The British were met with a round of fire from a local militia hidden along the rocky coast of the point. Although the Americans had only meant to capture the British crew for ransom, one Scotsman was killed in the skirmish. He was buried with ceremony in an unmarked grave under an apple tree in the Packer Cemetery.

News clippings from "The Connecticut Gazette," August 17 & 24, 1814.

Address

74-76 High Street
Mystic, CT
06355

Opening Hours

Tuesday	9am - 12pm
Wednesday	1pm - 4pm
Thursday	1pm - 4pm

Telephone

+18605364779

Website

http://www.mystichistory.org/

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