Mystic, Connecticut

Mystic is a village and census-designated place in New London County, Connecticut, in the United States. The population was 4,205 at the 2010 census. A historic locality, Mystic has no independent government because it is not a legally recognized municipality in the state of Connecticut. Rather, Mystic is located within the towns of Groton (west of the Mystic River, and also known as West Mystic) and Stonington (east of the Mystic River).

Historically a leading seaport of the area, the story of Mystic's nautical connection is told at Mystic Seaport, the nation's largest maritime museum, which has preserved a number of sailing ships (most notably the whaleship Charles W. Morgan) and seaport buildings. The village is located on the Mystic River, which flows into Long Island Sound, providing access to the sea. The Mystic River Bascule Bridge crosses the river in the center of the village.Before the 17th century, the Pequot people had established an empire across southeastern Connecticut. For many years, historians believed that they migrated in the 16th century from eastern New York. Archaeological evidence showing the presence of a people who lived in an area called Gungywump, somewhat northwest of the Mystic River, now suggests that the Pequot were indigenous to southeastern Connecticut.

The Pequot built their first village overlooking the western bank of the Mystic River, called Siccanemos, in the year 1665. By that time, the Pequot were in control of a considerable amount of territory, extending toward the Pawcatuck River to the east and the Connecticut River to the west, providing them with full access to the waters. They also had supremacy over some of the most strategically located terrain. To the northwest, the Five Nations of the Iroquois dominated the land linked by the Great Lakes and the Hudson River, allowing for trading to occur between the Iroquois Nations and the Dutch. The Pequot were settled just distant enough to be secure from any danger that the Iroquois posed.


As the Europeans came closer in contact with the natives, along the coast of Cape Cod to Nova Scotia, they brought along with them diseases, such as smallpox, plague, measles and other illnesses that depopulated entire villages, killing between 55 to 95 percent of coastal people.The Narragansett tribe, who lived a considerable distance from the coast, were able to develop some resistance to European diseases, or the diseases evolved lower virulence as they were transmitted inland.

The Pequot were located between the English and the Dutch. To the east of the Pequot, the English had begun to gain bits and pieces along Massachusetts Bay during the 1620s. Relations between the Native Americans and the English remained ambiguous and rather hostile at times as Separatists from the Church of England settled on the Plymouth Plantation. Their relations, however, allowed the establishment of trade with the Plymouth colonists as far west as Narragansett Bay, if not with the Narragansett nation itself. The English eventually began to trade with the Dutch as well. Today Mystic is A major New England tourist destination, the village is home to the Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration, known for its research department, concern with marine life rehabilitation, and its popular beluga whales. The business district on either side of the bascule bridge where U.S. Route 1 crosses the Mystic River contains many restaurants. Local sailing cruises are available on the traditional sailing ship Argia. Short day tours and longer evening cruises are available on the 1908 steamer Sabino departing Mystic Seaport.