The Wells Boat Hall
Rendering courtesy of Mystic Seaport
By Joe Wojtas Read on the Day website
Night City Editor • j.wojtas@theday.com
Mystic ― Mystic Seaport Museum has announced details of its $15 million plan to turn a section of the historic Rossie Mill now used for storage into an exhibit hall that will display more than 100 small boats to the public.
The Wells Boat Hall will allow visitors to see for the first time a larger portion of the more than 500 small boats that are part of the museum’s collection but not on display.
The museum said the boat hall will capture the progression of American nautical innovation and showcase the unique social history of each vessel.
“We are delighted to bring the American Watercraft Collection out of storage and into the public eye for our visitors and supporters,” says Peter Armstrong, the museum’s president and CEO. “This renovation not only increases the size of our accessible campus but also allows us to unravel the stories that lie within these amazing vessels.”
The museum said its collection of small boats is estimated to be the largest and the most diverse small craft and engine collection in the world.
Among the boats that will be on display will be the first vessel acquired by the museum, Annie, a 1931 sandbagger; the Analuisa, a fishing boat used by Cuban refugees to reach Florida in 1994, and Tango, the first boat pedaled across the Atlantic. The boats will span 182 years from an indigenous dugout canoe to a modern Mini Transat racer.
The 35,000-square-foot warehouse in the mill will be renovated to include a handicapped-accessible visitor entrance with a columned canopy, a new roof designed to reflect New England mill towers, and the exhibition space. The boat hall will also serve as space for lectures and presentations, as well as educational programs. Another section of the mill is used as the museum’s Collections Research Center.
The museum also announced that it has appointed Pieter Nicholson Roos, the former director of the Mark Twain House and Museum, as the exhibition curator.
“With the launch of the Wells Boat Hall, we will allow visitors to embark on a journey through time, finding their own connections to the array of stories on view and ensuring that these historic boats are preserved and remain in our contemporary consciousness,” Roos said.
The boat hall is named after residents and longtime Museum Trustee Stan Wells and his wife, Nancy Wells. It is scheduled to open in the fall of 2025.