Overview
The Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival was a long-running event, featuring a number of the genre’s most respected maritime-themed musicians. The festival was curated by a small number of traditionalists that were associated with the museum for many years. The event was held from 1979 through 2020, when the festival was canceled by the museum management because of the Covid-19 pandemic. (The museum has gone on to host other musical events since shuttering the Sea Music Festival.) The Port Jefferson Sea Shanty & Maritime Music Festival hired some of the traditional performers that had previously entertained at Mystic, plus several “costumed” groups. A core of the former event organizers from the museum went on to establish the very successful spiritual successor, the Connecticut Sea Music Festival.
Mystic Seaport is the nation’s leading maritime museum. Founded in 1929, the Museum is home to four National Historic Landmark vessels, including the Charles W. Morgan, the last wooden whaleship in the world. The Museum is located one mile south of Exit 90 off I-95 in Mystic, CT. Admission is $24 for adults and $15 for children ages 6-17. Museum members and children 5 and under are admitted free. small percussion.
Curated History
There were many, commemorative albums recorded of these annual events. Originally sold at the Mystic Seaport gift shop, they were discovered to be no longer available either online or at the shop sometime in 2025 or so. While a quantity of the physical recordings (in CD format) were recovered, they are not officially for sale. Efforts to make the collections available to collectors is being explored through channels other than through the museum itself. When checked in 2024, the following had been available for sale online:
20th, 24th, 25th, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, 35th, 36th, and 38th years commemorative albums.