By Melody Moser

Wedged halfway between Boston and New York City, a clutch of centuries-old settlements hugs Connecticut’s southeastern shore. Settled in the 1600s by Europeans who turned to the sea for their livelihood, these communities became prosperous centers of shipbuilding, whaling, and fishing.

Today, although the great ships are gone, scrapped, or lost forever at the bottom of the sea, these towns offer visitors an opportunity to learn more about America’s important maritime history.

A good home base for your stay is Mystic, the town made famous by the 1988 movie “Mystic Pizza“, which launched Julia Roberts’s career. Check into the cozy waterfront Steamboat Inn, where you can watch tugboats float past your window, or opt for a secluded stay at the Inn at Mystic, a regal Colonial Revival mansion where Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall spent their honeymoon.

Stroll along Mystic’s Main Street, lined by shops and eateries with whimsical names like “Whyevernot” and “Salty Dog Barber & Shave.” Then cross historic Mystic Drawbridge, still raised every hour for passing boats. But if it’s a historic nautical experience you want, save the bulk of your day for Mystic Seaport: the Museum of America and the Sea.

The Seaport, a 17-acre living history maritime complex, connects visitors to the area’s maritime past. Here, in a re-created 19th-century seafaring village, you can watch living history actors demonstrate their craft. A blacksmith creates harpoons from molten metal. Chanteymen sing songs of the sea and shore. You can even clamber aboard the last surviving wooden whaleship in America – the Charles W. Morgan.

Bult in 1841, the Morgan charted thirty-seven voyages to whaling waters as far as the South Seas and the Arctic. In the summer of 2014, Mystic Seaport Museum took the last remaining wooden whaleship in the world back to sea on her 38th Voyage to New England ports of-call, raising awareness of America’s maritime heritage. Visitors can still see her, as well as many of the other historic ships on the Seaport’s waterfront.

For those who like to shop, browsing in the Museum Store is like sifting through a treasure chest. The store, filled with seafaring items, stocks a fabulous collection of books on seaworthy subjects from cooking to figureheads to maritime fiction.

If you can tear yourself away from the Seaport, check out life beneath the sea at Mystic Aquarium, home to endearing African penguins, jellies, Beluga whales, and interesting changing exhibits. During my visit, for example, the Aquarium had a poignant exhibit in which renowned oceanographer Dr. Rogert Ballard, and Tim Delaney, former Walt Disney Imagineer, brought the story of the Titanic, and her recovery, to life.

Nearby in the town of Groton, you can see another type of life “beneath” the sea: the Submarine Force Museum. Once there venture outside to board the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered sub.

Finally, head to Stonington, a former Yankee whaling stronghold. Pay a visit to quiet DuBois beach, where the townspeople defended themselves against the British in the Battle of Stonington. Across the street, the 1840 Stonington Harbor Light at the Old Lighthouse Museum saved the day for many a vessel approaching Stonington’s harbor from Long Island Sound.

In this fairytale-like hamlet, the salty scent of sea air drifts along narrow, tree-lined streets, which are fronted by antique shops and well-preserved Colonial, Georgian and Federal-style homes. Once the abodes of sea captains, these homes, like these communities, have withstood the test of time, and they’ve become enduring landmarks in the story of America’s maritime past.

This article originally appeared in the February/March, 2013 issue of 008 Magazine.