Mystic Seaport

The Sequoia, that motorized, mahogany-laden yacht of eight presidents, has been a prized piece of Washington memorabilia since the federal government purchased it during Prohibition to chase down rumrunners on the Chesapeake Bay. Now it might be sold again. A maritime museum in Connecticut, Mystic Seaport, has acquired an option to purchase the 80-year-old vessel, which could mean relocating it more than 350 miles north of its current berth.

She has weak knees, her front and rear ends sag, and Quentin Snediker worries about what else he may find when he digs deeper into her stout frame. Snediker is director of the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport. The weak-kneed "she," the Charles W. Morgan, is the world's last surviving wooden whaling ship, among Connecticut's most popular tourist attractions. Launched in 1841 in New Bedford, Mass., the Morgan sailed until 1921.

Colorado The Durango Cowboy Gathering is one of the oldest get-togethers of cowboy poets and musicians. This year's fest, Oct. 6 to 8, features humorist Baxter Black, plus some familiar and newfound talents performing contemporary and classic cowboy songs and poems. The motorless parade on Main Avenue is a promenade of wagons, coaches and carriages. Contact the Durango Cowboy Gathering, P.O. Box 2571, Durango, CO 81302; tel. (970) 259-2165, Internet http:// www.durango.com.

THE clouds above the docks hurried along like freight trains on their way to big towns. A teenage girl selling flowers at the Saturday farmers market in Stonington jumped up and down, trying to generate some body heat against the relentless winds. Produce sellers blew on their hands and tried to interest the few browsers in the foodstuffs that characterize the end of the season: apples, fingerling potatoes, buttercup squash, bread-and-butter pickles.

For those who would go down to the sea in ships, Mystic Seaport is the place to drop anchor. The 17-acre, 60-year-old maritime museum is home to the largest collection of historic small craft in America, a working 19th-Century shipyard and 60 waterfront buildings of that bustling era. Like books on shelves, boats dating to 1824 are stacked in the museum's huge warehouse, each with a placard telling its history and unique features.

For Bill Pinkney, a black man who sailed the world, the sea is the great equalizer, the schooner Amistad its great ambassador. Pinkney is the newly named captain of the Amistad, the under-construction reproduction of the 19th century sailing ship, whose 53 African captives revolted in 1839. Those captives eventually won their freedom in a long court battle that began in Connecticut.

THE clouds above the docks hurried along like freight trains on their way to big towns. A teenage girl selling flowers at the Saturday farmers market in Stonington jumped up and down, trying to generate some body heat against the relentless winds. Produce sellers blew on their hands and tried to interest the few browsers in the foodstuffs that characterize the end of the season: apples, fingerling potatoes, buttercup squash, bread-and-butter pickles.

She has weak knees, her front and rear ends sag, and Quentin Snediker worries about what else he may find when he digs deeper into her stout frame. Snediker is director of the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport. The weak-kneed "she," the Charles W. Morgan, is the world's last surviving wooden whaling ship, among Connecticut's most popular tourist attractions. Launched in 1841 in New Bedford, Mass., the Morgan sailed until 1921.

Ancient live oak trees uprooted in Mississippi by Hurricane Katrina are going to escape being turned into wood chips, and instead will be used to restore what is believed to be the world's last wooden whaling ship. Timber from 170 of the trees will be used to rebuild part of the frame, backbone, and stern and stem posts of the Charles W. Morgan. The ship, a national historical landmark, is set to undergo a $3.5-million overhaul at Mystic Seaport starting in the spring of 2007.

CONNECTICUT Call them Ishmael: 'Moby' marathon AT the Melville Marathon, July 31 to Aug. 1 at Mystic Seaport, volunteers will read all of "Moby-Dick," starting at noon July 31. Visitors can sign up for a short chapter or a long one. Hardy souls stay overnight aboard the Charles W. Morgan, a wooden whaling ship. Contact Mystic Seaport, P.O. Box 6000, Mystic, CT 06355; (888) 973-2767, www.mystic.org.

The Sequoia, that motorized, mahogany-laden yacht of eight presidents, has been a prized piece of Washington memorabilia since the federal government purchased it during Prohibition to chase down rumrunners on the Chesapeake Bay. Now it might be sold again. A maritime museum in Connecticut, Mystic Seaport, has acquired an option to purchase the 80-year-old vessel, which could mean relocating it more than 350 miles north of its current berth.

Colorado The Durango Cowboy Gathering is one of the oldest get-togethers of cowboy poets and musicians. This year's fest, Oct. 6 to 8, features humorist Baxter Black, plus some familiar and newfound talents performing contemporary and classic cowboy songs and poems. The motorless parade on Main Avenue is a promenade of wagons, coaches and carriages. Contact the Durango Cowboy Gathering, P.O. Box 2571, Durango, CO 81302; tel. (970) 259-2165, Internet http:// www.durango.com.

For Bill Pinkney, a black man who sailed the world, the sea is the great equalizer, the schooner Amistad its great ambassador. Pinkney is the newly named captain of the Amistad, the under-construction reproduction of the 19th century sailing ship, whose 53 African captives revolted in 1839. Those captives eventually won their freedom in a long court battle that began in Connecticut.

For those who would go down to the sea in ships, Mystic Seaport is the place to drop anchor. The 17-acre, 60-year-old maritime museum is home to the largest collection of historic small craft in America, a working 19th-Century shipyard and 60 waterfront buildings of that bustling era. Like books on shelves, boats dating to 1824 are stacked in the museum's huge warehouse, each with a placard telling its history and unique features.

About the only history most people associate with beer and potato chips is one of indigestion and regrettable overindulgence. But two museums, Mystic Seaport in Connecticut and Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, are out to show otherwise--and to make some money. Mystic, a re-creation of a 19th-Century seacoast community, recently began marketing a line of potato chips harking back to the first chips invented in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., in 1853.

The America's Cup Museum, touted as the most comprehensive collection of America's Cup memorabilia dating to the initial 1851 race, opens today on San Diego's waterfront. Constructed in the Cruise Line Terminal building at the B Street Pier, the 5,000-square-foot museum is stocked with hundreds of photos and artifacts in six exhibition areas, said Gigi Taylor, the museum's manager. The museum also features a theater where visitors can watch films on the America's Cup.