There are so many things to see on this ride that you just may have to come back and do it again. Start from the south (second) parking lot of Mystic Seaport Museum, just across from its entrance. Mount up and turn left onto Main Street. Turn immediately right on Isham Street. Ride the brief block to the Mystic River and turn left onto Bay Street. When Bay forms a T with Holmes Street, turn right. At the stop sign, turn left on East Main Street, then turn right at the Civil War Memorial onto Route 1. Note: If traffic is backed up in the right lane on Holmes waiting for the drawbridge over on the right, go around the traffic to East Main.

Stonington is 4 miles away. In about 3 miles, St. Mary's Cemetery will be on your right. Make a loop through it and turn right, back onto Route 1. Then turn right again on Route 1A (Water Street) toward Stonington Village.

Turn left on Trumbull Avenue. You will soon come to a stop sign at the foot of the only bridge over the railroad tracks; turn right to go over the bridge, then turn left onto Water Street, and begin the ride down to Stonington Point. The whole town is rich with eighteenth century buildings, so you'll probably want to explore it thoroughly. Just before the end of Water Street, the Old Stone Lighthouse Museum is on the left. Don't pass it by! Inside you will see, among many other things, what actually caused "the rocket's red glare" in our national anthem. The museum is open May through October, Wednesday through Sunday afternoons from 1:00 to 4:00. Here you are at the halfway point of the ride.

Proceed back up Water Street until you spot the sign that directs all traffic to the right around a tiny park. Turn right and then left onto Main Street. Notice the Old Custom House and the Portuguese Holy Ghost Society, a reminder of the Portuguese fishermen who settled in Stonington and still ply their dangerous calling from her docks. In these days of automated food factories and huge floating factory "fishing" ships, it's good to discover that men still go down to the sea in small boats to bring us fish and clams and oysters. Turn left on Broad Street and then right on Water Street to go back over the bridge. On the other side of the bridge, take an immediate left onto Trumbull and then a right onto North Main Street, which quickly becomes a country road. Then 2-1/2 miles after your turn onto North Main Street, you'll come to a T intersection with Pequot Trail; turn left. After you see the "Road Church" on your left and just before the road goes over the turnpike, turn left onto Flanders Road (it may not be marked). In 3/10 mile, turn right onto Pelligrino Road and go uphill. Continue on Pelligrino when Montauk Avenue comes in from the left. After the stop sign, just past Deans Mill Road, continue straight. Pelligrino Road becomes Jerry Browne Road at the point where Mistuxet comes in from the left. Continue on Jerry Browne Road uphill and down. Turn left onto Coogan Boulevard just before going under the turnpike. Coogan goes past the Mystic Marinelife Aquarium and the Old Mystic Village Shopping Center. Coogan makes a T at Route 27 at a busy intersection in a snarl of motels and gas stations. Turn left and head back to Mystic Seaport.

See also  Connecticut Shore

TAKEN FROM

Short Bike Rides in Connecticut (Fifth Edition), written by Edwin Mullen and Jane Griffith

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