Page 36 - Cultural Studies A Practical Introduction

20 Place, Space, and Geography

through gambling enterprises. Mystic ’ s meaning changed from “ site of
white settler military triumph that should be celebrated and memorialized ”
to “ site of a morally dubious event that harmed a local population whose
feelings should be taken into account – even if belatedly. ”
What constitutes “ Mystic ” has also changed with time. Originally, it was
a post road settlement at the top of the river, about two miles from the
mouth of the river where the current “ Mystic ” stands. But it was easier to
cross the river closer to the river mouth, at Mystic Crossing. So eventually
that spot became Mystic, and the former Mystic became Old Mystic. Later,

in the 1960s, a developer built a false village filled with shops near the new
superhighway called Olde Mysticke Village . And for many years that was
“ Mystic ” to many tourists, who did not realize there was a real town a mile
away on which this false one was based. It was not in the developer ’ s inter-
est to tell them. Similarly, Old Salem, in North Carolina, constructed an
old - seeming village for tourists with all of the physical objects of the old
village but removed from the context of the actual village.
Mystic thrived economically in the nineteenth century, and one of the
most noticeable remaining elements of that built environment are the
“ captains ’ houses ” that line the river. They belonged to successful merchant
and whaling ship captains who were part of the triangular trade between
the West Indies, Europe, and the US across the Atlantic. Proximity to water
paid off, and the houses reflect a high degree of wealth in their use of land

and in such stylistic elements as non - functional, neoclassical columns.
Most, however, while ostentatious in size, embody the virtue of simplicity
that this Protestant culture favored over more ornate and decorative styles.
Further away from the river, one can see houses built later in the nineteenth
century that are more decorative and that include such things as Queen
Anne ’ s lace moldings on the porches and under the eaves. By the turn of
the twentieth century, the older Protestant culture was waning, and people
became less retrained in their expression of their wealth. It became less of
a moral fault to be ostentatious or interested in beauty for beauty ’ s sake.

It is difficult now to imagine that Mystic was ever poor, but halfway
through the twentieth century, the captains ’ houses fell into disrepair. The
sea - based economy had become a memory, and the mills that took its place
lapsed when it became cheaper to do the work elsewhere. Working people
took the place of the captains in the large old houses that were now rented.
All of that began to change in the 1950s, when the national highway system
was built. Some local merchants arranged for the highway to curve down
toward Mystic so that one could see the town from the road. This costly
diversion allowed the town to revive, helped by a “ seaport ” museum that