MAYFLOWER II RESTORATION
Visitors to the Mystic Seaport Museum can view the Mayflower while she is docked in the shipyard for continuing restoration during the fall of 2019. Major additions this autumn will include “Stepping the Mast” and “Hanging the Sails.”
Sea trials will begin in the spring of 2020. The Mayflower was officially launched and re-commissioned during special ceremonies at Mystic Seaport on September 7, 2019.
The Museum closes the Shipyard and Village areas to the public in January to mid-February. It reopens for visitor in late February/early March.
Plimoth Plantation began the historic work of a compete restoration of this historic vessel in 2016. The restoration project cost of $12 million includes the restoration of Mayflower II, the shallop (the ship’s boat) and a maintenance fund to ensure that the ship will continue to educate and inspire future generations.
Since 1957, an estimated 25 million people have stepped aboard Mayflower II, a full-scale reproduction of the square-rigged cargo vessel that brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620.
Students visiting this floating classroom learn the perils and methods of the 17th century maritime world, as well as importance of the voyage their own ancestors may have taken. Mayflower descendants number one in ten Americans.
The Mayflower II will sail to Plymouth Harbor and Boston in the spring of 2020 to celebrate the 400thanniversary of the original voyage in 1620.