Make magical moments in Mystic, Conn.

Snowflakes scurry down from a gunmetal gray sky and land purposefully on the bow of the Charles W. Morgan, America’s last surviving wooden whaleship. The otherworldly and achingly beautiful sight of clapboard houses and businesses can be spied beyond the ship, appearing as though photographed through moving curtains of gauze. This gathering of dwellings, strong in the face of wind and water, constitutes the heart and soul of a living and working 19th-century whaling town. Miles from the wide avenues and monument-filled squares and circles of D.C., Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Conn., is as real as the visitor’s desire to retreat quietly back in time — and as close as a few miles south of Connecticut’s portion of Interstate 95.