Family Crabbing with Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
Family Crabbing with Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center invites families to spend Sunday afternoon along the Mystic River learning how to find, identify and catch some of the crustaceans living beneath the water.
The two-hour program takes place Sunday, August 23, from noon to 2 p.m. Rather than meeting at DPNC’s main Nature Center, participants gather at the Peace Sanctuary entrance at 233 River Road in Mystic before heading to DPNC’s crabbing location.
Nature Center educators begin with an introduction to basic crabbing techniques and crab identification. Then the equipment comes out.
DPNC supplies the nets, bait and lines, and families put what they’ve learned to work along the Mystic River.
Learning What’s Beneath the Mystic River
Crabbing is one of those shoreline activities that can look deceptively simple: bait on a line, lower it into the water and wait.
But Sunday’s program turns that familiar summer pastime into a hands-on nature lesson.
Participants will learn the basics of safely catching crabs and how to examine identifying characteristics that distinguish one kind from another.
That’s consistent with DPNC’s larger approach to environmental education. Instead of teaching nature exclusively inside a classroom, its educators regularly take families into the forests, wetlands, meadows and waterways of southeastern Connecticut to encounter wildlife in its actual habitat.
Here, the Mystic River becomes the classroom.
What Might You Find?
The Mystic River is a tidal estuary, where salt water moving inland from Fishers Island Sound mixes with freshwater entering the watershed.
That creates habitat for a wide range of marine and estuarine life.
The exact catch on Sunday can’t be predicted, of course. That’s part of the fun. Participants will use what they’ve learned during the identification lesson to figure out what’s actually coming up in their nets.
DPNC’s program is focused on observation and education rather than guaranteeing any particular species or catch.
One lowered line may produce nothing.
The next might suddenly start moving.
The Peace Sanctuary Has Quite a Story of Its Own
The meeting location deserves some attention, because the Peace Sanctuary is one of DPNC’s lesser-known properties and has an extraordinary history.
The approximately 30-acre preserve rises above the Mystic River across from Coogan Farm. A roughly mile-long trail winds through woodland containing mature oaks, American beech and tulip trees before reaching high ledges with sweeping views across the river.
More than 150 years ago, much of the hillside was open pasture surrounding a grove of oak trees known as Fish’s Grove.
It eventually became something considerably more unusual.
The Universal Peace Union, which grew out of opposition to the Civil War, began holding outdoor peace gatherings there. The property became known as the Peace Grove, complete with a large open pavilion called the Peace Temple.
Speakers at the gatherings advocated nonviolence and took positions on some of the major social questions of the 19th century, including women’s suffrage, racial prejudice, lynching and the Ku Klux Klan.
The meetings became enormous.
At their height, DPNC’s historical records indicate that nearly 10,000 people could arrive for the annual gatherings, along with hundreds of teams of horses.
From Peace Meetings to Camp Mystic
The property’s next chapter came in 1914 when naturalist and explorer Mary L. Jobe purchased the Peace Grove and transformed it into a summer camp for girls.
Beginning in 1916, Camp Mystic welcomed dozens of girls each summer.
Campers swam and boated on the Mystic River, rode horses along River Road and explored the surrounding woods at a time when the road itself was still dirt.
Jobe later married famed naturalist, taxidermist and African explorer Carl Akeley. Following his death during an African expedition, Mary continued traveling and exploring on her own.
Camp Mystic eventually closed after the 1930 season.
Today, visitors to the Peace Sanctuary can still encounter traces of that earlier period, including old stone foundations, retaining walls and stone-lined cisterns hidden within the landscape.
Preserving the Sanctuary
Mary Jobe Akeley died in Mystic in 1966 and entrusted the River Road property as a nature preserve.
Today, the Peace Sanctuary is owned by the Mary Jobe Akeley Trust and managed by Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center, which has stewarded the property for more than three decades.
Unlike DPNC’s regular public trail system, the Peace Sanctuary is a private nature preserve with restricted access. Visits generally take place through guided DPNC programs or by special arrangement.
That makes Family Crabbing an opportunity to experience a corner of Mystic that many people drive past without realizing what’s there.
And this time, the destination isn’t just the wooded hillside.
It’s the river below it.
Dress for the Water, Not the Sidewalk
There’s one piece of preparation DPNC emphasizes particularly strongly:
Your feet are going to be near wet, slippery rocks. Dress accordingly.
Participants should wear shoes that can get wet while still providing good traction.
Flip-flops and Crocs are specifically prohibited.
A pair of secure water shoes or other footwear suitable for wet and uneven surfaces is the better choice.
DPNC provides the crabbing equipment, including bait, nets and lines, so families don’t need to arrive with their own collection of gear.
Advance registration, however, is required.
A Different Kind of Sunday on the River
Family Crabbing fits nicely into what DPNC does particularly well.
Children aren’t simply being told that tidal rivers contain complex ecosystems. They’re crouching beside the Mystic River with a line in their hands, watching the water and waiting to see what’s interested in the bait.
When something finally appears, the next question isn’t just, “Did we catch one?”
It’s “What did we catch?”
And that’s where a simple afternoon of crabbing quietly becomes a science lesson.
Event Details
Event: Family Crabbing
Date: Sunday, August 23, 2026
Time: Noon–2 p.m.
Organizer: Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
Meeting Location: Peace Sanctuary Entrance
Address: 233 River Road, Mystic, CT 06355
Members: $17
Non-Members: $20
Registration: Advance registration required
Equipment: Nets, bait and crabbing lines provided
Footwear: Shoes that can get wet and provide traction are required; no flip-flops or Crocs
Participants will receive an introduction to crabbing techniques and crab identification before heading to the Mystic River to put their new skills to work.
More information is available at the Event Website link below.
To register, click the Event Ticketing link below.
Featured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people, location, or activities shown.
