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DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20260823T120000
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SUMMARY:Family Crabbing with Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
DESCRIPTION: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. \nThe 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. \nNature Center educators begin with an introduction to basic crabbing techniques and crab identification. Then the equipment comes out. \nDPNC supplies the nets\, bait and lines\, and families put what they’ve learned to work along the Mystic River. \nLearning What’s Beneath the Mystic River\nCrabbing is one of those shoreline activities that can look deceptively simple: bait on a line\, lower it into the water and wait. \nBut Sunday’s program turns that familiar summer pastime into a hands-on nature lesson. \nParticipants will learn the basics of safely catching crabs and how to examine identifying characteristics that distinguish one kind from another. \nThat’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. \nHere\, the Mystic River becomes the classroom. \nWhat Might You Find?\nThe Mystic River is a tidal estuary\, where salt water moving inland from Fishers Island Sound mixes with freshwater entering the watershed. \nThat creates habitat for a wide range of marine and estuarine life. \nThe 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. \nDPNC’s program is focused on observation and education rather than guaranteeing any particular species or catch. \nOne lowered line may produce nothing. \nThe next might suddenly start moving. \nThe Peace Sanctuary Has Quite a Story of Its Own\nThe meeting location deserves some attention\, because the Peace Sanctuary is one of DPNC’s lesser-known properties and has an extraordinary history. \nThe 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. \nMore than 150 years ago\, much of the hillside was open pasture surrounding a grove of oak trees known as Fish’s Grove. \nIt eventually became something considerably more unusual. \nThe 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. \nSpeakers 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. \nThe meetings became enormous. \nAt 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. \nFrom Peace Meetings to Camp Mystic\nThe 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. \nBeginning in 1916\, Camp Mystic welcomed dozens of girls each summer. \nCampers 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. \nJobe 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. \nCamp Mystic eventually closed after the 1930 season. \nToday\, 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. \nPreserving the Sanctuary\nMary Jobe Akeley died in Mystic in 1966 and entrusted the River Road property as a nature preserve. \nToday\, 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. \nUnlike 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. \nThat makes Family Crabbing an opportunity to experience a corner of Mystic that many people drive past without realizing what’s there. \nAnd this time\, the destination isn’t just the wooded hillside. \nIt’s the river below it. \nDress for the Water\, Not the Sidewalk\nThere’s one piece of preparation DPNC emphasizes particularly strongly: \nYour feet are going to be near wet\, slippery rocks. Dress accordingly. \nParticipants should wear shoes that can get wet while still providing good traction. \nFlip-flops and Crocs are specifically prohibited. \nA pair of secure water shoes or other footwear suitable for wet and uneven surfaces is the better choice. \nDPNC provides the crabbing equipment\, including bait\, nets and lines\, so families don’t need to arrive with their own collection of gear. \nAdvance registration\, however\, is required. \nA Different Kind of Sunday on the River\nFamily Crabbing fits nicely into what DPNC does particularly well. \nChildren 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. \nWhen something finally appears\, the next question isn’t just\, “Did we catch one?” \nIt’s “What did we catch?” \nAnd that’s where a simple afternoon of crabbing quietly becomes a science lesson. \nEvent Details\nEvent: Family Crabbing\nDate: Sunday\, August 23\, 2026\nTime: Noon–2 p.m.\nOrganizer: Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\nMeeting Location: Peace Sanctuary Entrance\nAddress: 233 River Road\, Mystic\, CT 06355\nMembers: $17\nNon-Members: $20\nRegistration: Advance registration required\nEquipment: Nets\, bait and crabbing lines provided\nFootwear: Shoes that can get wet and provide traction are required; no flip-flops or Crocs \nParticipants will receive an introduction to crabbing techniques and crab identification before heading to the Mystic River to put their new skills to work. \nMore information is available at the Event Website link below. \nTo register\, click the Event Ticketing link below. \n  \nFeatured image is an artistic representation inspired by the event and may not depict the actual people\, location\, or activities shown.
URL:https://thectbeacon.com/event/family-crabbing-with-denison-pequotsepos-nature-center/
LOCATION:Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center\, 109 Pequotsepos Road\, Mystic\, 06355\, United States
CATEGORIES:Denison Pequotsepos Nature Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://thectbeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/Family-Crabbing-with-Denison-Pequotsepos-Nature-Center.jpg
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