Hewson retires after 39 years at Mystic Seaport
Mystic — Thirty-nine years ago, Dana Hewson saw an employment ad in WoodenBoat magazine for a shipkeeper at Mystic Seaport.
“If I stretched it, I thought I might be qualified,” Hewson said this week in his office at the museum's shipyard.
He was hired and began cleaning, painting and helping maintain the museum’s vast boat collection, which numbers more than 500. He soon was overseeing a staff of eight and, by the late 1980s, he had become the director of the shipyard and curator of watercraft. A few years later he was named vice president for watercraft preservation and programs.
On Friday, the 69-year-old Hewson, who is universally admired by Seaport staff, retired with no plans other than to enjoy boating with his wife this summer and then volunteer somewhere, possibly at the Seaport.
“This was a really cool place to come to work every day. I was 29 when I got here and the path just opened up for me,” he said. “It’s never been a matter of doing the same thing year after year. It’s always been interesting.”
Two people now will fill Hewson’s shoes. Christopher Gasiorek of Mystic recently was named as the new vice president for watercraft preservation and programs, while Shipyard Director Quentin Snediker will take on Hewson’s role as the Clark senior curator for watercraft.
Seaport President Steve White called Hewson’s retirement “truly the end of an era at Mystic Seaport.”
“Dana Hewson has been an integral part of so much of what the museum has achieved in the last four decades. His leadership and contribution here and in the maritime heritage field nationally — and internationally — is a remarkable legacy and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude,” White said.
After getting his degree in natural resources from the University of Rhode Island and spending seven years in forestry management, Hewson came to the Seaport.
“Because I had worked in sawmills and in logging, I had an understanding of timber resources,” he said.
That background would prove very valuable to the museum over the years, as it would go on to acquire the wood needed to build the replica of the schooner Amistad, restore the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan so it could take its 38th voyage in the summer of 2014 and more recently the restoration of the Mayflower II.
He also lists the restoration of the steamship Sabino, which will take to the water again later this year, his work to restore Ernest Hemingway’s fishing boat in Cuba and the acquisition and preservation of the Roann, an eastern rigged dragger, as some of the highlights of his time at the museum.
Hewson expresses a special appreciation for the Roann, which he said was designed to catch fish no matter what the North Atlantic threw at her and someday, in the not too distant future, will be the last remaining boat of its kind, just like the Morgan.
Hewson’s duties at the museum were vast — not only managing the collection of boats and their curatorial aspects but budgeting, strategic planning and Coast Guard inspections.
“It’s like putting your hands on a lot of things but not too deeply,” he said.
Rattling off all the recent projects at the Seaport, Hewson called the museum an “organization on a roll” and as he leaves, he knows it is in good shape.
Hewson said his time at the museum has been wonderful.
“It’s been a huge part of my life and my family’s life,” he said. “When you work at a place like this, you can’t fully separate the job from your life and your home. It’s a big part of my identity.”
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