My friend Nancy and I wanted to have a “girls day out” toward the end of the summer. Nancy is a college professor and mother of 2 energetic youngsters. Once the semester starts between demands of her work and her family, adult girl time is hard to find. Originally we planed to head to Chatham since I’d been going on and on about the seals since my earlier visit this year but this was the one time all summer that the weather didn’t cooperate. Gray and overcast, the day progressed into showers and a cold , raw wind. Not the kind of day to be out on the water for fun.
Nancy had the idea to go to the New Bedford Whaling museum. I hadn’t been there yet and she said she hadn’t been there in years, so it was decided . I picked Nancy up and off we headed.
I’d heard about the New Bedford Whaling museum for years. What I didn’t realize was that the museum is just part of the larger New Bedford National Historical Park. The park commemorates the history and contributions of the American Whaling industry. The park preserves landscapes and historical buildings as well as the museum.
I wasn’t expecting to enjoy the visit too much because I am strongly against whaling but I realize that it was part of our heritage from a time when we just didn’t know any better. I guess that’s probably why I had never gone to the area before this. I just figured it would be a nice afternoon with my friend. I was in for a real surprise. Just goes to show, we need to keep an open mind!
We started at the visitor center which is a lovely old building, in fact it is located in the “Old Bank Building”. I believe the actual address is 33 Williams St, New Bedford, Ma. This is where I bought my first “Passport to your National Parks” book. Of course, not understanding what it was about, I didn’t get it stamped while I was there! Now I have to go back to collect that stamp.
Anyway, The Visitor Center was quite an eye opener for someone who had such a “negative” outlook on Whaling. I heard the phrase “The City That Lit The World” for the first time here. I never realized that New Bedford was the richest and most prominent city in the world in the mid- 19th century, all due to the whaling industry.
After the visitor center, we moved out into the rain to walk down cobblestone sidewalks. Easy to think we were following in the steps of the likes of Herman Melville (Moby Dick) and Frederick Douglass.
It was approaching lunch time so we picked a pub style restaurant called the Catwalk. It was very quiet, probably because it was during the day and raining. I’m willing to bet it gets quite busy in the evening. We ordered salads and appetizers like steak tips, mussels, chowder and fries and everything was excellent. The staff were very attentive and personable, maybe because it was slow, bit I prefer to think it was just their way of doing business. Thumbs up! I would go back here.
After lunch we headed to the Whaling museum. Did you know that the first whaling vessel launched from New Bedford was the “Dartmouth”? It launched in 1767 and was one of the ships that was later involved in the Boston Tea Party.
Inside the museum in the atrium were huge skeletons of whales suspended from the ceiling giving one a sense of the size of these massive animals.
The museum consists of paintings, artifacts and models of the whaling ships, diaries and manifests. For the first time I learned that a river port in New York on the Hudson River, Poughkeepsie, was the sister port to New Bedford! I grew up in new York and had no idea that whaling ever had any part in the history of the state!
It was a great visit and the museum was so much more than I expected.
New Bedford still has one of America’s largest commercial fishing fleets and celebrates this old profession with the annual “Blessing of the Fleet” and a “Working Waterfront Festival”. In recent years the fleet has taken a huge hit with increased federal regulation put in place due to dwindling resources and environmental regulation. It’s a tough issue. And one that I am very torn up over. We need to conserve our natural resources. The decimation of the whale population is the perfect example of the need to prevent over fishing but at the same time these hardworking fishermen need to be able to earn a living without being strangled by red tape and regulation and the fish catch is needed to help feed the exploding population of the world.
When I was growing up, we were being taught that the sea’s bounty was in -exhaustible and that if the world was going to avoid famine, we would have to learn to exploit these resources. It’s amazing how wrong we were and how short a time it took to find this out. Less than 1 lifetime!
If anyone is interested in visiting the museum, here’s some helpful information.
New Bedford Whaling Museum:
18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA, 02740
Hours (June - December):
Daily 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Until 9 p.m. every second Thursday of the month
Winter Hours (January - May):
Monday - Saturday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Sunday noon - 4 p.m.
Until 9 p.m. every second Thursday of the month
Admission:
Museum members and children under 6 free
Group rates by appointment
Adults $10
Senior citizens and students $9
Children ages 6–14 $6
2 comments:
I never knew there was a whaling museum in Ma. But then I didn't know they ever had such a thing either. It sounded very interesting. I didn't know that NY had anything to do with whaling either. See your never to old to learn.
It was very interesting. I would have liked to explore the waterfront more but it was a nasty day. Although it wasn't raining hard it had one of those raw winds. Maybe I can get down there for one of the festivals next summer.
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