NEW BEDFORD WHALING NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

MASSACHUSETTS

Long before we siphoned oil from the earth and electricity pulsed through our lives, whale oil illuminated the homes and streets of America. Whale spermaceti was so pure that it lubricated machines of the new industrial age, and baleen-or whalebone-gave shape to the latest fashions.

To deliver these products to the world, an entire industry arose. This industry amassed enormous wealth, caused tens of thousands of men to leave home to risk their lives in far-flung seas, created one of the wealthiest cities in 19th century America, and left a lasting legacy.

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park commemorates the whaling industry and its impact on the social, economic and environmental history of the United States. The park encompasses 34 acres over 13 city blocks. More than 70 structures-most owned privately-are within the park's boundaries. The park also has a geographically distant partner-the Inupiat Heritage Center-located in Barrow, Alaska, which commemorates more than 2,000 Arctic whaling voyages and preserves the language and traditions of the Inupiaq people of Alaska's North Slope.

DID YOU KNOW

• Whaling was a business that employed large numbers of American Indians and African Americans. The Quaker traditions of the city's founders helped to turn the port into a hotbed of abolitionism and a refuge for hundreds of fugitive slaves.
• In pursuit of whales, New Bedford's fleet traveled the world's oceans. Men from foreign ports were frequently signed on as crew, particularly from the Atlantic islands of the Azores and Cape Verde. Many settled in New Bedford and by the mid 19th century New Bedford was one of the most ethnically diverse places in all of America.
• In 1841, a young Herman Melville shipped out of the port of New Bedford aboard the whaleship Acushnet. He would later write his epic whaling novel, Moby-Dick. During his stay in New Bedford, he is believed to have visited the Seamen's Bethel, located in what is now the historical park. Melville describes it in Chapter 7 of Moby-Dick.
• In 1838, a young man named Frederick Johnson arrived in New Bedford with his wife Anna and found refuge at the home of African-American abolitionists Nathan and Polly Johnson. Because there were so many Johnson families of color in the city, Frederick wrote, "I gave Mr. Johnson the privilege of choosing my name." From then on he was known as Frederick Douglass, one of the most powerful and persuasive advocates of equal rights in 19th-century America.
• New Bedford has held on to its cultural traditions and hosts a variety of celebrations and events, including the largest Portuguese festival in the United States. Commercial fishing is now the city's principal industry, with New Bedford ranking as the nation's number one port in terms of value of catch. If you order sea scallops at a restaurant or buy them at the market, chances are they came from New Bedford.

DON'T MISS ATTRACTIONS

• The Park Visitor Center, located in a whaling-era bank building, has orientation exhibits and a dedicated crew of Volunteers in Parks. The park's "VIPs" provide information year-round and seasonally lead walking tours. Self-guiding brochures highlight New Bedford's whaling and Underground Railroad heritage.
• The New Bedford Whaling Museum holds the world's largest American whaling and maritime history collection. Highlights include an 89-foot, half-scale replica of a whaling bark, as well as whaling implements, scrimshaw, photographs, logbooks and paintings. The museum hosts the park's orientation movie-The City That Lit the World. It is shown daily, free of charge, in the museum's theater.
• The Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum is a grand whaling-era mansion set on a city block of urban gardens. Furnished period rooms chronicle the city's history through the lives of the three families who lived in the home over a span of 150 years.
• The Seamen's Bethel, with its marble memorials to whalemen and fishermen lost at sea, continues to serve the community through religious services, with a focus on the port's maritime community. In the warmer months, the New Bedford Port Society opens the Bethel to visitors.
• Schooner Ernestina, owned and operated by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, sails today with an educational mission. Originally grayed as Effie Morrissey, the schooner has been used for fishing, Arctic exploration, and a packet carrying immigrants from Cape Verde to the United States.
• The City of New Bedford's Waterfront Visitor Center was once the site of the port's commercial fish and scallop auction. Today, the auction takes place on-line, but visitors will be able to learn more about the fishing industry through a new exhibit being developed by the National Park Service in collaboration with the city, scheduled to open at the end of May 2004.
• New Bedford features a lively and growing arts and art gallery scene. Every second Thursday of the month, artists' galleries, shops and cultural institutions open their doors free of charge from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. for an evening called AHA! (Art, History, Architecture)-downtown's arts and culture night.

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE PRIORITIES

Established in 1996, New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park is still relatively new. Facilities, operations and staffing levels are still in development. While the park may be new, many of the institutions which are partners to the National Park Service-the state and municipal government, non-profit institutions and community organizations-are more than a century old. Six full-time National Park Service staff, assisted by 70 volunteers, work collaboratively with these partners to help protect the park's resources and interpret its history.

• The park has partnered with the city to produce more than 40 interpretive waysides and orientation maps throughout the downtown and along the waterfront. "The Nautical Mile" walking route is currently being installed and will be ready for visitors to discover by mid-summer 2004.
• In 1997, a devastating fire ripped through the Corson Building, located next to the Park Visitor Center. Saved and stabilized by the Waterfront Historic Area League (WHALE), a nonprofit preservation organization, the Corson Building will be donated to the National Park Service to serve as the park's education and public program center.

Click a photo to view larger version.

LINKS:

New Bedford Whaling
National Historical Park»

Partnering & Managing for Excellence Report»

Previously Featured Parks»