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“I’ve got some people here painting the other side of the house,” my Airbnb host messaged me for a road trip to New Bedford, Massachusetts. “The guys are really great/talented artists, lots of good vibes.”
Indeed, when Aaren, my travel partner, and I turned down County Street to find our home for two nights – a one bedroom apartment in an 1855 Victorian that was once apparently rented by Herman Melville’s sister – three painters were diligently updating the exterior of the house with cream, orange, blue and warm gray colors.
Today, the entire city, about 60 miles from Boston, appears to be getting a fresh coat of paint. Signs of rejuvenation are everywhere, from a park honoring abolitionists to new murals on old buildings.
Once the world’s richest city per capita and a powerhouse in whaling and textile production, New Bedford fell into disrepair in the mid and late 20th century, with a high crime rate, high unemployment, urban scourge and bad jokes (“New Bedford: The Armpit or Cape Cod, perhaps the nation”). If they stopped at all, many travelers would stay alone for a meal or a visit to the New Bedford Whale Museumbefore continuing by ferry to Martha’s Vineyard or driving Interstate 195 to Cape Cod.
Yes, New Bedford continues to draw heavily on its maritime past: we haven’t just stayed in the charming whale house and visit the Whale Museum, we also ate at the Whaler’s Tavern and toured a restored mansion built on money from whaling† But there is also attention for the present. Old textile factories are being redesigned, new restaurants are thriving, and exhibitions and parks are expanding to better tell the city’s long history of promoting equality. Museums, artist studios in the city center and performance spaces speak with investments in the creative class† As for the future, the first train service from Boston since the late 1950s is expected to start next year. (The planned route is not without complaints†
Thanks to healthcare and commercial fishing and other maritime industries, New Bedford a working city† It doesn’t depend on tourism, but everywhere we went we met proud, invested residents – from the volunteer teacher at the Whale Museum to the curator of New Bedford Free Public Library to the waitstaff in restaurants.
“There’s no pretense of Cape Cod in town because we’re not really Cape Cod. We’re the south coast,” says Allie Copeland, the curator, adding that New Bedford “has a really cool vibe now†
A creative economy
Our first evening, after a stop at the ? Quahog Republic Whaler’s Tavern for a golden beer and a Mai Tai, Aaren and I met Bev Ehrich and Carl Freedman eating outside on one of the cobbled streets of the city. The couple had recently moved from Providence, RI, to the nearby village of Little Compton. They had driven in with another couple to eat? Union Flats, a seafood restaurant that opened this winter. The four friends raved about the monkfish and mackerel (later we inhaled seared scallops, fresh and cooked to perfection), as well as the city’s jazz and other cultural attractions.
“The only reason we came here when we lived in Providence was to take the ferry,” says Ms. Ehrich, 69, a retired college administrator. “Now we come for fantastic restaurants, museums and music.”
In 2017, Margo Saulnier began her role as a creative strategist for the town of New Bedfordcharged with the implementation of a art and culture program† Since then, the city and partners have used grants and other funds to host free events, recruit local artists, and help create public murals and more.
“The more we invest in our creative economy and our local talent in arts and culture, the better it is for everyone,” said Ms. Saulnier. “And that includes people who live here and people who come here.”
For the people who visit, New Bedford can be relatively cheap. The art collection of the New Bedford Free Public Library showcases work by contemporary artists such as Adrian R. Tió, as well as old favorites of Ralph Fasanella, Albert Bierstadt, and John James Audubon. In the Cape Verdean restaurant from Izzya huge breakfast that can’t be eaten fast enough with cachupa rafugado, scrambled eggs, and linguiça costs $13. Pass “See NB in Three”$18 for adults, gives access to the New Bedford Fishing Heritage Centre† New Bedford Art Museum and the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum — whose rose beds are worth the fee alone.
A complex past
The collapse of the whale population in the late 1800s came when huge textile factories were built, changing the cityscape. But as manufacturing grew in importance in the South and abroad in the mid-20th century, these factories closed and New Bedford languished. The situation worsened in the 1990s after the local fishery collapsed.
“For 50 or 60 years nothing has happened because the textile mills have been closed,” said Mr Freedman, 71 and a lawyer, at Union Flats, speaking of New Bedford and other old mill towns in New England† “Those energy-hungry industries will never fill these large buildings again. And that is why reinventing these buildings is the future.”
I spent the next morning walking around a redesigned mill in the South End neighborhood of the city. Kilburn Millbuilt in 1903 and expanded in 1910, is a three-building complex that is now home to shops, gyms, music performances and the bright, plant-filled Dough Company restaurant, which sells a delicious “Green Giant” egg sandwich ($8) – one with greens, pickled onions, and goat cheese.
Breakfast fed us as we visited the downtown museums and strolled the streets. In one block alone I discovered a toy store, a used record store and a witch’s store calledHoly Folkloric† The highlight of the day was the Whaling Museum (adults, $18), dedicated to the relentless industry that transformed New Bedford and the world. Through a rich collection – whale skeletons hanging from the ceilings, an explorable replica of a whaler, art collections and more – we learned not only the history of whaling, but also the biology and behavior of the creatures, the threats they face. and conservation efforts.
The museum also looks at the people who power the industry, starting with local Native Americans and the sailors who came from all over the world, including Cape Verde, the Azores, and mainland Portugal, and settled here. (Through culinary and other cultural influences, their presence remains strongly felt.)
An extensive exhibition in the museum and nearby park is devoted to Captain Paul Cufféa Quaker who was born locally in 1759 to a Native American mother and African father. At a time when many Africans and African Americans were in servitude, Cuffe ran blockades during the Revolutionary War and later became a wealthy shipowner and captain, using his influence to petition the state for the right to vote for landowners and to establish one of the country’s first integrated schools.
Throughout the city we learned about: New Bedford’s Ties to Quakerismwhich helped the city become a stronghold for abolitionism, a station on the Underground Railroad, and the establishment of a recruitment agency for one of the first African American regiments in the Civil War.
This fall the New Bedford Historical Societyalong with the city, plans to unveil a park dedicated to the area’s abolitionist movement. Abolition Row Parkbuilt on an unoccupied corner lot, it will contain a statue of Frederick Douglass, a gazebo and communal garden space.
“What we’ve been conscious of – and what we’re funding – are the certain stories that haven’t been told, or haven’t been told to the masses,” Ms Saulnier said. “There is a renewed sense of celebrating that past†
On the Harbor Walk
Our last night, we cycled south to the Harbor walk, a walking and cycling path on the hurricane barrier protecting New Bedford Harbor. the massive sea wallBuilt in the 1960s, it rises 6 meters above the Acushnet River and offers views of lighthouses, ships and passing ferries. Located just beyond a set of its massive barrier gates Cisco Brewers Kitchen & Bar, a 3.5-acre outdoor space with restaurant and bar that opened last June, welcomes dogs, children and beer lovers with picnic tables, live music and a dock for guests to enter the water. Aaren ordered food to share and two fuzzy IPAs, and we sat down to enjoy the scene.
Further south is the city East Beach and Fort Taber Parka green space of 50 hectares and military museum, but those would have to wait for a return visit. We ate our fried mussels, listened to one last song, and got back on our bikes in the cool ocean breeze.
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