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New Bedford Historic District

Historic districts in Bristol County, MassachusettsHistoric districts on the National Register of Historic Places in MassachusettsHistory of Bristol County, MassachusettsNRHP infobox with nocatNational Historic Landmark Districts
National Historic Landmarks in MassachusettsNational Register of Historic Places in New Bedford, MassachusettsNew Bedford, MassachusettsNew Bedford Whaling National Historical ParkUse mdy dates from August 2023
North Water Street, New Bedford, MA
North Water Street, New Bedford, MA

The New Bedford Historic District is a National Historic Landmark District in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States, west of the community's waterfront. During the 19th century, when the city was the center of the American whaling industry, this was its downtown. After its decline in the early and mid-20th century, through the efforts of local activist groups the district has since been preserved and restored to appear much as it was during that period. Most of its buildings were erected between 1790 and 1855 by Russell Warren and other builders working in the Federal and Greek Revival architectural styles. Many of them reflect the legacy of whaling in the city's development. The district was designated a National Historic Landmark (NHL) and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966. Later it was recognized as a local historic district and protected by local zoning. One building within it, the U.S. Customhouse, is the oldest such facility currently in use and has been independently recognized as an NHL. Since 1996 the district has also been a part of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article New Bedford Historic District (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

New Bedford Historic District
William Street, New Bedford

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Wikipedia: New Bedford Historic DistrictContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 41.635277777778 ° E -70.924166666667 °
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Address

William Street 30;32
02740 New Bedford
Massachusetts, United States
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North Water Street, New Bedford, MA
North Water Street, New Bedford, MA
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New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). The park commemorates the heritage of the world's preeminent whaling port during the nineteenth century. Established in 1996, the park encompasses 34 acres (fourteen hectares) dispersed over thirteen city blocks. It includes a visitor center, the New Bedford National Historic Landmark District, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, the Seamen's Bethel, the schooner Ernestina, and the Rotch–Jones–Duff House and Garden Museum. The only properties owned by the NPS are the Visitor Center and the Corson Maritime Learning Center. The park is a historic district administered under a partnership between the NPS, the City of New Bedford and private building owners to preserve the historic landscapes, structures, and collections and promote research and educational programming associated with the history of whaling. The enabling legislation also established a formal affiliation with the Iñupiat Heritage Center in Utqiaġvik, Alaska, to commemorate the more than 2,000 whaling voyages from New Bedford to the Western Arctic. The city promotes visitation to the park through advertising that calls it "New England's real seaport", as opposed to Connecticut's Mystic Seaport Museum which is a collection of historic buildings and vessels moved from various other locations throughout the region. Although the Whaleman Memorial is not within the park's boundaries, it is located only two blocks beyond its western boundary at the corner of William and Pleasant Streets in front of the New Bedford Public Library.

New Bedford Whaling Museum
New Bedford Whaling Museum

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is a museum in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States that focuses on the history, science, art, and culture of the international whaling industry, and the colonial region of Old Dartmouth (now the city of New Bedford and towns of Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, and Westport) in the South Coast of Massachusetts. The museum is governed by the Old Dartmouth Historical Society (ODHS), which was established in 1903 "to create and foster an interest in the history of Old Dartmouth." Since then, the museum has expanded its scope to include programming that addresses global issues "including the consequences of natural resource exhaustion, the diversification of industry, and tolerance in a multicultural society." Its collections include over 750,000 items, including 3,000 pieces of scrimshaw and 2,500 logbooks from whaling ships, both of which are the largest collections in the world, as well as five complete whale skeletons. The museum's complex consists of several contiguous buildings housing 20 exhibit galleries and occupying an entire city block within the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, although operated independently.The museum also houses a collection of fine art, including works by major American artists who lived or worked in the New Bedford area, such as Albert Bierstadt, William Bradford, and Albert Pinkham Ryder, as well as a collection of locally produced decorative art, glassware, and furniture associated with the rise of New Bedford as a whaling port in the 19th century. The museum's Bourne Building houses the Lagoda, a half-scale model of a whaling ship that was commissioned in 1916 and is the world's largest model whaling ship.