Our Trip To New England, August 2004

NEW BEDFORD

Among its attractions are the New Bedford Whaling Museum, which features a half-size replica of the Lagoda...

...a whaling ship from the last century, displayed with its sails fully rigged...

...and the Seamen's Bethel, which means "House of God" in Hebrew, where sailors were invited to attend services and to stay in the nearby Mariner's Home (rather than hanging out in taverns and houses of ill-repute along the water)...

...where Herman Melville heard stories of whaling from sailors as he sat and worshipped in the last pew on the first floor...

...and gathered ideas for Moby Dick. John Huston's film of the novel featured a pulpit in the shape of a ship's prow, so the church was altered to make life imitate art.

Behind this statue is the old auction house where fish prices were once set. Now it's a National Park Service information center.

The town still has many original stone streets and the buildings that once housed fugitive slaves, who were welcomed in New Bedford and assisted by many passionate local abolitionists who were outraged that slaver ships often disguised themselves as whalers to escape detection.