New Bedford, known as The Whaling City, is located in Bristol County, Massachusetts along the Acushnet River at it’s mouth to Buzzards Bay. In 1652 English colonists purchased the land that would later become New Bedford from the Wampanoag, at first using it as large farm plots. the initial colonial settlement was established by Quakers in the late 17th century and the town of New Bedford was officially incorporated in 1787.

During the 19th century, New Bedford became a major whaling port and by mid 1800’s, at its peak, the home of Americn Whaling industry and the wealthiest city in North America per capita. From its Quaker roots, it also became a hub for abolitionism, attracting many freed and escaped African-American slaves, including Frederick Douglass from 1838 to 1841. The city features in Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick and served as the home port for the Revenue Cutter School of Instruction from 1876 to 1900, the precursor to the United States Coast Guard Academy.

Today, New Bedford Harbor is known for its seafood industry, especially its scallop fishing fleet, which generated the highest annual value of any fishing port in the U.S. as of 2019. The city is also home to the New Bedford Whaling Museum and Whaling National Historical Park, as well as a significant population of Portuguese Americans.

Still New Bedford is a queer place. Had it not been for us whalemen, that tract of land would this day perhaps have been in as howling condition as the coast of Labrador. As it is, parts of her back country are enough to frighten one, they look so bony. The town itself is perhaps the dearest place to live in, in all New England.