New Bedford Massachusetts: the City That Once Lit the Country

By Jeff Burns
 

Until the discovery of kerosene in the mid-19^th century, Americans had burned whale oil for heat and for light for many years.  Native Americans on the east coast had routinely butchered beach whales for centuries before white settlers arrived in Massachusetts.  English colonists developed a thriving whaling industry, and New Englanders set sail on voyages to the north Pacific that took them away from home and family for years.  The city of New Bedford was a center of the industry.
 

The place to start is the New Bedford National Whaling Historic Park.  There are a couple of small exhibits and extremely helpful people there who can answer your questions.

  

From there, go to the New Bedford Whaling Museum. At the museum, you can see everything from whale skeletons to an actual whaling ship.  The museum has great exhibits showcasing  the whaling industry and the lives of the sailors, their families, and the men who profited most from the trade and made New Bedford one of the wealthiest communities in the country.
 

Across the street from the museum, take a short walk to the Seaman’s Bethel, a small church that was attended by sailors and captains before and after their long, dangerous voyages.  The dangers of whaling are highlighted by the many memorial plaques marking the deaths and disappearances of crewmen over the years.  Herman Melville attended this chapel (You can sit in his pew.) and set a famous chapter of Moby Dick in this very chapel.  Very friendly volunteers are on hand to answer questions.

New Bedford was important in antebellum American history for another reason; it was a center of the abolitionist movement.  It was one of the major final destinations of the Underground Railroad, and Frederick Douglass lived there for years.  In fact, Douglass met abolitionist firebrand William Lloyd Garrison in New Bedford, and the famed 54^th Massachusetts Infantry, the black regiment immortalized in the movie “Glory”, recruited there.  A recently completed mural near the museum honors this history. The National Park office has information as well.
 

New Bedford also boasts museums dedicated to glass, firefighting, art, and the Portuguese immigrants who settled in the area.
 

Visit Massachusetts: Spend the Day in Plymouth

By Jeff Burns

Plymouth Rock

Just a short drive from Boston, you’ll find Plymouth, the site where 102 Separatists and others disembarked from the Mayflower to establish the colony of Massachusetts.  After a hard winter and much assistance from the local Wampanoag people, the colonists survived and celebrated a Thanksgiving feast.  Today, tourists flock to Plymouth to enjoy a beautiful New England town and to soak up a lot of American history.

Mayflower II

You have to start from the beginning, with the Mayflower II, a full size replica of the original ship.  At just 106 feet long, it’s difficult to imagine that the voyage was possible, but knowing that it did happen, you’re left with a greater respect for the settlers.  Visitors can board and examine the entire ship. Costumed historic interpreters are on hand to answer questions and demonstrate life on board .  Nearby, you can see Plymouth Rock, the legendary landing spot.  It’s actually a part of the original boulder that was identified in 1715 as “the” rock, moved from its original location.  There are no contemporary mentions of a rock, and historians have long cast doubt on the story, but it’s without doubt a part of the story of Plymouth.  Across the street from the rock is the original burying ground, located on Coles Hill, where you’ll also find a statue of Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief who befriended the Pilgrims and encouraged Squanto and Samoset to help them. 

The Pilgrim Hall Museum is one of the oldest public museums in the U.S., founded in 1824.  It houses the largest collection of Pilgrim-era artifacts in the country. 

Just a couple of miles out of town is Plimoth Plantation. Step into life in the 17^th century as you tour a Wampanoag Indian village and the adjacent English village.  Costumed interpreters demonstrate life and answer questions from visitors.  It’s a fully functional village, and the villagers go about their daily chores.  They welcome you into their homes which represent a spectrum of experiences. There are also non-costumed interpreters who share their expertise.  We had an interesting conversation with an herbalist who was preparing various remedies. You could easily spend a whole day here.

Aside from all the history, Plymouth is a beautiful seaside village, and it’s definitely on our list of places worthy of a return.

Visit Massachusetts: Day Trip to Lowell

By Jeff Burns

The state of Massachusetts has so much history you can virtually set out in any direction from Boston and embark on an adventure into the past.  While visiting Boston, my wife and I took a day trip to Lowell, a textile manufacturing center established in the early 19^th century by Francis Cabot Lowell.  For a hundred years, Lowell represented the American industrial revolution.  “King Cotton” was shipped from the South to mills and factories in New England to be made into cloth for the country.  Lowell also represents the social history of the United States.  The first workers were Massachusetts farm girls recruited with the lure of a life off the farm.  As Irish and German immigrants arrived in large numbers in the 1840s, they found jobs in the factories.  In the late 1800s, the new immigrants arrived from southern and eastern Europe and then Portugal.  As the work force changed the character of the city changed as well, and Lowell became very diverse.  Then, the textile industry in Lowell came to an end in 1929 when the Great Depression turned Lowell into a ghost town.  In 1978, the Lowell National Historical Park was created for the purpose of rehabilitating over 100 downtown buildings and preserving the city’s unique past.  While the textile industry is no longer much of an employer, Lowell has bounced back, thanks to tourism and the universities and hospitals in the area.

We started at the Boott Cotton Mills, one of the original mill buildings that has 88 power looms in operation, and you get a slight sense of what work was like.  The auditory experience alone is incredible; the sound is deafening.  From there, the visitor goes through interesting interactive exhibits that explain the story of Lowell.  The introductory film is a must-see, one of the best museum films I’ve seen. It is a thorough and entertaining account of the disagreement between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton about the economic path the United States should take.  It’s a video I would love to use with my students, but it is not for sale unfortunately.  The exhibit’s docent was a retired teacher who was extremely knowledgeable and engaging.

A short walk away is the Mill Girls & Immigrants Exhibit.  There, you can see how the Lowell girls lived in their boardinghouses.  One of the really interesting displays is a representation of the typical meals prepared for the girls by the house mothers; the hard working girls consumed huge meals.  You can also see what the girls did in their leisure time.

From the mills, you may want to visit the American Textile History Museum and the New England Quilt Museum.  The latter was a must-see for my wife, a quilter.  The New England Quilt Museum had a couple of great exhibits for history lovers.  One was an exhibit of modern quilts inspired by Civil War quilts and fabrics.  The other exhibit was of authentic Civil War quilts.

Art lover?  James Whistler’s birthplace in Lowell is open to the public. His father was in charge of the mills’ railroad system at the time of his birth.  Literature buff?  Jack Kerouac was a Lowell native, and you can connect with the author of On the Road in the Kerouac Commemorative Park on Bridge Street.

Whatever your interests, there’s plenty to see in Lowell.

 

Traveling with History: Road Trip through Vermont

By Jeff Burns

In the summer of 2012, my wife and I decided to do a road trip through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The plan was into fly into Burlington Vermont, rent a car, and just go wherever the roads took us.  It was a wonderful trip even though New England was in the midst of a heat wave, with highs reaching the mid-80s.  As Georgians, it was absolutely refreshing even though the New Englanders were sweltering.

First stop was the Shelburne Museum, just outside Burlington.  The Shelburne is actually several museums in one, an outdoor experience featuring many restored buildings and collections that detail the  history of New England. Over 150,000 works are exhibited in a remarkable setting of 38 exhibition buildings, 25 of which are historic and were relocated to the Museum grounds.

Impressionist paintings, folk art, quilts and textiles, decorative arts, furniture, American paintings, and a dazzling array of 17th-to 20th-century artifacts are on view. Shelburne is home to the finest museum collections of 19th-century American folk art, quilts, 19th- and 20th-century decoys, and carriages.  Knowledgeable docents are on hand to explain and answer questions.

Our favorites were the quilt collection, Shaker Barn, and the General Store.

General Store, Shelburne

At Plymouth Notch, we found President Calvin Coolidge’s birthplace. His boyhood homestead, the farm, general store, church, and home he grew up in are all preserved for you to see.  In fact, he first took the oath of office in his childhood home upon learning of the death of warren Harding.  It’s a great presidential site, and I learned a lot about the man that I didn’t know before.



 

Calvin Coolidge Boyhood Home

 

Robert Todd Lincoln, the sole surviving son of Abraham and Mary Lincoln, seemed to be destined to be a historical figure.  Indeed, he had a long career in government himself, was a Gilded age businessman, and served as the Chairman of the Pullman Company, the largest manufacturing company in America at the turn of the 20^th century.  In 1905, he built Hildene, a beautiful Georgian Revival mansion in Manchester Vermont.  It was occupied by Lincoln descendants until 1975.  Both the mansion and the gardens are absolutely beautiful, and you get a real sense of the Gilded Age.

Hildene Garden

Hildene

In Brandon, you can stop at the birthplace of Stephen Douglas, the Little Giant, one of the most noted and influential politicians of the 1850s. It’s a small house and small museum, only opened since 2010, but you get a taste of where he came from and his early life, along with the long abolitionist history of the area. 

What tour of Vermont would be complete without stopping by Ben and Jerry’s .  That’s right, tour the ice creamery in Waterbury and enjoy a free sample. 

 

Overall, Vermont was a great trip.  We loved the quaint towns, friendly people, and it was obvious everywhere that Vermont treasures its h

Traveling with History: Road Trip through New Hampshire

By Jeff Burns

            In the summer of 2012, my wife and I decided to do a road trip through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The plan was into fly into Burlington, Vermont, rent a car, and just go wherever the roads took us.  It was a wonderful trip even though New England was in the midst of a heat wave, with highs reaching the mid-80s.  As Georgians, it was absolutely refreshing even though the New Englanders were sweltering.

            We noticed an immediate difference between Vermont and New Hampshire as we crossed the state line.  New Hampshire seemed a lot more commercial with sprawling shopping centers and less of a regard for zoning regulations.  Nevertheless, we still found lots of interesting places to see.

            Augustus Saint-Gaudens is one of America’s greatest sculptors, our Rodin.  His works include the Robert Gould Memorial and the design of the famous 1907 $20 gold piece, often called the most beautiful American coin ever minted.  His home, studio, and garden are part of a beautiful National Park service site near Cornish, New Hampshire. 

  

            At Canterbury, you can immerse yourself in Shaker life.  Canterbury was one of the many New England settlements founded by the followers of Mother Ann Lee, who touted a life of simplicity and celibacy as the way to salvation.  It was occupied by Shakers until the 1960s.  The village is perfectly preserved and thoroughly tells their story.  We learned so much.

 

            Portsmouth is a picturesque waterfront town with one of the most unique museums in the country, Strawbery Banke. Visitors to Strawbery Banke have the opportunity to experience and imagine how people lived and worked in this typical American neighborhood through nearly four centuries of history. Using restored houses, featured exhibits, historic landscapes and gardens, and interpretive programs, Strawbery Banke tells the stories of the many generations who settled in this Portsmouth, New Hampshire "Puddle Dock" community from the late l7th to the mid-20th century.  Most houses have docents or re-enactors who bring the history to life.

  

            Overall, New Hampshire was a great trip!

Traveling with History: Road Trip through Maine

By Jeff Burns

            In the summer of 2012, my wife and I decided to do a road trip through Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine.  The plan was into fly into Burlington Vermont, rent a car, and just go wherever the roads took us.  It was a wonderful trip even though New England was in the midst of a heat wave, with highs reaching the mid-80s.  As Georgians, it was absolutely refreshing even though the New Englanders were sweltering.

             Besides the obligatory lobster rolls and trip to the L.L. Bean Outlet, the Maine portion of our trip was centered around Portland.

            The Portland Museum of Art was a real surprise. The museum has an extensive collection extensive collection of fine and decorative arts dating from the 18th century to the present, housed in three architecturally significant buildings. Find numerous works by Americans Winslow Homer,  Louise Nevelson, and Andrew Wyeth, in addition to works from the Federal and Beaux-arts periods.  Enjoy European art by masters such as Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and Pablo Picasso. 

            A couple of blocks from the museum is Victoria Mansion,  built between 1858 and 1860 as a summer home for Ruggles Sylvester Morse, a Maine native who made his fortune in New Orleans as the proprietor of luxury hotels. It’s a brownstone in the style of an Italian villa, with remarkably complete, luxurious interiors.

            At Cape Elizabeth, just outside Portland, you see the Portland Head Light.  The first lighthouse on this location was lit in 1791, and the current Keepers’ Quarters was built a hundred years later.  The beautiful view has drawn visitors for years, including Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who often went there to write.