Bruce Barnes' wonderful walking tour is a comprehensive introductory guide to New Bedford covering everything from the whaling history to the history of the New Bedford textile industry, to abolitionism. Although New Bedford is the Whaling City, it was also a leading textile capital. At its peak around 1920, New Bedford had numerous mills with some 150 mill buildings employing over 35,000 workers. New Bedford was also a hotbed for abolitionist activity, a destination for escaping slaves, and a major stop on the Underground Railroad. Enjoy this guide illustrating some of the most interesting places to visit in historic New Bedford.
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00:00 - Introduction
00:34 - Welcome and the James Arnold Mansion
07:44 - Samuel Rodman, Jr. House
11:03 - Friends Meeting House & Quaker Society
11:32 - The Abolitionist Movement, Frederick Douglass, and the Nathan and Polly Johnson House
15:20 - Hetty Green Birthplace and Story
21:20 - The Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum and Whaling History in New Bedford
27:53 - The Joseph Grinnell Mansion, The William Rotch Rodman Mansion, and the birth of Berkshire Hathaway
30:33 - The William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage
33:23 - The founding of Bourne, Massachusetts
The tour visits the James Arnold Mansion - Arnold was a successful businessman and willed the money to create the amazing Arnold Arboretum in Boston. It strolls by the Quaker Meeting House and discusses the monumental impact the Society of Friends had on New Bedford and southern New England. View the house where Frederick Douglass lived before he started his crusade as an abolitionist and anti-slavery speaker. See where Hetty Green was born - better known as the “Witch of Wall Street” and perhaps the richest woman the United States has ever produced - and learn about her fascinating life. See the palatial home and gardens of the family that brought whaling to New Bedford from Nantucket. And, learn about the imposing mansions of the families that revolutionized American textile production in the late 1800s.
This New Bedford Preservation Society tour by Bruce Barnes was provided to a group of teachers in November 2019.
To learn more about the New Bedford Preservation Society and Bruce's tour schedule, click nbpreservationsociety.org/even...
To join the New Bedford Preservation Society, click
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New Bedford Preservation Society Media Coordinator: Pat Daughton
Tour guide: Bruce Barnes
Video by Steve Gladstone: / stevesboston
For a really good virtual tour of the Nathan and Polly Johnson House, visit www.nps.gov/nebe/learn/photos...
Special thanks to the New Bedford Free Public Library, the New Bedford Whaling Museum, Spinner Publications, Google, and others for selected materials.
Thumbnail photo by Steve Delaney