New Bedford Whaling Museum

Address:18 Johnny Cake Hill
New Bedford, Massachusetts
Tel: (508) 997-0046

Check out the largest museum in the United States devoted to the history of the country's whaling industry and its greatest port! Hear the sounds of different whales and climb aboard a whaling ship!

The New Bedford Whaling Museum houses the most extensive collection of art, artifacts and manuscripts of whaling in the United States. The museum has a 45-ton whale skeleton on public view along with exhibits like New Bedford Art Glass, and the Lagoda - the world's largest ship model. There's a family program called Saturdays at Sea - where kids can sing songs of the sea and hear stories about adventurous sailors. Children with extra energy can climb around on the Fo'c'scle, which is right behind the stage. The museum also features a 20-minute short film on the history of New Bedford's once great whaling industry of the 19th and 20th centuries. With a great gift shop to top it off, why not clear an hour or two and enjoy a whale of a good time here at New Bedford's Whaling Museum. To get here from the west, take the Mass. Turnpike to Exit 11A for Rte. 495 South to Exit 7B - Rte. 24 South to New Bedford to Exit 12 - Rte. 140 South to Exit 2E - Rte. 195 East - Cape Cod to Exit 15 - Rte. 18 New Bedford Historic District to Downtown exit. Turn right on Elm Street and take second left - Bethel St., which becomes Johnny Cake Hill. The New Bedford Whaling Museum is on the second block.

The Old Dartmouth Historical Society was founded in 1903 for the purpose of ". . . creating and fostering an interest in the history of the territory included in Old Dartmouth [now the City of New Bedford and the towns of Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, and Westport]; of promoting historical research; of collecting documents and relics and providing for their proper custody" (from the Articles of Incorporation). The Society established the Whaling Museum in 1907 to tell the story of American whaling and to describe the role New Bedford played as the whaling capital of the world in the nineteenth century.