Ships docked at New Bedford’s Historic Wharf area
New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park has put together a walking tour of the historic wharfs at New Bedford, many of which are still being used. A tour brochure available in the Visitor Center. The walk stretches a quarter mile from Fisherman’s Wharf at the northern end to Leonard’s Wharf at the southern end. Keep in mind that this is a working waterfront, not a tourist attraction like San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf or Boston’s Rowes Wharf, so don’t expect restaurants and shops. In addition to being home to a fishing fleet, the wharf is a passenger ferry terminal for boats to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island, as well as a departure point for sightseeing cruises of the harbor.
The brochure details what to look for at each of the five piers along the route, but there is nothing all that exciting. Checking out the wharf is certainly worth doing, but I suggest making it part of a larger tour of the New Bedford historic district, which you can read about on the New Bedford Historic District Walking Tour web page.
By the way, New Bedford brings in more money from fishing than any other fishing port in the United States. Its catch is worth nearly $150 million more than the catch at Dutch Harbor, Alaska, the second ranked port city in terms of catch value. However, New Bedford’s catch is 600 million pounds less than that of Dutch Harbor. What’s the “catch?” Scallops. They are much more valuable than fish.
Fishing boats docked at the New Bedford wharf
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Last updated on June 12, 2020
