New Bedford Whaling

One more trip into Newport brought me to tour 2 of the mansions owned by the preservation society. The Breakers build by Cornelius Vanderbilt was an opulent, lavishly decorated mansion. It is the most well known. An audio tour provided a great deal of history of the family and their activities in Newport. I also toured Hunting House which was built in 1748, a simpler house but beautiful with its wood paneling and Newport furniture.
On to the next adventure. Staying with Keys friends in Massachusetts I visited the New Bedford Whaling Museum. New Bedford was the center of whaling for most of the history of whaling in the United States. Nantucket, an early whaling center depleted the whale populations near the Island and New Bedford built whaling ships that could go anywhere in the world and catch and process whales including some whale oil processing that preserved the oil so that it did not become rancid.

Exhibits included this half model of a whaling ship that

one can climb on as well as whaling tools like the collection of harpoons. There were exhibits of scrimshaw that were quite exquisite.
Interestingly there were areas featuring other countries involved in the whaling trade. Portugal, Holland and England all had their own areas.

The Portuguese exhibit was given to the museum by Portugal and has signs in English and Portuguese.

The Dutch exhibit includes this 90 tile
sea picture and several beautiful sea chests.
After visiting the museum I visited the Seaman's Bethel Church which has memorials to all the New Bedford sailors who have been lost at sea. It was chapel described by Herman Melville in Moby Dick.
Lunch and a great place on the working waterfront. New Bedford is still an active port.