Tag: massachusetts

The New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

In the early years of the United States of America, whaling was a way of life.  What is whaling?  Men would step aboard ships, and they would head out to sea.  Why?  They were hunting whales.  They would take harpoons and throw them at the whales.  (Harpoons are basically a specific kind of spear mainly used to pierce the thick skin of animals.)  The whales were pulled onto the ship, and they were processed at sea and turned into lubrication and oil used for lighting.  Back in the day, it was the main source of income particularly in the New England States.  The story of Moby Dick is a story that was inspired by the whaling industry.  (Moby Dick was the name of a fictional whale.)  Today, the hunting of whales has been banned in the United States of America.  (It is still legal in some countries but with limitations.)  Although the whaling industry is no more, you can learn more about the industry at the New Bedford Whaling Museum in the city of New Bedford in the U.S. state of Massachusetts.  In the heyday of the whaling industry, New Bedford was an international port city.  Today, you can see the waterways where the whalers (whale hunters) would depart and return each day.  The New Bedford Whaling Museum tells the story of the whalers, the industry, and the life of a whaling town.

Some of you are saying, “Wow!  This is great.  There is a museum that is dedicated to whaling.  I do have a problem with this museum.  What is the problem?  This is a whaling museum, not a railroad museum.  Therefore, I will not have a whale of a time visiting this place.”

You do have a point.  It is called the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  It is about the whaling industry and not a railroad museum.  Why should somebody who is a railroad fan visit this museum?

The museum, founded in 1903 as the Old Dartmouth Historical Society but operates under the name ‘New Bedford Whaling Museum’, features different galleries and exhibits exhibiting the life in the whaling industry.  One exhibit displays a half scale model of a whaling ship called the ‘Lagoda’.  What is special about this ship?  It is the largest scale model ship in the world.

Some of you are saying, “That is nice.  However, there is nothing about the railroad here.”

What does this have to do with the railroad?  Well, there is no connection with the railroad and the whaling industry.  Why visit this museum?

The museum tells the story of the whaling industry in New Bedford, but New Bedford also had other industries like glass and textiles and other industries in the town.  One of the exhibit halls is the ‘Energy and Enterprise’ exhibit.  Yes, it displays the industries in the city.  As you look around, you see a model of a streetcar.  Streetcars began in New Bedford from 1872 by the New Bedford and Fairhaven Street Railway Company.  The Union Street Railway Company took over in 1887, and it ran until 1947.  A model of Streetcar Number 540 is in a glass display.

Is that all?  No.

Another display tells the story of how the railroad connected the city of New Bedford to the rest of the nation.  In 1840, the railroad came to town.  Being a major international port at the time, items were transported from the ships onto railroad cars and transported to various towns throughout the United States of America.

Yes, it is called the New Bedford Whaling Museum, but it also tells the history of the city and how the railroad was a big part of the city.  The museum also has collections that are related to the Old Colony Line, the New Bedford Railroad Company, and the Union Street Railway Company.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum is located at 18 Johnny Cake Hill in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  It is located off of Interstate 195, U.S. Route 6, and Massachusetts Route 18.  It is open Tuesday to Sunday (closed Monday) from 9:00am to 5:00pm.  The museum is fully wheelchair accessible.  Please note that the museum does not have its own parking.  You can get information on parking, buy tickets, look more into their intensive collection to include those about the railroads and streetcars, and get more information at Home – New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Yes, it is called the New Bedford Whaling Museum.  It is a whaling museum that also tells the story of how the railroad was a major contributor to the industry of this town.

Chatham Railroad Museum, Chatham, Massachusetts

by jbcowgill, posted in Uncategorized

The U.S. state of Massachusetts is one of the New England states that makes up the northeastern region of the United States of America.  The state began as one of the thirteen original British colonies and became a U.S. state when the United States of America won its independence from Great Britain.  It was here at a place called Plymouth Rock on the shore of Cape Cod Bay where the Pilgrims landed after a long voyage from Holland, and it was here where what was called the First Thanksgiving took place.  Even though it was not the actual First Thanksgiving as the actual one happened in the U.S. state of Virginia near the present day city of Richmond, it was the Pilgrim’s Thanksgiving that the holiday is modeled after as it involved a feast where as the in Virginia, it was a long prayer of thanking God for surviving a long and dangerous voyage across the ocean.  Massachusetts played a big role in the American Revolution with the Battle of Bunker Hill, the Boston Tea Party, the famous ride of Paul Revere, and ‘the shot heard around the world’ at the Battle at Concord Bridge.  (In case you are wondering, ‘the shot heard around the world’, was not a gunshot that was so loud that it was heard as far away as Antarctica but message that the United States of America was fighting for its independence.)  Along with the American Revolution, the city of Boston, the state capital, is a big sports town.  It is the home of the Boston Celtics, the most championed team in the National Basketball Association and the third most championed team in North American professional sports.  (The Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League is number two and the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball are number one.)  Also, you will find the Basketball Hall of Fame in the city of Springfield.  The state is known for its geography with a long stretch of land known as Cape Cod and its islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, and the state has a few great lighthouses.  In the town of Provincetown at the very end of the Cape Cod peninsula is where the eastern end of U.S. Route 6, a road known as the Grand Army of the Republic Highway which honors American Civil War Veterans and is the longest route in the United States of America, is located.

Yes, the state of Massachusetts is known for many things.  When people think about the state, very few people will think about the railroads.  The railroad sites are commonly overshadowed by its other historic sites.  There is one particular place where the railroad once was.

If you visit the town of Chatham, Massachusetts, you will see a nice, charming town.  Located on the southeast corner of the state, you will get great views of the Atlantic Ocean, on old windmill, a lighthouse that is still active and own by the United States Coast Guard, and an old train station.

Some of you are saying, “Wait a minute.  There is no railroad on Cape Cod.”

Welcome to the Chatham Railroad Museum.

Some of you are saying, “Oh!  I see.  They found an old train station and brought it to this town to make it a museum.”

Actually, you are wrong.  The old train station, built in 1887 in what is called a Railroad Gothic style, is on its original site.  On what was originally the trackside is a wooden caboose from the New York Central System.  The town was the end of the line for the Chatham Railroad Company that ran between the town of Chatham and the town of Harwich.  There was also a railroad yard in Chatham.  As tourism in Chatham grew, so did the railroad.  As the roads on Cape Cod improved, the railroad declined.  Service to Chatham ended in 1937.

Today, very little evidence of the railroad remaining in Cape Cod with very few of the old railroad beds are now rail trails.  As for the old train station, it later became the home of the Chatham Railroad Museum.

Some of you are saying, “Oh yeah, and it has somebody’s old train collection.”

Well, if you had two New York Central System model locomotives that were on display at the 1939 New York World’s Fair, you can say that it is a great collection.  The exhibits display the history of the railroad to Chatham and the stations along the short railroad.

The Chatham Railroad Museum is located at 153 Depot Road in Chatham, Massachusetts, just off of Massachusetts Route 28.  It is open from June to October.  Admission is free, but they can use your donations to keep the museum open.  The museum is staffed by volunteers with no paid staff.  Although the train station is wheelchair accessible, the caboose is not.  You can read more into the history of the Chatham Train Station and get information on hours and directions at https://www.chathamrailroadmuseum.com/.

The U.S. state of Massachusetts is a state full of American history, a state of sports history, a state of natural beauty, historic sites, and an old railroad town called Chatham.  It is a town where you can enjoy a lobster roll with a little railroad history.