I love my town hall. It's absolutely stunning inside and out. Who would have thought such a big…read morebeautiful building would be in a small seaside town?! The staff that I've dealt with there have always been friendly, helpful and an all around pleasure. Fairhaven is a magical spot!

Henry and Mark…read more The Fairhaven Town Hall is a stunning building that sits just across the street from the equally stunning town library. Both buildings were gifts from Henry Rogers, the very, very, very, very wealthy businessman who spent summers in Fairhaven. The building was opened in1894 and is constructed in the French Gothic Style. Huge, ornate, and resplendent, the building dominates the center of the small town. The inside is as wonderful as the outside with oak paneling, stain glass windows and lovely pictures everywhere. At one time the building also held the post office, police station and even a jail inside but now is mostly restricted to administrative offices and the usual town hall stuff. One the second floor is an amazing auditorium that held dances, plays, concerts and all kind of cool events. Mark Twain, who was a close buddy of Henry Rodgers, entertained here as well as other famous actors and musicians. The town hall has a lot of cool history and is an amazing building that continues to serve the community. Stunning inside and out, the building remains a very useful and beautiful gift from a very, very, very, very generous man.

Located on the southwest corner of the Fairhaven High School, this marker is dedicated to a local…read morebenefactor. The tablet reads, "In grateful recognition of the worth achievements and benefactions of Henry Huttleston Rogers. The people of Fairhaven have erected this memorial." It is a 30 foot tall fluted Grecian column made of granite and with a bronze tablet on one side below a medallion bust of the honoree. It was originally on a traffic island nearby and was moved here on the high school grounds in 1966. Huttleston was born in Fairhaven in 1840 and both his parents and were descended from the Pilgrims who arrived in 1620 aboard the Mayflower. In later lift, he was an industrialist who made his fortune in the oil refining business, becoming a leader at Standard Oil. He also played a major role in numerous corporations and business enterprises in the gas industry, copper, and railroads. His last major enterprise was building the Virginian Railway to service the West Virginia coal fields. After 1890, he became a prominent philanthropist, as well as a friend and supporter of Mark Twain and Booker T. Washington. [Review 18632 overall - 1212 in Massachusetts - 2154 of 2022.]

Try and visit when they've got a free tour - it made ALL the difference! Truly incredible. We…read morewalked the block and got to visit various sites in addition to learning SO much from a passionate docent / staff member. We were 2 mamas with a total of 7 kids that day ranging in ages from 5-14 and all of them had a great time. The video is a perfect place to start. The museum is a great addition, especially if you have reciprocal membership as the cost is somewhat high. Our kids loved exploring their whaling ship and seeing real sperm whale oil and skeletons... oh and climbing inside a whale heart model! The NPS site has some meaningful exhibits as well and we had to get Junior Ranger! Parking is tough - keep that in mind!

19th century whaling community. Lots of things to do and see. Museums. NPS visitor center is full…read moreof history. We took a tour with a lady that was in full character. She talked like she was in the 19th century. Really fun.

Whales lights and…read morehurricanes The Palmer Island Lighthouse is a little light only 24 feet tall. It was built back in 1849 out of rubble and cost less than two thousand dollars to construction. Certainly not one of the great New England lighthouses but still historic and cool. The light was originally built to help whalers get back into New Bedford when the city was once the whaling capital of the world. Moby Dick took place in New Bedford and it has a long and proud nautical history. The city was built on whale oil. The light and it's fifth order Fresnel Lens served until the gigantic hurricane barrier across New Bedford harbor made it unnecessary and so it was deactivated when the barrier was completed in the mid sixties. Palmer's Island was once six acres and even had a hotel and dance hall on it. Lots of wild stories about the debauchery and bacchanalian exploits of the whalers that stopped here. But in 1938 that all changed. The hurricane of 1938 is legendary in New England. Nobody really knew it was coming and the massive waves swept into New Bedford harbor and destroyed most of the town and washed away much of the island. Nothing was left of the little island but the lighthouse. The poor little lighthouse was vandalized and just left to rot until a group of citizens decided to restore and bring the little light back to life. It was repaired and relit in 1999 and now serves as a historic symbol of New Bedford's glorious nautical past. The light isn't easy to reach, it can be walked out to in very low tides but only if you don't mind getting wet. A kayak is a much better choice to get out to the island. Not a tall, particularly lovely or majestic lighthouse. Just a little light that did it's job for many decades and now serves as a reminder of the whaling history of New Bedford.

Two caveats: I went in the winter, so the cold air definitely impacted my experience (and gave us…read morethe fort to ourselves) - and the fort wasn't open to look inside that day. So I can't speak to whether, when the fort is open, what you'd see inside is worth the price of admission. What I can speak to is the rest of the park. The various batteries, left for you to poke all around as you please. That one battery on the far west side of the park, where you barely even know it's there until you walk around it. An interesting experience for sure. The #1 thing about this place is that it's something to see in New Bedford. Really not much here besides some older downtown buildings and this park. My cousin and I agreed this was a good way to spend an afternoon, so if you're in the city and trying to pass the time during the day, come on out for a walk! Allow I'd say 90 minutes total without the fort being open, maybe another 60 if it is.

October drive to the fort is peaceful. Amazing the history behind this structure and the times when…read moreenemies were near. For more history, I recommend visiting the museum nearby. Great place to stretch your legs and walk around.

In a small park off Route 6 in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts--where there's a modest amount of…read moreparking--you'll find a towering pastel seahorse that once marked the Dunseith Sea Horse Gift Shop. Built in the 1950s by local artist Theodore D. Tetreault and his son Teddy, the sculpture was commissioned by shop owner Henry Dunseith to draw in Cape Cod-bound travelers. Though the rise of Interstate 195 led to the shop's closure and the land's eventual transfer to the town after Dunseith's death in 1988, the beloved seahorse was saved by popular demand. Restored and rededicated in 2000, it now stands as a whimsical roadside relic and a tribute to local creativity. An easy stop to appreciate a small piece of Americana. [Review 1094 of 2025 - 1244 in Massachusetts - 24648 overall]

If you're driving in the vicinity of Route 6 and North Street, you'd be excused if you dropped your…read moreMountain Dew in your lap when you behold the awesomeness of "Salty the Seahorse". He stands nearly 40 feet tall and his blue eyes are solar powered! Salty was built in the 1950's as a way to promote local tourism and has become the unofficial symbol of Mattapoisett. It's another great example of all the cool stuff you can run into all across New England.

Good. Had a good time looking at the old buildings and seeing the tools that they used.read more

Ready for an adventure kiddies? Then come to Fall River and see the aging ruins of the Old Fall…read moreRiver Ice House. But please, be discreet. Signs around the entryway state that fishing, boating, swimming and camping are strictly prohibited. But ever since I was a child I always wondered what the old Medieval looking ruin had to offer the not so faint of heart. Now as an adult literalist, I interpret the absence of a no trespassing order as something akin to an invitation. One side of the structure can be seen on the right while driving north on Route 24 coming from 195. Take exit 5 and follow Eastern Avenue then take a left onto New Boston Road. At the end, turn left onto Willow Street which turns into Ruth Street (over the freeway) and then Meridian Street (in a very short distance). Park on Hannah Street or Bergeron Street and then walk back toward whence you drove and go around the left of the fence across the road. What awaits you on the other side is a lonesome path long neglected over time. Weeds and trees flourish between cracks in the crumbling asphalt. Once past the noise from the street, an eerie quiet sets in. A short walk will lead you to the northern shores of the pond. Continue along and watch for the ruins on the right. Inside you will find excellent photo opportunities and a remarkable example of structural decay and a forest gradually reclaiming lost ground. Vines ensnare the surrounding trees and creep alongside the walls of the massive building. The colossal inner chambers are full of trees and enormous stones that have given way to time. Interesting exterior brickwork nestled among stones can be seen as one moves along the southern edge of the building closer to the shore. One wall bears the scar of what may have been a large lightning strike. Most of the walls have soaring vacancies in the stonework that may have once held windows or doors. Sadly, there is some graffiti, but it's a minor distraction in such an exciting place. After you've had your fill of the ruins, continue along the path and feel the eyes of the forest upon you. Low walls of stone accompany you throughout most of your journey and it would be difficult to get lost. Bear left when the path splits about a half mile after you've gone over the causeway (it can be difficult to discern) and you will eventually return to Meridian Street. Do NOT forget your camera!

Benefit Street is a nice little walk and The Shunned House is a sweet little surprise. What I like…read moreabout The Shunned House is that you would have NO CLUE that this house was significant amongst the others in the surrounding areas. The armory down the street stands out a lot more than the lil house that HPLovecraft wrote about. Still it's a great side trip that will only take seconds out of your day if you are in or around the colleges in the area. This is obviously a residence and they have since named the house after someone but you can see the wall that used to be used as the front of the house and the descriptions stand strong in Lovecraft's writing. No big deal but I liked being there and seeing it.

I was going to write about this curiousity, but I realized I couldn't do any better than what…read morebrought me in the first place: "The house was--and for that matter still is--of a kind to attract the attention of the curious. Originally a farm or semi-farm building, it followed the average New England colonial lines of the middle eighteenth century--the prosperous peaked-roof sort, with two stories and dormerless attic, and with the Georgian doorway and interior panelling dictated by the progress of taste at that time. It faced south, with one gable end buried to the lower windows in the eastward rising hill, and the other exposed to the foundations toward the street. Its construction, over a century and a half ago, had followed the grading and straightening of the road in that especial vicinity; for Benefit Street--at first called Back Street--was laid out as a lane winding amongst the graveyards of the first settlers, and straightened only when the removal of the bodies to the North Burial Ground made it decently possible to cut through the old family plots. "At the start, the western wall had lain some twenty feet up a precipitous lawn from the roadway; but a widening of the street at about the time of the Revolution sheared off most of the intervening space, exposing the foundations so that a brick basement wall had to be made, giving the deep cellar a street frontage with door and two windows above ground, close to the new line of public travel. When the sidewalk was laid out a century ago the last of the intervening space was removed; and Poe in his walks must have seen only a sheer ascent of dull grey brick flush with the sidewalk and surmounted at a height of ten feet by the antique shingled bulk of the house proper. "The farm-like grounds extended back very deeply up the hill, almost to Wheaton Street. The space south of the house, abutting on Benefit Street, was of course greatly above the existing sidewalk level, forming a terrace bounded by a high bank wall of damp, mossy stone pierced by a steep flight of narrow steps which led inward between canyon-like surfaces to the upper region of mangy lawn, rheumy brick walls, and neglected gardens whose dismantled cement urns, rusted kettles fallen from tripods of knotty sticks, and similar paraphernalia set off the weather-beaten front door with its broken fanlight, rotting Ionic pilasters, and wormy triangular pediment. "What I heard in my youth about the shunned house was merely that people died there in alarmingly great numbers. That, I was told, was why the original owners had moved out some twenty years after building the place. It was plainly unhealthy, perhaps because of the dampness and fungous growth in the cellar, the general sickish smell, the draughts of the hallways, or the quality of the well and pump water. These things were bad enough, and these were all that gained belief among the persons whom I knew. Only the notebooks of my antiquarian uncle, Dr. Elihu Whipple, revealed to me at length the darker, vaguer surmises which formed an undercurrent of folklore among old-time servants and humble folk; surmises which never travelled far, and which were largely forgotten when Providence grew to be a metropolis with a shifting modern population." H.P. Lovecraft, The Shunned House Be mindful that this is a private residence. Please be respectful.

You could not have asked for a better day than today, stopping in to see Ned's Point (named after…read moreNed Dexter, a local farmer who once owne the land) on a mostly sunny and warm afternoon. The parking lot was mostly empty and so it was easy to stop the Sprinter van and pop out to walk Ned's Point and view the lighthouse from all angles without anything in the way. The Ned's Point Lighthouse was commissioned in 1837 and first lit in 1838. The tower stands 39 feet tall and features a unique architectural detail: a cantilevered granite staircase with 32 steps embedded directly into the inner wall, built without mortar. Unfortunately, it's not open to the public. Ned's Point Light was deactivated between 1952 and 1961, then modernized and reactivated with a 6-second isophase white light. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987, preserving its legacy as a symbol of Mattapoisett's maritime heritage. It was well worth the drive to see and experience this fabulous structure. Five stars. [Review 1095 of 2025 - 1245 in Massachusetts - 24649 overall]

Ned's Point Lighthouse is a beautiful relaxing and comforting place to stop and have a picnic, to…read moreenjoy the beautiful lighthouse and water view. There's plenty of parking. The weather was fantastic on the day we stopped. You really need to stop here and enjoy the beautiful scenery.