New Bedford & Salem, MA

July 1, 2006

Seaman's Bethel


Our time in New England is drawing to an end, but before departing we managed to squeeze in visits to two of the more fascinating and historic areas of the Massachusetts coast; the whaling city of New Bedford and the coastal village of Salem which is best known for the infamous witch trials of 1692.

We sandwiched our trip to New Bedford on Thursday with stops to see some close family friends of Kathy’s father, Chuck and Carol Crossley in Pembroke and with her Uncle and Aunt, Bobby and Candida Kilroy in Westport. The Crossley’s must be one of the few families in America who are actually living in a house that is over 300 years old. Built in 1702, their farm home has been lovingly and meticulously restored and renovated. It still has much of the original structure including 3 fireplaces on the first floor and 2 more upstairs. It is a remarkable and interesting place.
The Crossleys

New Bedford is unique in that it was at one time the leading whaling seaport in the world. It was here that Herman Melville chose to set his classic whaling tale, “Moby Dick” and many of the historic structures can still be found there. It is also a town that figured prominently in the Underground Railroad during the Civil War and was home to Frederick Douglass and the staging area for the first all-black Regiment of Union troops during the Civil War, the 54th Mass., which was profiled in the film “Glory”.




We visited the Whaling Museum, the Seaman’s Bethel or Chapel and the seaport which still supports an active fleet of scalloping vessels. We had a fine meal of the local scallop catch at Freestone’s City Grill. We have made it a point to try as much regional food as possible on our trip and have not stopped at a single fast food place as of yet. That means we have had a lot of seafood here in the Northeast; Scallops, Lobster, Chowder…. even the delicious Sea Dog Blueberry Beer.

As mentioned, we made a stop at another of Jim Kilroy’s myriad of siblings after exploring New Bedford. Bobby & Candida Kilroy live in a wonderfully eclectic home in Westport and we were able to enjoy a happy though brief stop over with them highlighted by Kathy’s exciting effort to pilot on of their tractors.


Yesterday it was back on the road again, this time heading north to the community of Salem. Infamous for the Witch trials of 1692, Salem is really a tale of two cities. On the one hand you have the serious historical aspect, with the impressive Peabody-Essex Museum, the Maritime National Historic Site, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “House of Seven Gables” and the like. On the other hand you have a ton of tacky touristy places such as Frankenstein’s Laboratory, the Witch Dungeon Museum, and the Salem Wax Museum of Witches & Seafarers. We mostly stuck with the more serious portions though I must admit some of the tacky stuff was rather amusing and there were more fortune tellers, soothsayers and stores selling potions than most anyplace I’ve seen with the possible exception of New Orleans.


House of Seven Gables