We had wanted to go to the New Bedford Whaling museum for a while… it’s on one of our national park passports, although to be honest we both forgot to bring them to be stamped even when we did end up there. Foiled again!
But really, this place was a little crazy. We found parking in a nearby garage and had to find our way on foot to what appeared to be a closed brick lined street. It was like walking back in time. And there was a woman there, I think taking a break, dressed in a bright yellow colonial dress. At least I’d like to think she was part of the park and not a very solid ghost. The entrance to the museum felt like it was playing Hide n’ Seek with us but we did find it and yikes! I did not know this museum would be this big!
As we walked in there was a full whale skeleton on the ceiling, a life-size replica whale heart for the kids to crawl through, a topography sandpit for the somewhat older kids (of which we both were,) and a glass cabinet of various whale bits, most of which were fairly easy to identify… bones, teeth, and whatnot. Then I asked what the weird thing in the middle was that looked like the stuffed colon at the Mutter Museum. Well that was the whale dick. Obviously. How could I not have known?
This was just the beginning. Upstairs was a whole-ass whaling ship we could board and poke at complete with a captain who was regaling some of the other museum patrons with fun facts. Surrounding the ship was two floors of displays that included paintings, jars of whale oil, two giant wrought iron cauldrons used to process said oil that were big enough to throw an ill-begotten sailor or two into, letters, glassware, some antique garb, oodles of scrimshaw, furniture, and corset boning which I super happy to find. In fact I was asking about it only moments before we found it.
There were also more interactive displays including a silhouette making booth. And the end of the museum was a hallway that led to a balcony on the roof where you could use one of their city binoculars to look at the bay, or more alarmingly several buildings nearby. The hallway to said balcony had some very ornate Valentines made of shells, garbage, and other sea debris which is what the featured image in this article is.
All and all this was a fun museum! I mean, yes, it was morbid with all the harpoons and paintings of Nantucket sleigh rides, but it was also super interesting in that it built out the whole world surrounding the whaling industry. And there was so much for the kids to do. I think this museum did a great job at incorporating something for all ages or visitors.
