New Bedford

Sister cities

• Funchal
• Cuxhaven
• Tosashimizu

History

Before the 17th century, the lands along the Acushnet River were inhabited by the Wampanoag Native Americans, who had settlements throughout southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Their population is believed to have been about 12,000. On May 15, 1602, English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold in the ship Concord landed on Cuttyhunk Isla In 1652, English colonists purchased Old Dartmouth—a region of that is now Dartmouth, Acushnet, New Bedford, Fairhaven, and Westport—in a treaty between the Wampanoag, represented by Chief Ousamequin (Massasoit) and his son Wamsutta, and John Winslow, William Bradford, Myles Standish, Thomas Southworth, and John Cooke. They had faced persecution in the Puritan communities of Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony; the latter banned the Quakers in 1656–1657. When the Massachusetts Bay Colony annexed the Plymouth Colony in 1691, Quakers already represented a majority of the population of Old Dartmouth. One reason for this is that the inhabitants enjoyed their independence from the Plymouth Colony and they did not want the Plymouth court to appoint them a minister. In this conflict, Wampanoag tribesmen, allied with the Narragansett and the Nipmuc, raided Old Dartmouth and other European settlements in the area. A section of Old Dartmouth near the west bank of the Acushnet River, originally called Bedford Village, was officially incorporated as the town of New Bedford on February 23, 1787, after the American Revolutionary War. The name was suggested by the Russell family, who were prominent citizens of the community. The Dukes of Bedford, a leading English aristocratic house, also bore the surname Russell. (Bedford, Massachusetts, had been incorporated in 1729; hence "New" Bedford.) The…

Geography

New Bedford is located at (41.651803, −70.933705). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of . Of the total area, is land, and , or 17.13%, is water. New Bedford is a coastal city, a seaport, bordered on the west by Dartmouth, on the north by Freetown, on the east by Acushnet and Fairhaven, and on the south by Buzzards Bay. From New Bedford's northern border with Freetown to the Buzzards Bay coast at Clark's Point the distance is approximately . Across New Bedford east to west is a distance of about . The highest point in the city is an unnamed hill crossed by Interstate 195 and Hathaway Road west of downtown, with an elevation greater than above sea level. The Port of New Bedford, also known as New Bedford Harbor, a body of water shared with the town of Fairhaven is the estuary of the Acushnet River where it empties into Buzzards Bay. The river empties into the bay beyond Clark's Point, the southernmost point of the city. To the west of Clark's Point is Clark's Cove, which extends landward approximately one and one-half miles from the bay. Just south of Palmer's Island, beginning near Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven, lies a two-mile-long hurricane barrier, constructed in the 1960s to protect the inner harbor where the fishing fleet anchors. Along with Palmer's Island, the city also lays claim to Fish Island and Pope's Island. Between these two islands lies one of the three sections, the central section, of the Roland J. Herbert Bridge (colloquially known as the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge). The central span, a swing bridge, connects the two islands as well as allowing boats and ships passage to the upper harbor. Two conventional bridges connect each of the islands to the nearest mainland, Fish Island to New Bedford and Pope's Island to…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Song Sparrow

  Melospiza melodia (A.Wilson, 1810) · Aves
  20,093
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  18,440
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  18,098
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  17,435
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  16,059
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  15,795
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  15,479
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  14,970

Most recent

• M 3.6 — 2020-11-08
  10 km S of Bliss Corner, Massachusetts
• M 2.6 — 2015-01-13
  2 km E of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 3.3 — 2015-01-12
  0 km NE of Wauregan, Connecticut
• M 2.5 — 2005-11-17
  4 km S of Plymouth, Massachusetts
• M 2.5 — 2002-06-07
  3 km NNW of Hopedale, Massachusetts