After leaving the Cape, I made my way to New Bedford, MA to see the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. New Bedford was the mid 19th century’s preeminent whaling port and for a time “the richest city in the world.”
The area around the visitor center is quite scenic with quaint cobblestone streets. The Visitor Center is a new building and has a bunch of great information. My favorite part though was getting a new keychain that says America’s National Parks and has a compass on it!
I usually limit myself to only buying postcards but I could not pass up this keychain. On the self guided tour of the town I saw The Seamen's Bethel.
The Seamen's Bethel was immortalized as the "Whaleman's Chapel" by Herman Melville in his classic novel Moby-Dick. I then made my way down to the Working Waterfront.
Since it was July 4
th it was pretty deserted. There’s a couple NPS signs that tell the story of New Bedford but I didn’t wander the waterfront for very long because certain sections of it do not look…nice. I Whaling is a unique industry and completely foreign to me so it was really neat to learn about the rise and fall of it.
My next stop was another NPS site in RI. The Touro Synagogue National Historic Site is the site of
is America's oldest synagogue. 
Because it was late and I had been driving on empty I didn’t spend much time. Jack got a little confused with directions so I was taking pictures of the county courthouse before I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. I grabbed a parking spot with an expired meter and made my way over to the synagogue which is by a very busy intersection. I snapped a few pics and went back to my car before I got a parking ticket. 
Finally I was on the road to my campsite for the night at Hammonasset Beach State Park. I wasn’t a big fan of the campground because it was so open. I like being in trees and not in a grassy field. I did manage to get a shower although the shower facilities are quite spartan. They are outdoors with just a curtain and there is no bench to put your dry clothes or towel on. I ended up jerry rigging a hammock out of my towel to hold my stuff. Then there was no on/off for the water, you had to press a button and the water would stream out for about 6 seconds like an automatic sink. It was ridiculous. But the sunset was pretty.
After leaving the Cape, I made my way to New Bedford, MA to see the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. New Bedford was the mid 19th century’s preeminent whaling port and for a time “the richest city in the world.” 
The area around the visitor center is quite scenic with quaint cobblestone streets. The Visitor Center is a new building and has a bunch of great information. My favorite part though was getting a new keychain that says America’s National Parks and has a compass on it!
I usually limit myself to only buying postcards but I could not pass up this keychain. On the self guided tour of the town I saw The Seamen's Bethel. 
The Seamen's Bethel was immortalized as the "Whaleman's Chapel" by Herman Melville in his classic novel Moby-Dick. I then made my way down to the Working Waterfront. 
Since it was July 4th it was pretty deserted. There’s a couple NPS signs that tell the story of New Bedford but I didn’t wander the waterfront for very long because certain sections of it do not look…nice. I Whaling is a unique industry and completely foreign to me so it was really neat to learn about the rise and fall of it. 
My next stop was another NPS site in RI. The Touro Synagogue National Historic Site is the site of is America's oldest synagogue. 
Because it was late and I had been driving on empty I didn’t spend much time. Jack got a little confused with directions so I was taking pictures of the county courthouse before I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. I grabbed a parking spot with an expired meter and made my way over to the synagogue which is by a very busy intersection. I snapped a few pics and went back to my car before I got a parking ticket. 
Finally I was on the road to my campsite for the night at Hammonasset Beach State Park. I wasn’t a big fan of the campground because it was so open. I like being in trees and not in a grassy field. I did manage to get a shower although the shower facilities are quite spartan. They are outdoors with just a curtain and there is no bench to put your dry clothes or towel on. I ended up jerry rigging a hammock out of my towel to hold my stuff. Then there was no on/off for the water, you had to press a button and the water would stream out for about 6 seconds like an automatic sink. It was ridiculous. But the sunset was pretty.
You bought a key chain! Big spender! It's a good thing you didn't get a parking ticket, otherwise the whole trip would have been blown.
ReplyDelete