Mobby Dick - born in New Bedford

From Newport we drove west to New Bedford, only about 40 miles away, from the rich and beautiful to the hard-working fishermen and millworkers, but first stopped for a (longer-than-expected) tour at Battleship Cove in Fall River (pic), a conglomeration of mostly WWII battleships and a Maritime Museum. Battleship USS Massachusetts is the largest one, in operation from 1942 to 1946 on different battlefields, then there was the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, the USS Lionfish submarine, launched end of 1943, which causes a pretty creepy feeling, a PT Boat and the "Hiddensee", an Eastern German battleship.

Passing by a winery without having time for a tasting or a tour, we arrived to New Bedford - in the sunshine! - and our first stop was the Whaling Museum in the middle of historic downtown. This museum (see pics below) with it's whale skeletons, an original whaling boat, half-scale, very artistic scrimshaws (whale bone carvings), historic and maritime exhibitions and artifacts is an absolute must!

New Bedford is the town, where Melville’s fictional Captain Ahab who battled Moby Dick was "invented". Herman Melville shipped out aboard a whale ship in 1841. In the 19th century the city had gained worldwide reputation as the greatest whaling port and the richest city per capita in the world. The industry was secured by Portuguese and Cape Verdean immigrants (experienced whalers and fishermen as well) and even today, there is a large Portuguese community, having their own festivals, restaurants, traditions and language.

Melville was one famous character, Frederick Douglass another one. This famous Afroamerican orator, writer and reformer, found his freedom and his voice here around 1840 after having escaped slavery in Maryland. Quaker families in town helped the black people and supported the Underground Railroad, an undercover system for fugitive slaves. Many black families settled in "Abolition Row" (pic below).

Whaling was followed by the textile industry and cotton manufacturing became the leading industry. At the turn of the century there were more than 70 mills, employing over 40,000 workers in town. Still nowadays, there are some of the old red brick buildings to be seen and in some of them antique warehouses and shops are to be found. The city is considered one of the best antique towns in New England!

The waterfront is considered one of the largest fishing harbors, bringing in the biggest quantities of seafood and fish, I believe, in the U.S. Fishing vessels are rowed up along the waterfront, bringing in all the delicacies, e.g. highly-rated scallops, big and juicy.

After our tour in the Whaling Museum we had a park ranger tour through the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park with its historic buildings, murals and seamen's institutions like the "bethel", a non-denominational church and educational/social institution in one. Later,after hotel check-in, Dagny, the local tourism rep, drove with us to South End, which offers beautiful views towards the shoreline, sandy beaches, a walking trail on top of the flood wall, and through popular Fort Taber Park. We saw the secured harbor with its closeable hurricane wall, before we had dinner in the Moby Dick Brewing Company. Got a tour in this new microbrewery and met with the owner, before we enjoyed their great beers, good conversation and some more seafood, this time, scallops, monkfish (me) and fish & chips (Peter - on pic below).

America's First Resort: Newport

It's Tuesday evening in New Bedford/MA, we are staying in a Fairfield Inn by Marriott, directly at the busy fishing harbor. Time flies, and we've had it all in the last two days: rich people and mansions (in Newport/RI) as well as Melville and Moby Dick, hard-working whalers, fishermen and mill-workers (in New Bedford). We've had rain out of buckets yesterday and sun today. Were on our own yesterday and in good company today. Wish I would have packed more sweaters, the weather is very changeable and it rained quite a bit to date.

Newport - where we arrived on Monday morning - is considered "Americas First Resort" and has evolved from an asylum for religious dissenters to a Gilded Age playground from the 1890ies to the 1920ies. Starting in the 1850ies, Newport became a summer colony, where the rich people liked to spend their vacation, later big mansions were commissioned by industrialists, oil or railroad magnats and philanthropists, today, five of them are regularly open to the public. Famous families of the time, like the Vanderbilts (see portrait of Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt above, who got rich with steamboats and railroad construction, the Firestones (rubber tires), the Dukes (tobacco), or the Berwinds (coal) owned big mansions in different fancy architectural styles with dozens of rooms, lots of servants and every luxury imaginable. If you think about it: it was usually just for six weeks in summer that they stayed here!


There are private clubs, private beaches and - though the big mansions aren't really fenced in or supervised by cameras today - everything is highly exclusive, also the galleries and boutiques. After our trolley tour in the pooring rain in the morning along Bellevue Ave with the big mansions, Ocean Drive along the coastline and through downtown, we explored the History Museum (rather small), the International Tennis Hall of Fame in the former casino, with adjacent tennis courts (see pics above), and the Audrain Auto Museum (about 20 luxury cars).

We walked part of the Cliff Walk - a beautiful trail (even in the rain!) along the coastline (pics above) - and continued for The Breakers (pics), the largest mansion in town, which was swamped with people, especially Chinese groups. The other big mansions, like The Elms, Marble House or Rosecliff, are a little "smaller" and each of them shows a different "fashion" and architectural style.

Walked back to the hotel, feet getting sore, to pick up our car and to head out again to see "Newport Storm", a brewery and distillery in the outskirts of Newport. Their tasting room was packed, but beer and rum both were really worth the drive.

Unfortuntately, our pre-arranged sailing trip in the evening was cancelled because of the weather. Would have loved to see Newport from the water! At least, we took a look at the boat, the "Madeleine" at Bowen's Wharf in the evening (pic), hoping to get a rain cheque for a future sail. Enjoyed the evening in our beautiful B&B, the Hilltop Inn, built beginning of the 20th century, a masterwork of craftmanship. Each of the ++ five rooms is tastefully furnished and very comfortable with a jacuzzi and a fireplace. Especially loved the huge bathroom and the comfy bed with a vie towards the garden. Also, snacks and sweets were being served and the garden would have been beautiful in good weather! Just the perfect place to stay after a long rainy day!

Wonder if wealthy Brown students get such delicious Bouillabaisse?

Sunday morning we indulged ourselves in a two-hour shopping rush at the Merrimack Premium Outlets closeby Manchester. Since there is no sales tax in New Hampshire we got good deals at Levi's, Jockey, Under Armour and GAP and were happy. On we drove then through the Blackstone River Valley - wanted to check out what's offered there - and, though there are many old industrial structures, signage and "real sights" are pretty rare and route wasn't too exciting neither. Now we know.

Providence, the capital of and the largest city in Rhode Island (180,000 people), was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a religious exile from the English Massachusetts Bay Colony. Providence became famous for its textile manufacturing and machine tools, today's key industries are hospitals and universities.


Flagship is Brown University, founded in 1764, a member of the Ivy League, highly recognized and very selective. On the main campus in the College Hill Historic District, passing by the Atheneum (*1753), a historic library (pic), we watched part of the graduation celebration, saw some of the illustrious high society - consisting of many Asians - young people celebrating their degree in the traditional dark gowns and big hats together with their proud families. The academic year (one year!) at this school costs about $ 68.000 including room and board. Wondering, who can afford to study here... not us, that's for sure.


The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is another well-renowned institution in town, occupying several buildings. The RISD Museum, which we visited, houses about 100,000 objects, ranging from ancient art to work by contemporary artists and designers from all over the world. The collection is spread out in different buildings, partly modern, partly historic. The first public galleries were created in 1893 in the Waterman Building and it was added on to that.

We explored downtown, with a nice promenade along the Providence River, and would have loved to stay in town overnight, but due to graduation celebrations on this day, we were moved south, to the coast of Rhode Island, in South County Rhode Island, about one hour driving time from Providence. Before arriving there, we had dinner planned in East Greenwich and this was a one-of-a-time experience!

At Red Stripe Restaurant we not only met the raising executive chef, Rachel Klein, but also got the royal treatment: four different appetizers - crispy artichokes were our fav - followed by four entrées - bouillabaisse was to die for, salmon and cod shined with unique sauces and sides and ribs at the end were terrific, too - finished by two desserts and paired with great wines, what else could we have wished?

... perhaps a doggy bag (we were stuffed at the end!) and not to have to drive another 35 minutes to our B&B which, on the other hand side, showed to be a unique place. In the Admiral Dewey Inn, located closeby the beach, owner Lev, of Lebanese origin, welcomed us warmly, room was spacious, beer was cold and owner and guests were really good company. Only after 9 pm we finally retired (to work some more in our room), tired to the bones.

Another Capital and a unique Mill Town

Beautiful drive on Saturday morning from Freeport to Concord, New Hampshire's capital: winding roads through woods and little towns. Sun for a change, too, and warming up, which felt good. After a stop at the Discovery Center and a complex of galleries, we drove into downtown Concord. Saturday is a good day to be in Concord, because of the weekly farmers' market on the grounds of the State House (pic above). Of course, we bought maple syrup and fresh baking goods for a late breakfast. Lots young families and dog lovers around.

Main Street is packed with unique little shops, boutiques and cafés, with some public art inbetween, and it was fun to wander around and check them out, especially since the weather was great for a change. Especially liked Gibson's bookstore, founded in 1898.





On to Manchester afterwards, completely different from Concord. Much less fancy, more "industrial", which comes from its history as a mill city. The Currier Museum (pics above), our first stop in Manchester, is renowned for European and American art, a nicely presented not overwhelming collection. The Museum also offers tours of the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Zimmerman House, which we visited on a previous trip.

After a stroll along downtown's main street, we visited the Millyard Museum,located in a former textile mill. The exhibition tells the story of Manchester and the people who have lived and worked here, from early times to the period, when the textile industry flourished. In the 1920ies bigger textile companies were founded at the Merrimack River and the Amoskeag Falls (pic below), which served as a "power canal" for the mills.

Starting in 1831 the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company took the city over and a huge textile manufacturing complex emerged, including housing for the workers. This corporation employed over 17,000 people, including immigrants from many countries, mostly French Canadians, but also Irish, Scots, Germans and Swedes. In 1935 operation was terminated, but the company's vast brick millyard still dominates the cityscape today and the buildings are re-used by different smaller companies.

Afterwards we checked in the Hilton Garden Inn, which is located directly at the baseball stadium. We got a room with a view towards the ballpark and after a site inspection with the general manager, we watched a game of the Manchester FisherCats (Eastern Legue, AA), which was taking place this afternoon, and enjoyed a drink on the sunny patio of the hotel while watching.


Later, the hotel shuttle brought us to "Cotton", a great restaurant in one of the mill buildings in town. Corresponding to our rule to have seafood or fish every day while in New England, we had lobster bisque and pan-seared scallops followed by steaks - all of it was excellent! - and walked back to the hotel afterwards to still see the fireworks after the baseball game.

Lumber and Boots

Friday morning it rained out of buckets, we left Bar Harbor towards Bangor, to the north, only about 100 miles away from the Canadian border. There, to our full surprise, a tour was arranged for us and that gave us a chance to see much more than we would have done on our own without guidance.


Bangor, located on the Penobscot River, was famous for lumber and shipbuilding. Logs were floated downstream from the North Maine Woods and processed at the city's sawmills before they were shipped to the Atlantic Ocean. The wealthy lumber barons built elaborate mansions, which are still to be admired, one of them owned by famous author Stephen King (pic). Other sights in town are an unusual water tower/tank (resembling a lighthouse, see pic), the huge, park-like cemetery Mount Hope and - pretty unique and unknown - the Cole Land Transportion Museum. Collected by the Cole Transportation company unique vehicles of all kinds are presented in a huge garage-like building. Nobody would expect a collection like this behind such a modest facade!

On to Augusta, the capital of Maine since 1831, located on the Kennebec River. Just passing through we wanted to at least see the State House (that's how they call the Capitol here in New England, pic) - much less elaborate as in other States and without a golden coppola - and the State Museum, which really was a treat. It explained a lot about the different industries in the state, fishing, lobstering (pic above), ship-building, milling and much more. A water-powered mill is installed in the museum as well as living quarters and workshops and much more.

After another one hour-drive we arrived to Freeport, our today's destination. After check-in we, of course, had to explore L.L Bean. In 1911, an outdoorsman named Leon Leonwood (L.L.) Bean returned from a hunting trip and had a revolutionary idea how to improve shoes: by stitching leather uppers to workmen’s rubber boots.

This innovative boot is one item today in the store, which consists of several buildings, from boats to bikes, home accessories, clothing, guns and fishing ruts, and is just humongous. Freeport itself seems to only consist of outlet stores of all kinds and after a visit to L.L. Bean with a pair of boots for Peter, we drove back to our hotel with a stop at Gritty's, where we had good IPAs and food (fish & chips and a lamb burger) and, as always in brewpubs, enjoyed good conversation.