Making Room-During the days when New Bedford dominated the whaling trade, 10,000 seamen were required to sail the fleet. Pacific islanders, New England farm boys, Cape Verdeans, Portuguese from the Azores, Wampanoag Indians, and immigrants from Europe found their way to this neighborhood.All of the buildings featured in this 1907 photograph--on what then was called Bethel Street—stood here and catered to roving seamen.
The “floating population” of this whaling town—those citizens going to sea or returning from sea—had to sleep somewhere. Most rested their heads in the boardinghouses that sprang up near the waterfront, like those pictured here.
The New Bedford “Whaling Museum” sits at the top of the hill today. With the construction of the whaling museum’s building here in 1915 most of the former seamen’s services began to vanish. The street was renamed Johnny Cake Hill shortly after the whaling museum was built. The name “Johnny Cake” honors a regional fare of cornmeal pancakes, made originally from maize and most likely, taught to early settlers by American Indians.
Photo Courtesy New Bedford Whaling Museum.
(Notable Places) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
