A New Bedford Whale for Weathervane Wednesday

 Today's featured weathervane was photographed in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

This two dimensional sperm whale weathervane is located on the cupola over the front door of the Fairfield Inn on the waterfront in New Bedford harbor.  It is a very appropriate weathervane for the location, since New Bedford is famous as a whaling seaport and home to Herman Melville, the author of the novel Moby Dick: or, The Whale, published in 1851.  The New Bedford Whaling Museum is situated a few blocks from the hotel. 

Although this weathervane is only two dimensional, I liked the details including the teeth inside the whales mouth, and the fins on the tail.  Below I have listed links to nine other whale weathervanes we have photographed, and most are sperm whales located near historic whaling ports or other locations related to the whaling industry. 

Once we checked into the hotel, we saw that our guestroom was right behind the weathervane!  This is the view of the whale weathervane through the hotel window. 

For the truly curious:

Click here for over 550 Weathervane Wednesday posts:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday  

More whale weathervanes:

2026 Peaks Island, Maine    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/01/a-whale-of-weathervane-for-weathervane.html  

2025 Krimpen aan de Lek, The Netherlands   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2025/06/krimpen-aan-de-lek-netherlands-for.html  

2023  Lunenburg, Massachusetts   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2023/08/a-whale-of-car-wash-for-weathervane.html  

2022 New Bedford Whaling Museum   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/04/new-bedford-whaling-museum-weathervane.html  

2018  Seabrook, New Hampshire   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/10/weathervane-wednesday-whale-of.html  

2017 Wells, Maine    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/01/weathervane-wednesday-three-from-one.html  

2014 Salem, New Hampshire   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/07/weathervane-wednesday-in-new-england.html  

2013 Cold Spring Harbor, New York   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/05/weathervane-wednesday-whale.html  

2013 Hampton Beach, New Hampshire   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/weathervane-wednesday-seen-by-beach.html  

-------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A New Bedford Whale for Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 15, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/07/a-new-bedford-whale-for-weathervane.html: accessed [access date]). 

New Bedford Whaling Museum - Weathervane Wednesday

This weathervane was photographed over the dome at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

 

This is a large two dimensional weathervane of a sperm whale, the most lucrative whale to catch for the whaling industry.   Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales on planet Earth, with males measuring about 52 feet in length (some more!).  Sperm whale oil was considered the finest oil for lamps and lubricating machinery.  Whaling became a major industry in the 1700s and 1800s, with sperm whales the number one target for fishermen. Today sperm whales are a protected species. In the book Moby Dick, it was a sperm whale that attacked and sank the whaleship, based on the true story of the sinking of the Essex in 1799.  

The New Bedford Whaling Museum was established in 1903 as the Old Dartmouth Historical Society to collect the history of the city and surrounding area.  Since that time it has expanded the collections to showcase New Bedford history, art, the history of whaling, and the preservation and conservation of the whales and the natural environment.  The museum moved to the current location in 2002.   It features several large buildings, lecture series, a theater, special exhibits (in person and online), and an archive.  There are five complete skeletons of whales hanging in the main hall, and a half scale model of the Lagoda whaling ship. 

The library and reading room are open by appointment only now during the pandemic.  The archives charge a flat fee of $10 for digital photography to be used for personal reference only.  Photocopies are $0.25 each sheet, limited to 20 sheets.  You can search the library catalog through the museum link below.  The collections include manuscripts, maps, charts, log books, and journals.  Many of these have been digitized and available online. If you have an ancestor who was a mariner or whaler, you might want to check out the collections here!  You can send queries to the archivist via the website below. 

For the truly curious:

The New Bedford Whaling museum website:    https://www.whalingmuseum.org/   

18 Johnny Cake Hill

New Bedford, Massachusetts

508-997-0046 

The New Bedford Whaling Museum blog:    https://whalingmuseumblog.org/  

--------------------------

To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "New Bedford Whaling Museum - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 6, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/12/new-bedford-whaling-museum-weathervane.html: accessed [access date]). 

The Seaman's Bethel, New Bedford, Massachusetts - Weathervane Wednesday

 This weathervane was photographed in New Bedford, Massachusetts. 

Last year I visited New Bedford, Massachusetts and saw the Whaling Museum and the Seamans Bethel.  I was excited to see the weathervane atop the Bethel's short steeple!  It is quite intricate even though it lacks the cardinal points, and it is a rare painted weathervane.  

The weathervane depicts a whaling ship at sea, with rough waves painted along the hull.  It is strung with metal wire rigging, and painted to show the portholes and the sails. There is even a flag waving from one of the masts.  This weathervane appears to be wooden from a close up view of the photograph, which revealed what looks like wood under the peeling paint. 

The Seamans Bethel includes a chapel and a mariner's home built in 1832, and is operated by the charitable organization The New Bedford Port Society.  Itis located in the New Bedford Historic District, and is a National Historic Landmark.  This area is now the New Bedford Whaling National Historic Park. 

The Seamans Bethel is a popular historic site for events such as weddings and corporate receptions.  It has been used as a location for in the 1851 novel Moby Dick by Herman Melville, and is in movies such as the 1956 film version of Moby Dick which starred Gregory Peck and Orson Welles, and in the 1922 film Down to the Sea in Ships.  It is located across the street from the Whaling Museum complex.  If you take a peek inside the chapel you will see the pulpit shaped like the bow of a ship.  This pulpit is featured in the 1956 movie, with Orson Welles as the preacher.  

Seamen's Bethel

A non-denominational church

Dedicated 1832

New Bedford Port Society

The Whalemen's Chapel

Seaman's Bethel

"In the same new

Bedford there stands

a whalemans chapel

and few are the

moody fishermen

shortly bound for

the Indian or Pacific

Oceans who failed

to make a Sunday

visit to this spot"

               Moby Dick

The Whalemans

Chapel

of 

Herman Melvilles

Moby Dick

------

Office

Mariners Home

------>

For the truly curious:

The Seamans Bethel website:    https://seamensbethel.org/   

The New Bedford Port Society/Seamen's Bethel and Mariner's Home

15 Johnny Cake Hill

New Bedford, Massachusetts

508-992-3295

Click here to see over 450 Weathervane Wednesday posts!

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

------------------------------

To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Seaman's Bethel, New Bedford, Massachusetts - Weathervane Wednesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 23, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-seamans-bethel-new-bedford.html: accessed [access date]).