By Joanne Mendes

Thomas Wolfe once wrote, “I have to see a thing a thousand times before I see it once.” Sometimes you need to step away from a place before you can truly appreciate all that it has to offer. This certainly is true about my relationship with New Bedford.

In 1975 I graduated from Bishop Stang High School, went off to college and never looked back. I couldn’t wait to leave Southeastern MA, convinced that there was something bigger and better waiting for me. In my eyes, New Bedford was a depressing place, certainly not a place that held a future for the young professional I strove to be. All I could see was a city that used to be. Used to be a nice place to live, before “urban renewal” tore into its heart; used to be the leader in fishing, textiles and history. New Bedford was a city in decline, a city lost unto itself, a city divided.

For the next 30 years I bounced around the United States. Although I lived primarily in New England, my job afforded me the opportunity to travel extensively. Of course, I did come back, mostly for weekends, holidays and vacations. After all, being brought up an only child in an Italian/Portuguese household, home is always where your family is. And while I loved being with my family, and enjoyed our times together, I had no desire to stay.

And then the unthinkable happened. My parents got older, and I was downsized from my job. As my Dad’s health declined, there was only one thing to do, move closer so I could be there for them. I’d like to say I came back with a great attitude and loving thoughts, but I’d be lying. I did not return like a lamb, more like a lion roaring, kicking, screaming and lamenting. I was convinced I would have no friends, no culture, and no entertainment – in short, no life.

But once I settled in, my emotions settled down. As I spent time and reminisced with my parents, I began to record their stories. Ancestry research is like weaving. To quote Grandma Regis, “The most beautiful tapestry starts with but one thin piece of thread.”

This city was built by hard working immigrants, my ancestors included, who came to this country looking for a better life. As I sifted through local records and historical documents, I soon found that my family threads were intricately woven into New Bedford’s. For example, my paternal grandfather, who also worked the ferry to Oak Bluffs, laid most of the sidewalks in this city. Several local schools, including the Hathaway were constructed by my maternal grandfather, who also moonlighted as a carpenter, renovating some of the finer homes from Salters Point to Sagamore.

Looking at the city through this lens gave a whole new meaning to the word home. Suddenly, I’m not just riding down Purchase Street with my Dad, instead I am transported to the “Holy Acre” where my great grandparents and their families lived and worked.

At Purchase and Austin Street, Horatio Welding fades and becomes Giusti’s Baking Company circa 1943. This where MY personal history began, when a baker home on leave from the Navy met a bookkeeper looking for a ride home so she can save streetcar fare back to Dartmouth.

On State Street I am at Great Aunt Jo’s, where a houseful of boisterous Italians celebrate yet another birthday with a delicious strawberry filled cream cake from New Bedford Baking Company. Two doors in from the corner of Chestnut and North, I don’t see an empty lot; instead I see the faded image of my paternal grandparent’s last home. I am standing on the sidewalk with my avo, crying because the ice cream bar he bought for me melted onto the sidewalk. At Christmas, when I walked Clasky (Common) Park, I am five again and holding hands with my parents as we ooh and ahh over the lights and decorations. Every path I walked, every road I drove became a wonderful journey down memory lane.

The City New Bedford was once the crown jewel of the manufacturing world. Names like: Wamsutta, Revere Copper, Cornell Dubilier and Acushnet were known worldwide for their quality products. I am proud to say, my immigrant ancestors were part of what made New Bedford great. From Atlas Tack to Morse Twist Drill; Paulding to GroTogs; Gilt Edge Silk to “The Process”, my ancestors, like yours, were a proud, humble group that became this fine city’s heart and soul.

It’s now 2014, and the landscape has changed. Downtown, once a desolate place when Saltmarshes, Star Store and Cherry and Webb left, is revitalized with a new hotel, great restaurants, art galleries and boutiques nestled between two stalwarts – the Whaling Museum and the Zeiterion Theater. You want culture; I’d stack the New Bedford Symphony against any other. Entertainment: go downtown on the first Thursday of the month and say AHA!

Same is true for the festivals from First Night to July 4 to the Working Waterfront. You will experience a comfortable family atmosphere while listening to good music and savoring the local cuisine. If you want more, check out the Z. In the six years I’ve resided here I’ve watched some memorable performances from Bill Cosby to Midtown Men to Do Wop. And by the way, you haven’t lived until you’ve heard the Vienna Boys Choir perform in St. Anthony’s Church.

It only took 38 years for me to recognize New Bedford as the rare gem she is. It also took me that long to realize that she and I both have a lot in common. We are rich in heritage, but still suffer from an inferiority complex. Our well-worn facades proudly display scars from our storied past. Still, what we’ve lost in youth and beauty, we more than make up for in maturity and wisdom. It took me a long time, but I’ve finally reconciled myself with my past, and am ready to face a brighter future. It’s high time for New Bedford to do the same.

Now that I’ve seen where I’ve been it’s time for me to figure out what my next role is in this play called life. That cute little bookkeeper (I called her Mom) passed away last year, and is now with my Dad (her sailor). My reasons for moving back no longer exist so it’s time for me to be moving on. Unlike the last time I left “for good”, this time, I will happily carry with me the spirit and pride of my ancestors and the many contributions they made to New Bedford and this region. When someone asks me where I am from, I’ll proudly say I come from a city that once lit the world, and one that I know will light it again. The City that proudly bears the name – New Bedford.

Thomas Wolf was wrong – you can go home again. You just have to have the right attitude when you do.

Have an opinion you want to share? E-mail mike@newbedfordguide.com.

Here is another installment in our Who Remembers? series. You can browse previous articles by using the search bar on the right or by clicking here. These articles are strolls down memory lane. In some cases the buildings, but new businesses have replaced them. In other instances, the buildings or even the properties have been razed. Instead of a building, it may be a TV show, personality, or commercial that no one longer exists. Either way, it can’t stop us from taking the Memory Lane stroll!

As always we would rather this be a discussion. No one knows this area better than those who grew up here! Please, leave constructive criticism, feedback, and corrections. We’d love to hear your anecdotes. Please share!

This installment of “Who Remembers…?” is kind of melancholic. Visiting Penny Candy is a bummer, since there are only a few bastions of sugar remaining. While you certainly may find packages of old penny candy favorites, or even “2 cent candy” or “nickle candy,” you’d be hard pressed to find PENNY candy. Regardless, it’s just not the same. It wasn’t only about the candy. It was about the experience.

I guess, identifying with penny candy and waxing nostalgic about it simultaneously outs one as “old.” It’s how I felt when I told my daughter when she was 8-9 years old about pay phones and she thought I was pulling my leg. “Why would you put a coin in a phone, when you have a cell phone.” Remember the spiral chords? Rotary dials? If you remember cranking the phone to get an operator, then you are positively Jurassic. Anyhow, that’s another article for another day.

As a kid, there was something special about being gifted with a dollar. Heck, even fifty cents. When that George Washington was put in your palm, you could feel all the neurons in your brain fire at once. Your salivary glands would explode in anticipation. That boring, dull day just became one of the best days ever. The first thing I would think of was finding my brother or a good friend to share in the stroke of good luck.

Penny candy wasn’t just about the candy. It was about the experience. It was about taking your sibling or best friend with you. It was about racing into the store to gaze at the shelves of what – in my mind at least – was a million choices of candy, stacked to the ceiling! It was about grabbing a brown paper lunch bag and trying to fill it to the brim. It was when you didn’t need safety seals. It was about the trust that the proprietor extended you – he didn’t watch over you. He knew you would taste the merchandise, but that was OK.

You can head to that chain to buy the 99 cent bag of assorted fish, spice drops or circus peanuts all you want. It just isn’t the same.

As those of you who are regular readers may recall, I lived a sort of gypsy lifestyle moving all around the the greater New Bedford area. This meant I became an expert at penny candy. A connoisseur if you will. A grandmaster of Squirrel Nut Zipper-Fu. My fondest spots were Bob & Eileen’s on County Street and Chris’ Variety on Main Street in Fairhaven.

Do you remember the paper receipts with the small dots of hard candy? I think they were called Candy Buttons. There was Abba-Zaba, atomic Fireballs, Bit-O-Honey, Pixy Sticks, Bazooka Joe bubble gum and Baseball chocolate balls. There were candy necklaces, chocolate coins, red hot dollars, Mexican hats, root beer barrels, nonpareils, Göetzes, and Mary Janes! The list goes on and on!

Of course, there was always a few extra coins about, so we’d purchase more than we could…or should have. But that was also OK, because it just meant we had to shrink the packed bag down before we got home for the “mom inspection.” It was fun to have her inspect the lot and “steal” a few of her favorites – always followed by a playful “HEY!” from us.

The vast majority of the time, the best way to polish of a bag was to race to the bedroom and pull out some comic books, sprinkling each page with sugar!

Then one of the most glorious treats of all: the medley of crumbs, bits and sugar that sat at the bottom of the brown paper bag. I wonder how many times we’ve straightened that bag out, and formed a funnel to savor those sweet remnants.

While candy goes back 5,000 years, Penny Candy made its debut sometime circa 1896 with the Tootsie Roll at Woolworth’s Five and Dime. Of course, the popularity of the Tootsie Roll inspired Woolworth’s to expand into an entire Penny Candy Aisle.

It’s sad that the entire experience has disappeared. Penny candy no longer cost a penny, there are no more brown paper bags or “trusting” proprietors. No more sugar sprinkled comic book pages. No more testing the merchandise. The next best thing is a place like Emma Jean’s or Billy Boy Candy. And we can always reminisce.

But it just won’t be the same.

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By Laura Pedulli

There was a great Washington Post slogan from about 15 years ago: “If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.”

We need another slogan—but scaled nationally. Since that came out, subscriptions are falling, newspapers are shuttering, and too many of us take for granted the information and data we get from newspapers, and how this informs our everyday lives.

This is my call to the American Newspaper Association: Hire the best damn marketing gurus in the country and launch a campaign for people to actually invest in newspapers.

Tree-hugger? Get it digitally. More interested in international news and national trends? Invest in a Sunday subscription of the New York Times. Love investigative journalism? Put your money into institutions that support it.

I’m sick and tired of hearing that the Internet killed journalism. The internet is a vehicle — still someone needs to go out and report and write the news. Haven’t you noticed that news wires just basically repeat the same stories over and over again? There may be more of it out there, but less original news content.

And yes, there is the chorus of everyday people writing blogs, and a proliferation of hyper local online communities. These are great and serve as a wonderful platform for community engagement. But will these online hubs bring about the Watergate scandal, whistleblower Edward Snowden’s National Security Agency revelations, or otherwise bring to light hidden truths in an unbiased manner? No, in my humble opinion.

More and more rooms of our fourth estate are getting rented out by corporate interests. I’m fine with advertising, but at the end of the day, it should be owned by the public. I won’t digress into a debate on the merits of public funding of media (But I do believe this is why NPR, PBS and BBC produce some fine journalism), but support journalism and then the news is truly for the people.

Journalism schools are withering away. A few years ago the University of Colorado, in my hometown of Boulder, shuttered its formal journalism program. But it’s no surprise why.

Journalists can’t find work so they end up migrating away to marketing and public relations. And even if you can find a job, expect to get paid in the low $30,000s, or $35,000 with a Masters degree. Some weekly newspapers pay their reporters a pathetic $26,000, so they are probably eligible for food stamps. Imagine all the talent we are losing, all the stories we aren’t reading, and all the insights lost just because of the inevitable brain drain. Newspapers need a budget, and that is where you come in. It costs $10 per month for an online subscription for many papers, is that really so much to ask for?

Information is power. So do the American thing and support a newspaper—digital, local, national, whatever. Democracy needs you to support the fourth estate. And like the Washington Post said in the 1990s, “If you don’t get it, you don’t get it.” And in the end, we all get what we pay for.

What do you notice about the weather image preview to the left? If you guessed, that this is the first weekend this year where the temperature will NOT go below freezing, you guessed correctly. We will come close though, as Sunday morning will hit 32 degrees. While it won’t be snowing, it unfortunately will rain on Saturday – but no flooding! You won’t need a life preserver or inflatable raft to get to the many events taking place on the South Coast! We’ll reach almost 60 degrees! There’s a lot going on now that Spring has arrived, so head on out and enjoy!

As always, click on the title for more or detailed information on the event. Most of the events were pulled from our event calendar  where you can find hundreds of local area events each month. The event calendar is FREE, so if you are a local business, and not taking advantage of FREE publicity, shame on you! Are you a local business and want to sponsor this high traffic, weekend guide? Contact info@newbedfordguide.com for more details. Have an event to add? Check out our tutorial. For more info, you can click on each title. Know of another event this weekend? Post a reply!

Friday, April 4th

Mother Goose at the Zoo (10:30 am)
Gather your goslings and fly on over for our new Mother Goose at the Zoo program. Join our gaggle for rhymes, songs, and meeting new friends. Great for children under age 3. FREE with admission!

WAMS Rummage And Bake Sale (Acushnet) (5:30-8:00 pm)
Sponsored by the W.A.M.S. of the Acushnet-Wesley United Methodist Church. Flea market items will be sold as well as baked goods and clothing.

Harlem Ambassadors vs Tri Town Trotters- Comedy basketball (Marion) (7:00 pm)
The Mattapoisett and Rochester Lions Clubs are bringing the Harlem Ambassadors back to town in the ORR High School Gym. Enjoy an evening of comedy basketball for the whole family. Proceeds to benefit Tri -Town Schools and Lions Charities. Come early (5:30 p.m.) for burgers and hot dogs. Tickets available at tri-town elementary schools, ORR High School, or on line by clicking on the event title.

First Friday Open Mic (7:00-9:00 pm)
First Unitarian Church of New Bedford presents First Friday Open Mic, 7-9 p.m. first Friday of each month. Free admission, refreshments available for purchase.

FHS Drama Club presents “The Wizard of Oz” (7:30 pm)
Come support the local kids and enjoy a tale we all love! The Wizard of us is being presented by the Fairhaven High School drama club for this weekend only. Tickets $15 adults, $12 for students and $10 for children under 12.

Saturday, April 5th

WAMS Rummage And Bake Sale (Acushnet) (9:00am-12:00 pm)
Sponsored by the W.A.M.S. of the Acushnet-Wesley United Methodist Church. Flea market items will be sold as well as baked goods and clothing.

Monthly Wellness Walk at Buttonwood; Get Moving, Get Healthy! (10:00 am)
Hawthorn Cardiologist Dr. Michael Rocha will lead participants on a two-mile walk around Buttonwood Park. This will happen monthly at 10:00 am and people will meet in the parking area in front of the zoo entrance.

Healing Share (Reiki) @ Crescent Moon Holistic Therapy Shoppe (10:00-11:00 am)
Open to all levels of Reiki. It’s not only for practitioners, but also for those interested in becoming practitioners. Come join us for healing and sharing! Crescent Moon Holistic Therapy Shoppe on Brigham Street near St. Luke’s Hospital. $10.00.

WAG Annual Juried Spring Show “Surf and Turf” (10:00am-5:00pm)
Paintings and drawings that interpret the theme by WAG members and New England artists will be on display. Reception and Presentation of Awards on Sunday April 6, 3–5 pm.

FrogWatch Training (1:00-3:00pm)
Local frogs need your help! Amphibian populations are declining worldwide so it’s important to learn as much as we can about these animals. Here’s how you can help! Join the Buttonwood Park Zoo’s FrogWatch Chapter! FrogWatch USA is a nationwide frog and toad monitoring program. Learn to identify local frog and toad calls then explore local wetlands to help contribute critical data to the long-term scientific study. Ready to become a citizen scientist? Call to register 508-991-6178 x 31. (Ages 7+).

Our I-Dentities Event @ Gallery X (3:00-5:00 pm)
Celebrate Spring and the power of words with a gathering of local poets who will share their thoughts on Our I-Dentities at Gallery X. Hosted by Everett Hoagland with guest poet Tony Medina, winner of the 2013 Langston Hughes Society Award and a professor of Creative Writing at Howard University. Event is free and open to the Public. Featuring Local Poets Erik Andrade, Lauren Daley, Gerald Bourassa, Dawn Blake Souza, Ron Barboza, Megan Tench, an Catherine McLaughlin. Letisha Imani HarrisFor additional information, call the Historical Society at 508-979-8828.

Painting with a Splash: “Martini” w/ Ann (3:00 & 7:00pm)
Welcome to Painting with a Splash Where you are the artist! Painting with a Splash is the newest addition to Historic Whaling City Downtown New Bedford. Bringing you an experience of art as entertainment. Add a little wine (BYOB) that will surely tap into your creative side. With step by step instruction and a little music, you and your friends will create the evenings featured painting with a splash of your own uniqueness. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! Just a desire to have fun.

Sunday, April 6th

Friends of Acushnet Troop 41 Spaghetti Supper Fundraiser (1:00 pm-6:00 pm)
The Senior Center of the Acushnet Council on Aging is a center of activity. Located in the old Mason Weldon Burt School Building. The ACOA is a gathering place for area seniors. A few of the senior programs are restricted to Acushnet senior citizens because of funding limitations. However, most of their activities and programs are open to all seniors. Come have S’ketti and help out! $5 adults, $2.50 children 12 and under.

FHS Drama Club presents “The Wizard of Oz” (2:00 pm)
Come support the local kids and enjoy a tale we all love! The Wizard of us is being presented by the Fairhaven High School drama club for this weekend only. Tickets $15 adults, $12 for students and $10 for children under 12.

Painting with a Splash: Fund Raiser for Braiden Norton w/ Ann + Fitz’s Wine Pour w/Fitz (12:00pm & 6:30 pm)
Welcome to Painting with a Splash Where you are the artist! Painting with a Splash is the newest addition to Historic Whaling City Downtown New Bedford. Bringing you an experience of art as entertainment. Add a little wine (BYOB) that will surely tap into your creative side. With step by step instruction and a little music, you and your friends will create the evenings featured painting with a splash of your own uniqueness. NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY! Just a desire to have fun.

Want to sponsor this weekend guide? Contact info@newbedfordguide.com for more details. 

by Emma James

With several world renowned Portuguese Fado singers (fadistas) performing in New Bedford’s arts centers and venues, let’s take a look at this exciting and evocative style of folk music and learn more about its origins and the other influences of New Bedford’s music scene.

For those who don’t already know, Fado is a type of urban folk music which originates from the city of Lisbon in Portugal. It is known as the soul music of Portugal. Nobody really knows its true origins but it is believed that Fado dates back to the 1820s and 1830s, making it perhaps the oldest folk music in the world. As opposed to rural folk music, which usually has a single local influence, urban folk music was heavily influenced by many cultures as they merged together within developing towns and cities. It is said that Fado was influenced not only by Portuguese country music but also has some African and Moorish elements.

Music of longing and despair

This mournful style of music is infused with sad lyrics and melancholic tunes, usually inspired by the sea or the resigned lives of the poor. Fado actually means “destiny” or “fate” and a word much associated with this music is “saudade” which means nostalgia or unrealized dreams, a longing, loss or yearning that can never be satisfied. The theme of all Fado songs is death, destiny, despair or betrayed love and the deep emotion it evokes transmits through the whole audience, overcoming any language barriers. A performance is only considered a success if the audience are completely moved to tears by the end. For many Portuguese emigrants Fado is an expression of the homesickness they feel.

An emotional and passionate night out

A Fado performer is called a fadista. Because Fado is a style of music that has to be experienced and felt a performer of Fado needs to be able to express and transmit deep feelings using their whole body and voice. Many of them train for years and years from when they are young. Fado audiences are very demanding and if they feel they are not having a deep enough experience of raw emotion they have been known to stop the performance.

Music as therapy

For centuries music has been an important aspect of life for humans. Not only does it connect people as they watch live performances and go out to dance, it is also used to relax and unwind. It can be an inspiring and invigorating to hear an upbeat tune and music is often a source of consolation in times of sadness. Music such as Fado, with its emotional power, can have a strong influence on the brain. Research shows that playing, making or listening to music can have a powerful therapeutic effect and music therapy is becoming more widely used in the treatment of mental and other health issues such as addiction.

Musical influences

New Bedford’s mix of music and art perhaps originates from deep in the ancestral heritage of New Bedford, with its mixed settlers and immigrants from around the world bringing lyrics and music from their traditional cultures here. The original settlers landed here from Exmouth in England followed by settlers from Scotland and Wales. During the first half of the 19th century a wave of Irish immigrants arrived, followed later in that century by immigrants from Portugal, attracted by the whaling industry. With each of these waves of immigrants local traditions, customs, culture and art were introduced leading to the rich diversity displayed today.

The music scene in New Bedford contributes to its vibrancy and culture and this is encouraged in the young. The House of Music in New Bedford is a free performing arts school for children and teens offering free services to the youth and their families, including singing, dancing, and drumming. Each year their annual event attracts the local music lovers to share in the celebration of music.

New Bedford Music Events

The Zeiterion Performing Arts Center hosts national and international events and not only is there a selection of live music venues there are also art galleries and museums to keep the most eager culture buff enthralled. The huge diversity of music and art can be seen in the many fairs and fairs and festivals taking place, which include the Summerfest Folk Music and Arts Festival, the traditional Blessing of the Fleet, and the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament, the largest Portuguese cultural celebration in the nation.

Dartmouth was originally a pastoral community and consisted of farms like this one from 1909 (Spinner Publications)

Few could imagine the change North America would go through with arrival of Bartholomew Gosnold at Hap’s Hill or Dumpling Rocks in 1602. Of course, most know it as Round Hill today. In just a few centuries, the North and South American continents would be drastically altered and the world remapped, with new nations – indeed, Superpower and First World nations – springing up with a feverish pace.

While, the “Vikings” had certainly arrived six centuries before Gosnold at L’Anse aux Meadows -in an attempt to explore Vinland- they had done nothing with their presence (that we are aware of) beyond the small settlement. After Leif Ericson, would come a man hardly anyone has heard of: Cristoforo Colombo, who sailed the ocean blue. However, Mr. Columbus never made it to the mainland of North America.

Gosnold’s arrival at Cuttyhunk signaled what would become a mass influx of Europeans, beginning with the Leiden church members 18 years after. The rest as “they” say is history.

European Settlement
On November 29, 1652 the governor of New Plymouth, William Bradford, along with thirty-four (or thirty-six depending on the historical document) shareholders signed a deed making an official purchase of a “tracte” of land from Wampanoag Indians Woosamequin (Massasoit) and his son Moanam (Wamsutta) for “…thirty yards of cloth, eight moose skins, fifteen axes, fifteen hoes, fifteen pairs of breeches, eight blankets, two kettles, one clock, two English Pounds in Wampum, eight pair of shoes, one iron pot, and ten shillings…” Though made official in November, the land was unofficially purchased 6 months prior on March 7. While the exchange seems like a pittance, these things were incredibly valuable to the Wampanoags.

The deed that ties this parcel of land to the European proprietors, the Religious Society of Friends or Quakers, gave specific dimensions on what it encompassed – some 100,000 acres of pristine country. These lands were owned by the Wampanoag tribes the Acushnets, Acoaxets, Apponagansets who would have Acushnet (included New Bedford), Dartmouth and Westport respectively, named after them. This also included Sconticut or Fairhaven.

For you etymology buffs or fans of Amerindian culture, the words are simple descriptions. Acushnet means “at the head of the river,” and Acushenas meant “those who live near the head of the river.” Apponagansett means “waiting place at the ledge.”

Sconticut means “a place to stay during the summer,” Acoaxet means “at the fishing promontory,” or “at the place of pines.” In this context the promontory is a part of land that overlooks a body of water. Please, lend me the liberty of inaccurate spelling with many of these Amerindian words. Historical documents show a similar struggle to write these words using our alphabet.

Over the coming three decades, the European settlers began to spread into the continent, primarily around garrisons, due to the general hostility, understandably so, of the local Amerindian tribes. The first garrisons were at the head of the Apponeganset (would later become Joseph Russell’s property) and a mile north of what would become Oxford Village in Sconticut or Fairhaven, at the Isle of Marsh. Some of the foundation of Russell’s Garrison can still be seen at the site on the appropriately named Fort Street. The garrison, named after John Russell is where the locals would hold out during the coming King Philip’s War.

Garrisons, homesteads, and farms
These garrisons were often simply isolated, fortified homesteads, which is what Dartmouth was comprised of early on. The garrisons eventually grew into hamlets, villages and townships. Some of the very first being in Nomquid known as Russells Mills, Slocum Neck, and Smith Neck.

Many of these first settlers to the Dartmouth region were Quakers, who ironically were escaping religious persecution from the Puritans – who came to the New World to escape religious persecution. The early Quakers were far more liberal in their approach to religion and gender equality, than the Puritans were. Indeed, many Puritans tortured, humiliated, banished, and even executed Quakers for their religious beliefs.

The early Quakers were an industrious, hard-working folk who weren’t averse to working on the Sabbath day, unlike their counterparts, the Puritans. This “extra” work day gave the Friends a substantial advantage in availability and convenience which translated into an economic boon for the little township.

One site in particular that really placed the township on the proverbial and literal map, was the iron forge at Russell’s Mills started by John Russell, circa 1660. Russell had bought Myles Standish’s full share of land – approximately 3,200 acres for $210. Standish must have been a happy camper, since he paid about $8 for his share. Quite the return on his investment for a holding of less than a decade! Russell’s share comprised a little place we now know as Padanaram, from Bush Street to Russell’s Mills Road – including Bliss Corner and vicinity. Padanaram is typically and incorrectly thought to be an Amerindian word, but it is actually an Aramaic term meaning “the field of Aram” dubbed by Laban Thacher in the late 18th century.

Dartmouth’s first buildings
In addition, John and William Cummings erected a stone grist-mill and factory at Smith’s Mills. Allen-Sheehan Mill was on Slades Corner Road was was erected then and may be the country’s oldest. By 1664, Dartmouth would incorporate as a town, taking its name from Dartmouth, Devon, England where many of the first Puritans that came to Dartmouth originated. Around these mills and forges, many farms sprouted up as homesteaders nestled in.

By 1675, and the advent of King Philip’s War, there were just shy of 40 dwellings, mainly homesteads. King Philip’s War has been written about ad nausea, so I won’t enter the topic with any breadth or depth, but suffice it to say that most of the homesteads were wiped out. In Acushnet, the devastation was total.

However, the settlers weren’t deterred and made haste in rebuilding and returning back to normal.

This time a few salt works, shipyards, and workshops were erected to support the booming whaling industry and complimented the homesteads and mills. The first Town House, was erected in 1686, followed by a post office, tavern, school and general store. The first “Dartmouth Friends Meeting House” was built in Dartmouth in 1699, on six acres of land donated by a Mr. Peleg Slocum. It was razed during the Revolution, a new one was put up near the same spot in 1799.

The Howland Homestead was built in the early 1700s, but this home was moved to Newport, Rhode Island. Nonetheless, and perhaps because of its historical relevance, Colonel Green built a summer cottage on the site where he would berth the Charles W. Morgan. The Akin House was built in the 1760s by Job Mosher. It was burnt down by the Redcoats during the Revolution, but Padanaram’s first business mogul Elihu Akin rebuilt a home on the spot.

Dartmouth’s villages sprout up
The little township of Dartmouth continued to grow, as did the surrounding villages and towns. Eventually, some got too big for their britches and/or ideological, political differences made them itchy to separate. In 1787, New Bedford (included Fairhaven and Acushnet) and Westport were established with New Bedford receiving additional land from Dartmouth in 1845 and 1888 and Westport in 1793, 1795, and 1805. Reflecting these numbers, the population of Dartmouth according to the census was 6,773 residents in 1776, but 2,499 in 1790 after the towns separated. Dartmouth wouldn’t see 6,000 strong until 1920.

Hixville was named after the Reverend Daniel Hix who established a church and mill in the village in 1781. As public transport developed, Hixville became a stop between New Bedford and Fall River. This was pivotal in the village’s growth and in very little time, a general store, school, post office, inns, and blacksmith sprouted up turning Hixville into a minor economic hub among a primarily pastoral landscape.

In 1827 the Dartmouth Bridge Company erected a bridge across the harbor. Baptists communities developed and the first Baptist Church in the area was built in 1838.

The Grange Hall put up in 1860, the library in 1871. By 1900, the region was booming and New Bedford was becoming very industrialized with markets, waterfront, and mills.

As is the case today, many would rather live in a more rural area and have a short commute. This made Dartmouth highly desirable and it became a prime residential area. The Dartmouth coastline become a favorite resort area for the wealthy members of New Bedford society and the well-to-do flocked there in record numbers. This led to the development of Mishaum Point, Nonquitt, Salter’s Point.

The very pastoral and residential nature of Dartmouth attracted the next population wave: Portuguese immigrants. What attracted them to Dartmouth was that they could continue to have livestock and farms just as they did back in the old country. In spite of Westport, Fairhaven, Acushnet, and Dartmouth annexing, what was left in terms of land makes it the fifth largest town by land area in Massachusetts.

A look to the future as Dartmouth celebrates its 350th anniversary
The town of Dartmouth has a lot in store in terms of celebration. While events are planned over many months from May 18th to September 7th, the actual anniversary is on June 8th, and the town has fireworks, a live concert, and a massive birthday cake planned at Apponagansett Park for “Incorporation Day” and the finale will be a parade on Sept. 7. Each village or neighborhood will have its own calendar of events planned. The variety of events is astounding. Antique car show, community floats, emergency vehicles, youth orchestras, a visit by the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, wine tastings, ballroom dancing, breakfasts, luncheons, tea, historic photograph displays, cook off showdown, sidewalk sales, civil war encampment and MORE. The vast majority of which are free. Keep up to date and find detail on the town’s official website dedicated to the celebration: dartmouth350.com.

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by Jordis Brown

In our short-sighted way of existing, we as a society have lost the realization that our actions – even those in private – do affect the world around us. We all carry burdens and many of us possess unseen scars from our day to day life. This has impacted us as a whole, to positively affect the community. Your conscience, awareness and empathetic nature has fallen asleep. This is my plea to everyone who reads this…..

Wake Up.

Many years ago there was a young teenage girl who lived with her adult boyfriend. She was naive in every sense of the word. He exploited that to its fullest. There was abuse masqueraded as normal pitfalls in a relationship. There was no guidance or healthy relationship for her to witness so that she could know what was happening was wrong. One night she ran and he followed. Yelling every insult, spewing every threat you could think of at her.

She cried and cried and clutched her pillow and kept walking quickly trying to avoid main streets, feeling afraid and embarrassed. She was simply trying to make it to her parents. She approached the avenue and a stranger stopped her and asked if she was okay. He wasn’t afraid of her boyfriend like she was. He kept repeating himself until she nodded and made an excuse, still embarrassed and still afraid. She made the wrong decision and went back to the house with the boyfriend that night.

Nearly two decades later that short interaction still brought that girl, now a woman, comfort. Faith. It woke her up days later to realize that someone else, a stranger, could see there was something wrong. Why couldn’t she? Her own life and its hardships put her to sleep. Even though they could never be erased, she would no longer allow them to dictate her future.

All thanks to a stranger who he himself was awake enough to see someone needed help.

I want you, the stranger reading this to be happy. We most likely have never met, but I say this sincerely and honestly. Be happy. We affect the world we live in and I want to live in a happier place. I want to see more random smiles from strangers than glares. This community has hardships and not a single person I have ever met – neither very rich nor very poor – has been able to avoid something awful in their life from happening.

Stop punishing yourself, by continuing the cycle of self-pity, doubt, hate…you punish us all. Wake up! Are you with someone that is unchanging? Do they make you a better person or are you miserable? Wake up! Do you turn to drugs or alcohol to fill a void put there by someone in the past, a person who should have loved you, but didn’t. By a memory or by habit? Wake up! If you die tomorrow will it have been a life worth living? Did you notice neglect, abuse, a crime? Does your self-righteous opinion prevent you from doing anything? Do you live as a silent witness who shakes their head and does nothing? You take on what you’ve seen as a personal burden now because you are now as culpable.

The attachments you have in your life might be what has put you asleep to the world around you. Family, friends…..people who are truly happy, often say they feel alive. Awake for the first time. It is very difficult to cut the ties that bind us down, but when we do we fly up to the surface like a bungee cord freed from an anchor. Be a participant, not only in the community, but in your own life. Stop letting your burden dictate your fate.

Please for the love of yourself, for the family you have or the family you want: Wake up.

The United States Attorney’s Office Massachusetts District, in partnership with Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter’s Office and the New Bedford Public Schools, are conducting a crime prevention event for 6th grade students at Keith Middle School, 225 Hathaway Blvd., New Bedford. The event will take place on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, from 8:15am-10:30am. See attached flyer and agenda for a complete list of the event’s speakers. The media are encouraged to attend.

The event – “Your Future, Your Decision,” is a program combining presentations about the importance of good decision making with a resource fair. US Attorney Carmen Ortiz will speak to the students about the choices she made that led her from Spanish Harlem to her current position. A former gang member, Christian Berrios, will speak to the students about poor choices he made and how he turned his life around. Bristol County Assistant District Attorney and Shannon Grant Prosecutor Robert DiGiantomaso will speak to students about topics such as bullying, sexting, drugs and gangs and the legal and social consequences that can impact their future, particularly as it can affect their ability to get jobs, housing and admission to college.

Students will also visit a resource fair in the cafeteria to obtain information on various extracurricular in the community. The resource fair will be a vital component of the event, specifically highlighting programs offered after school and in the summer, when delinquent behavior is most likely to occur. Organizations include: YWCA, YMCA, New Bedford Art Museum/Artworks, North Star Learning Center, Trips for Kids, Youth Court, Boys & Girls Club, Dream Out Loud Center for the Arts, Gifts to Give, City of New Bedford Parks & Recreation Department, 3rd Eye Unlimited, and the City of New Bedford Public Library.

The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office will also distribute a resource guide, which was specifically created for area middle school students to inform them of activities and programs in the City of New Bedford. The guide offers an insight into different hobbies, sports, art, music, volunteerism, leadership, education, physical fitness, health and extracurricular activities. A product of the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, District Attorney Sam Sutter urges students to spend their free time engaged in positive, productive and healthy activities. As a result, it is his belief that youth are less likely to become involved in gangs, drugs, or crime.

By Joyce Rowley

Isn’t it nice to go out to dinner with friends to a place that has something for everyone? And with spring officially here, some of us are a little more conscious about sticking to a healthy diet to shed a few.

Eateries with the Healthy Dining New Bedford (HDNB) heart logo on their doors offer menus with healthier choices, says Kim Ferreira who runs the HDNB program for New Bedford Mass in Motion.

“Our goal at Mass in Motion is to create programs and policies to effect environmental changes that reduce obesity and chronic disease,” says Ferreira.

It is a matter of options, says Ferreira. Restaurants may offer substitutions of a salad or other vegetables instead of fried veggies and half portions or children’s portions for adults. Menu offerings may include sides of fruit or veggies and no salt/sugar or reduced salt/sugar foods.

For kids, the restaurants will have one percent or skim milk or water as a default beverage for children’s meals. And the menu could include at least three baked or grilled entrees too.

Ferreira is actively recruiting more restaurants to participate in the three-year-old program.

“There are a lot of restaurants who are already doing most of what we ask them to commit to,” she said. “Pa Raffa’s just added another vegetable to its menu and it works with a local farmer to have fresh vegetables.”

To participate, a restaurant chooses seven healthy practices from a list of 22 options like taking the salt shakers off the table or offering one whole grain item on the menu. They then complete the application to Ferreira with a commitment to maintain the healthy practices they’ve chosen.

Kristen Raffa, owner of Pa Raffa’s on Acushnet Boulevard in the North End, said their experience with the program has been positive.

“We love being part of the program,” said Raffa, whose restaurant signed up last year. “It really works for us.”

Raffa said that it didn’t take away from what they were serving, but gave customers better options. And Farmer Steve comes by with fresh produce in the summer. He also takes their food compost—trimmings from prep work that would otherwise go to waste.

“It’s so good when tomatoes come in fresh for the salads,” Raffa said.

Owner Mike Melo of M&C Café on Belleville Ave in the North End said it wasn’t difficult making changes last year when they signed up. Melo said it was more about giving people choices. Patrons can now split a plate between two people to cut the serving size and also cut calories in half.

“Instead of fries or chips, they can have a vegetable or upgrade to a salad,” said Melo. Or customers can substitute baked fish for fried fish, or grilled chicken for fried chicken.

Destination Soups on Union Street, was the first restaurant to sign up when the program began.

“We were already meeting the criteria,” said owner Devin Byrnes. “For us, it’s easy. We always offered vegan and gluten-free options and we make fresh fruit available. People always eat healthy here.”

“I think the Healthy Dining New Bedford initiative reflects the fact that people want to eat a more healthy diet. There is a natural progression for the country towards healthy eating,” Byrnes said. “People are more aware of what they’re putting in their bodies.”

Waterfront Grille on Homer’s Wharf is already there, too. Manager Bridget Phelan says that the menu hasn’t changed much since they joined the program two years ago.

“So there’s always been healthy choices. For example, vegetarian dishes can be prepared vegan,” Phelan said. “For me personally, I’m very passionate about nutrition. It’s great when you can go out and still eat healthy.”

For more information on the ten restaurants that are in the program, or to join the program, visit Mass in Motion’s website at massinmotionnewbedford.org/healthy-dining-restaurants/.

Youth Court is a program where troubled teens and pre-teens are sent for bad behavior. We receive cases about habitual school offenses, larceny, assault and battery and even small drug cases.

Every Tuesday a group of specially trained attorneys, like myself, meet at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School around 4:30 p.m. to start preparing for our cases. Each night we have 3-5 cases to work. Usually we have two members on the defense team, they represent the respondent, and two on the prosecution team who represent Youth Court.

Youth Court is as real as it gets. It has everything an actual court would have, from the judges, to the jury (made up of our peers), attorneys, witnesses, SRO Officers, sanctions, and even bailiffs! One thing that is different about our program is that you have to admit to being guilty before your case. As a defense attorney for Youth Court your job would be to help lower the sanctions that your respondent will get and to help them realize what they have done is wrong. As a prosecution attorney your job would be to get the respondent a reasonable amount of sanctions and also help them to realize what they have done is wrong.

What are sanctions?

Sanctions are the punishments the respondent or “client” receives for his or her actions. Sanctions range anywhere from community service – which every respondent receives at least 8 hours of – serving on the youth court jury (which every respondent over the age of 12 receives), essays, apology letters, boot camp, counselling, mandatory programs, curfews, house checks and even some extreme ones like drug tests and no-contact orders.

Youth Court has touched the lives of many adolescents making them realize that if they keep doing wrong there’s a good chance they won’t amount to anything in life. We’re very lucky to have this program in New Bedford because it helps kids realize there still is a chance for them to have a bright future. Usually when kids are sent to family court, they are sent off with a warning and they are more likely to re-offend sometime soon. In Youth Court you stay in our program for at least the next 6 months.

I’ve been a part of this program for what feels like a lifetime and being able to help kids my age is truly an incredible experience for me. Youth Court has helped me in more ways than one by bettering my public speaking skills, time management and most of all my confidence. The best thing about this program is being able to watch some of the kids you’ve helped mature and grow over time.

Website: http://nb-fryouthcourts.org/