New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
It has been the New Bedford Preservation Society’s goal to raise funds through annual cemetery tours to preserve deteriorated markers. The first marker that has been chosen is that of Captain Daniel Drayton. The Drayton monument at New Bedford’s Rural Cemetery has been in a state of disrepair for many years. Captain Drayton is a relatively unknown figure of American history, who lived the life of an Atlantic coastal trader and abolitionist. He is memorable for his bravery in his failed attempt at transporting 77 fugitive slaves to the North onboard the ship “Pearl.” For this attempt he spent four years in prison before being pardoned by President Fillmore. In the summer of 1857, Drayton came to the city of New Bedford a broken, destitute man looking for sponsors to help him rescue slaves, and finding no one willing to do so, he then took his own life at the Mansion House, a hotel in New Bedford. The society welcomes donations and has set a goal of $4,000.
Rex Monumental Works of New Bedford has ordered the marble for this project, which will be inscribed with two of the three original biblical verses on the stone. The third inscription, which is unreadable, will be left blank so that if it is found in the future, it can be engraved at a later date.
Donations can be made online at http://www.nbpreservationsociety.org/drayton.html. Checks payable to the “New Bedford Preservation Society”, earmarked for the Drayton Monument Restoration, can be mailed to the society at P. O. Box 1618, New Bedford, MA 02741.
Save the date for the society’s next cemetery tour, which is scheduled for Sunday, October 4, 2015 (rain date October 11) from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Pine Grove Cemetery in the city’s north end. Historic portrayals in period costume of New Bedford notables will take place at gravesites along the tour route. General admission: $18; society members $15.
