New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
From the Fairhaven Visitor Center:
This fall you can learn more about Fairhaven and its history by taking one of the tours offered on weekends in September and early October.
New this year is a tour inside Fairhaven High School, offered by Bob Foster, president of the Fairhaven High School Alumni Association. Other tours, presented by the Fairhaven Office of Tourism, are walks of the Poverty Point neighborhood, Fairhaven Center and Riverside Cemetery.
In addition to these weekend tours, the Office of Tourism will continue to offer its Thursday tours through the end of September. The Henry H. Rogers tour starts at the Visitors Center, 43 Center Street, at 10:00 a.m. each Thursday. Fort Phoenix Minuteman Tours are given at the fort between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m. on Thursdays.
The weekend tours are:
Poverty Point Walking Tour
Saturday, September 11
Begins at Old Stone Schoolhouse, 40 North St., Fairhaven
2:00 p.m.
Take a guided, ninety-minute walk through what was one of the earliest village settlements in Fairhaven. Learn about Manjiro Nakahama, Capt. Joshua Slocum, Elder Joseph Bates and more. The Old Stone Schoolhouse will be open for viewing before the tour. Guide: Christopher Richard.
NEW!
Fairhaven High School Tour
Saturday, September 18
Fairhaven High School, 12 Huttleston Ave.
2:00 p.m.
Take a guided tour of Fairhaven High School, the “Castle on the Hill,” which was built by millionaire Henry H. Rogers and donated to the town in 1906. The tour, guided by Bob Foster, is sponsored by the FHS Alumni Association and lasts about 90 minutes. The tour starts inside the main entrance on the east side of the building. Donations to the Alumni Association are appreciated. For more information, email info@fairhavenalumni.org.
Fairhaven Center Walking Tour
Saturday, September 25
Begins at Leonard E. Pierce Memorial Park, corner of South and Fort streets, Fairhaven
2:00 p.m.
This guided, ninety-minute walk in Fairhaven center highlights the histories of some of the homes and buildings dating from the 1830s to the beginning of the 20th Century. Learn about Henry H. Rogers, the Delano family, churches, “moving houses” and more. Guide: Christopher Richard.
Riverside Cemetery Tour
Sunday, October 10
Starts inside the main gate of Riverside Cemetery, 274 Main Street, Fairhaven
2:00 p.m.
Created in 1850 by Warren Delano II, the grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, this is one of the most beautiful rural-style cemeteries in Massachusetts. The tour visits the final resting places of some of the town’s most prominent people. The Rogers mausoleum and the Delano family tomb are also on the route. You’ll also see lovely examples of early tombstone art as you walk along the beautifully landscaped paths. This tour includes walking on uneven ground. Comfortable walking shoes are suggested. Guide: Christopher Richard.
