A call for freedom

by Michael J. DeCicco

"It's a masterpiece in progress." That's how Lee Blake, President of the New Bedford Historical Society, describes the current status of Abolition Row Park on Seventh Street, across from the historic home of slavery abolitionists Nathan and Mary “Polly” Johnson.

The new park, being built to mark New Bedford's leading role in the pre-Civil-War movement to abolish slavery and the Underground Railroad that helped slaves escape to freedom, will have its soft opening in July or August, Blake said.

Meanwhile, she explained, over the spring and summer the park infrastructure is being installed.

A water wall will likely be one of the most impressive of those features. A waterfall will cascade over a wall embossed with a quote from Nathan Johnson that is also on his gravestone advocating "the freedom of all men."

She noted that Johnson, whose home is across the street, harbored famed abolitionist and lecturer Frederick Douglass and others like him who came to New Bedford to escape slavery.

In September or October, the park's likely main attraction will be installed, the statue of Frederick Douglass that will portray him at the age when he first arrived at the Johnson house in 1838.

Records show 140 of these freedom seekers, including Douglass, stayed in the city. A total of approximately 700 escaped slaves came to New Bedford at that time on their way to boarding ships to other free territory.

To emphasize this and other ways the park's location is significant, educational kiosks on New Bedford's abolitionist history will be placed around the park. To encourage visitors to the park, a gazebolike bandstand is being developed by the local Carpenters Union to feature live music, speakers, and poetry readings. The park also plans to display works of public art.

The Abolition Row historic district will include nineteen historic houses that were the homes of many of the city’s antislavery activists and conductors on the Underground Railroad

According to Blake, a lot of extra help and a variety of funding mechanisms are moving the process along smoothly. Boston-based Cultural Outreach Group Design developed the park master plan. Local school students and scout troops and garden clubs are all lending a hand with the work. Fundraising has included grants from Preservation Act funds, Bristol County Savings, the Island Foundation, the MA Office of Tourism, and an Open Space grant from the South Coast Community Foundation.

In addition to the above assistance, the Historical Society worked with the City of New Bedford's Planning, Housing, and Community Development and Parks and Recreation departments as a public/ private collaboration from the design stage to managing the construction work there, and the project has had the support from a variety of local organizations and state representatives.

"It's a wonderful example of how good government can work," Blake said.

Still I rise

The park originated in flames, she said, and rose like a Phoenix. A fire destroyed two long-neglected historic homes at the corner of Spring and Seventh Streets in 2010. The historical society bought the Johnson house across from it in 2014. At one point, society members started cutting the grass growing wildly at the privately-owned vacant lots just so visitors to Johnson house programs would have a better view. After much negotiation with the landowner, the society bought the lots for one dollar then turned them over to the City of New Bedford in 2017.

The park's total cost is around $900,000, she said, and $225,000 of that is for the Douglass statue. "But we've already raised 75 percent of that," she said proudly.

All these efforts, she noted, are being done to "raise awareness that there are three buildings on the National Register of Historic Places: two homes owned by abolitionists Nathan and Polly Johnson and the Friends Meeting House, whose members have also been actively involved. It's a wonderful example of how people can pull together for an effort like this."

The Abolition Row historic district will include nineteen historic houses that were the homes of many of the city’s antislavery activists and conductors on the Underground Railroad, she added. Each of these houses bears an historical marker from the New Bedford Preservation Society. An interracial neighborhood in the nineteenth century, it exemplifies a time when Blacks and whites lived side-by-side and supported a shared social justice agenda through their deeds and actions.

“The proposed park will celebrate the lives and contributions of the African American and European Americans who fought the good fight for freedom and adherence to the democratic ideals we enjoy in the United States,” she said.