PRIME LIVING
Spreading culture, spreading light
Steven Froias
One of the features that now distinguish New Bedford is its Seaport Cultural District, a section of the city centered and containing numerous cultural destinations.
Populating the district are anchor institutions like the New Bedford Whaling Museum, National Whaling Historical Park, and the New Bedford Art Museum. You’ll also find a plethora of creative shops, galleries, small businesses, and signature events, like the monthly AHA! New Bedford celebration. In all, New Bedford’s Seaport Cultural District contains 49 cultural attractions, over 30 creative economy businesses, and all the amenities of the city’s downtown. It functions as a regional hub on the South Coast, just one hour from Boston, half an hour from
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Cape Cod and Plymouth, and also just half and hour from Providence and Newport. Now, the Seaport Cultural District is making room for even more partners by expanding its boundaries. Coming together Launched in 2011 by an act of the state legislature, cultural districts are overseen by the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). A cultural district is a walkable, compact area that is easy for visitors and residents to recognize. Each is designed to help tell the story of their communities, and function as hubs of cultural, artistic, and
S ou th C oast P r ime T imes
M arch /A pr il 2020
economic activity. There are a limited number of districts throughout Massachusetts and all are rigorously designated or redesignated by the MCC. The idea of a Seaport Cultural District has been a successful one for the city. Indeed, the MCC has agreed with the City of New Bedford’s recent proposal to expand the boundaries of the Seaport Cultural District throughout the downtown. Along with that agreement, the MCC also redesignated the cultural district within this historic seaport city for another five years. Pushing the boundaries of arts and culture as well as history further than ever before in New Bedford, the expanded Seaport Cultural District will now include the Abolition Row Historic District and the Mechanics Lane Historic District within its continuous boundaries.
In its application to the MCC, Seaport Cultural District steering committee members wrote, “Borne aloft by the wind to the port of New Bedford, Abolition Row is where the revered national historical figure Frederick Douglass first tasted freedom from slavery. It comprises a unique and cohesive group of residential properties along Seventh Street, which represent the city’s significant role in the larger Abolition Movement.” Meanwhile, Mechanics Lane is aptly named for the laborers who once resided there. It is a distinctive concentration of working-class houses located just east of County Street, today comprised of a narrow lane between North Sixth and Eighth Streets. The Mechanics Lane Historic District also includes or abuts several significant cultural venues. Those include the former First
