Cobblestone Roads, it's actually a pretty beautiful Massachusetts October Day, not too cold here in New Bedford

Massachusetts at the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

I grew up in Massachusetts, and if you asked me, I thought I knew pretty much all there was to know about the place.

I thought I'd been to all the dope museums and knew at least surface level about the history.

But recently, a friend of mine suggested that I check out the new Bedford Whaling Museum to learn a little bit about one of the biggest industries in my home state's history.

I knew whaling was a thing. I mean, I went on a whale watch when I was in high school,

but I had no clue how massive a role whaling played in the economy of

southeastern Massachusetts. And the industry was diverse over a hundred years before

diversity became a buzzword. It provided opportunities for the less privileged and fueled the rise of New Bedford, a place that at one point was the richest city in the country.

As it turns out, the New Bedford Whaling Museum was only a 20 minute drive from my house so I figured I should check it out

My name is Baudelaire and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and

wondrous places.

Today, y'all are joining me on my visit to the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts,

a place that tells the story of how whaling led to the meteoric rise and the eventual decline

of a New England city, and that has a much more layered and complicated

history than I ever expected. More after this. Oh, The New Bedford Whaling Museum is a massive three-floor brick building in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

It sits right on the harbor that over 150 years ago

would have been packed with ships returning from and going out on whaling voyages.

On my visit, I did a walk around with the museum's chief curator Naomi Slit.

And as soon as I got in there, I was struck by these massive whale skeletons hanging

over us.

These things were so big.

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