New Bedford Historic District - View this location on map New Bedford's growth as a whaling port began shortly after the town was established in the early 1760s. In the 1840s, New Bedford superseded Nantucket as the most important U.S. whaling port. The wealth produced by whaling is evident in the structures in the historic district, which include the William Rotch House, a National Historic Landmark in its own right. Water, Front, Elm Streets, Acushnet Avenue, & Commercial Street, New Bedford, Massachusetts Historical

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