21. Migration ... Immigration

Week 21 12/17/15

A day in New Bedford. 

We had both attended concerts in the auditorium of the New Bedford Whaling Museum but I had never seen the collection. Paul remembers going there as a child. Today we learned all about whale species, migration, anatomy and behavior, the worldwide whaling industry, imported goods, art, and the New Bedford area. The museum was much larger than I expected. Go see it. We spent several hours and could have stayed longer but ran out of time.

This 1/2 size replica of the whaling ship, Lagoda, is the largest ship model in the world, they say. This ship was Paul's strongest memory of his earlier visit (probably 55 years ago).

It was fun to see exhibits that reminded us of two of our trips from the past year. There were many artifacts and maps from the Azores which was a large part of the whaling industry connected with New Bedford. There is a large Azorean population in the New Bedford area. We traveled to São Miguel in the Azores with two good friends last year and we'd all like to go back, maybe explore some of the other islands.

Another trip from the past year was to Washington state, including the Olympic peninsula. While there, we hiked to Flattery Point. (See blog entry 4.) In this museum we saw exhibits from the Northwest coast, and references to Flattery Point and the nearby communities of the Makah people who have been whalers. 

My fiber artist friends might appreciate the collection of swifts and spool holders in the ivory room. 

After a walk around town in the rain, a visit to the National Park station, and seafood dinner at The Black Whale, we walked to the Zeiterion Theater for a performance of Christmas Celtic Sojourn. We had heard this broadcast on the radio every year but had never attended. We're glad we went. The host, Brian O'Donovan welcomed his performers from Ireland, Norway, Shetland Islands, Sweden etc., and reminded us about past immigration to the US from many parts of the world, connecting it to the current immigration situation from Syria. He made the point that most of us were descended from immigrants and that we are a nation of immigrants.