Within the quiet walls of the Seamen’s Bethel, stories of loss, survival, and reflection have echoed for generations. The Letter is a short film that draws directly from that legacy, using this historic space as a setting for a deeply personal journey shaped by memory...
Long before the Seamen’s Bethel rose above Johnny Cake Hill, one woman’s quiet conviction helped shape the moral and spiritual foundation of New Bedford itself. Mary Rotch (1777 – 1848) was born into the renowned Rotch family of Nantucket — a family whose whaling...
This highlight video captures moments from the 2025 Remembrance & Blessing of the Fleet on the historic New Bedford waterfront. Community members, clergy, and members of the working waterfront gathered to honor fishermen lost at sea and to continue the...
Each year, readers and Melville enthusiasts from around the world gather in New Bedford for the annual Moby-Dick Marathon—a 25-hour celebration of Herman Melville’s literary masterpiece. In the 2024 event, chapters 7 through 9 were read inside the historic Seamen’s...
The annual Moby-Dick Marathon at the New Bedford Whaling Museum honors Herman Melville’s enduring connection to this historic whaling port. In the 2023 reading, chapters 7 and 8 were performed inside the Seamen’s Bethel—the very chapel that inspired Melville’s...
