day three of my road trip to newport
led me to fall riv
er, ma. sure, i had to drive through rhode island to get to massachusetts, but it was cheaper to stay over the river there than in rhode island... also, it allowed me to go see new bedford and battleship cove in fall river. i saw new bedford the day before. sunday, i went to battleship cove. battleship cove has the uss massachusetts, a south dakota class battleship, uss joseph kennedy, a destroyer, a belao class submarine, and a tarantul I corvette... soviet made for east germany, and a USNS ship now... the museum also has two PT boats. so, its a pretty big ancient warship park... it was fascinating AND a little bit sad
... the condition
of the ships isnt as good as i'd like to see... lots of rust and fading paint. i actually had the thought, maybe the ships would be better off having been sunk (another bitter sweet thought in and of itself) because they were tied to a pier and doomed to decay, never again to go to sea... they do make the young kids happy though. and it is important to preserve american shipbuilding, and classes of ships for the future... we have uss constitution and hms victory left over from the napoleonic wars... and we have uss constellation and hms warrior left over from the 1850s... then we have random bits and pieces of warships, the transom of this ship, the bow of that... and then we have the wasa and mary rose, preserved through flukes of poor design... but, its important for history to be able to get onto ancient ships and see them to preserve our naval history and culture...
fall river itself has taken a lot of culture from its immigrants. in new bedford we learned that many azoreans and cape verde islanders came in search of a better life aboard whalers... and settled and brought their families. when whaling became unprofitable, many of them moved the 17 miles to work at the textile mills, shipyards, and fishing industry of fall river.
fall river itself is another town built on a hill that tumbles down to a river. with church spires towering above it all. the very strong portuguse population can be seen in the names of restaurants, streets, bridges, and even statues of henry the navigator with portuguese tile cobles next to it like you'd see in lisbon or rio.
fall river was a different sort of place to visit, not really on the tourist map... but with some interesting things to see, and im sure some good portuguese food to explore.
led me to fall riv
er, ma. sure, i had to drive through rhode island to get to massachusetts, but it was cheaper to stay over the river there than in rhode island... also, it allowed me to go see new bedford and battleship cove in fall river. i saw new bedford the day before. sunday, i went to battleship cove. battleship cove has the uss massachusetts, a south dakota class battleship, uss joseph kennedy, a destroyer, a belao class submarine, and a tarantul I corvette... soviet made for east germany, and a USNS ship now... the museum also has two PT boats. so, its a pretty big ancient warship park... it was fascinating AND a little bit sad
... the condition 
of the ships isnt as good as i'd like to see... lots of rust and fading paint. i actually had the thought, maybe the ships would be better off having been sunk (another bitter sweet thought in and of itself) because they were tied to a pier and doomed to decay, never again to go to sea... they do make the young kids happy though. and it is important to preserve american shipbuilding, and classes of ships for the future... we have uss constitution and hms victory left over from the napoleonic wars... and we have uss constellation and hms warrior left over from the 1850s... then we have random bits and pieces of warships, the transom of this ship, the bow of that... and then we have the wasa and mary rose, preserved through flukes of poor design... but, its important for history to be able to get onto ancient ships and see them to preserve our naval history and culture...
fall river itself has taken a lot of culture from its immigrants. in new bedford we learned that many azoreans and cape verde islanders came in search of a better life aboard whalers... and settled and brought their families. when whaling became unprofitable, many of them moved the 17 miles to work at the textile mills, shipyards, and fishing industry of fall river.
fall river itself is another town built on a hill that tumbles down to a river. with church spires towering above it all. the very strong portuguse population can be seen in the names of restaurants, streets, bridges, and even statues of henry the navigator with portuguese tile cobles next to it like you'd see in lisbon or rio.
fall river was a different sort of place to visit, not really on the tourist map... but with some interesting things to see, and im sure some good portuguese food to explore.
