Parallels

Call us Mullins. Herman Melville’s depiction of New Bedford, Massachusetts during its prosperity as a whaling town still draws an enormous amount of tourism, the Mullins family included. Since having read the first 12 chapters of Moby Dick (and unfortunately laying it aside time after time in pursuit of necessary distractions) I could not help but feel drawn to New Bedford in many senses. While still in Providence, Rhode Island, we made the decision to visit the town, to take in the history, and hopefully find remnants of that by gone era. But first, it would have been a travesty and absolute failure on my part as a father to have done little more than introduce Daniel and Alex to the realm of Moby Dick by only the description of a sailor, a captain and a great white fish. Before setting off on the short 40 minute drive to New Bedford, I subjected myself to varying levels of frustration in a Dunkin Doughnuts, sifting through passwords, attempting to install Audible on my Tracfone and commence downloading Moby Dick. Eventually I met with success and we drove towards New Bedford listening to the classic.

Our purpose in New Bedford was two fold actually, not only to take in a bit of history, but to also attempt an impromptu public display of mountain top removal on a street somewhere. Our visit to the cobblestone streets of the Historic District thus became a mixture of enjoyment and scouting for locations, soon to become trudging through the bureaucracy of town offices, permits, chambers of commerce, galleries, and even National Park Offices. Museum visits were often met with a fee we could not afford, and occasional information was obtained on sustainability and environmental issues with a visit to The Buzzards Bay Coalition, an organization set to protect the bay from the harmful problems caused by man (industrial agriculture upstream being one of them.)We did happen upon the Seaman’s Bethel however, the famed church where Ishmael heard the sermon of Father Marple given from what looked like a ship, protruding the wall of the sanctuary. What we found set our minds ablaze.

In the basement of the Seaman’s Bethal, setting upon a table in front of rows of simplistif white benches used both for sermon and schooling of fisherman, was a 50” television screen, repeating every 20 minutes the short documentary “The City that Lit the World.” Intrigued, we watched, learning of the early whaling industry and the valuable whale oil that was harvested from the oceans and sold throughout the world to light oil lamps prior to petroleum. It was a story much like Appalachia. The sailors and laborers in the industry were lorded over by the wealthy in their fine houses atop the hills. Whaling was dangerous, seeing many lost at sea in a job that kept sailors in constant peril. It was the story of an extractive industry, of the wealthy elitists, and the eventual downfall of the economy as whales were hunted to near extinction. As we watched, the words “Coal Keeps the Lights On” kept going through our minds.

As the whale populations dropped and petroleum began replacing the source of lamp oil for millions of people around the world, New Bedford faced tremendous economic adversity. But they chose not to become lost within the pitfalls of a mono-economy. As we learned, many people of the era had the sense enough to see what was coming and so began the task of diversifying the economy. Textile
mills, fishing, and railroads became a much larger part of New Bedford’s economy, and today, tourism thrives. The people of New Bedford remember and honor their heritage as a whaling community while at the same time never dismissing the negative impacts New Bedford had upon the world’s oceans. They have chosen to work towards a better future. New Bedford is now working towards becoming a major player in offshore wind energy.




While I cannot pretend that Appalachia is any way similar geographically, I believe there are many economic and cultural similarities. So much can be learned from a town that was once the wealthiest in the nation from an industry that lit the lanterns of the world. One such lesson comes in watching for the warning signs and knowing when it is time to move one. It takes a different mindset, one willing to progress towards change rather than clinging on to an industry in its final death throws. It will take a community coming together to work towards a better future. Small towns like Lynch, Kentucky, are doing what they can, now it must be the rest of central Appalachia.