The museum features the skeleton of a rare blue whale, one of only a few on public display globally.
The Lagoda, a half-scale ship model, was built in 1916 and allows visitors to board and explore the decks.
The collection includes the world's largest assembly of scrimshaw, the art of carving designs into whale bone and teeth.
New Bedford's whaling history inspired Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick, and the museum hosts an annual Moby-Dick marathon reading.
The institution preserves the 'Grand Panorama of a Whaling Voyage 'Round the World,' a 1,275-foot-long painting created in 1848.
The New Bedford Whaling Museum is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to the history of the global whaling industry. It houses the world's most extensive collection of whaling-related artifacts, including over 3,000 pieces of scrimshaw and hundreds of whaling logs. The centerpiece of the museum is the Lagoda, the world's largest whaling ship model, which is a half-scale replica of an 1850s vessel. The museum complex occupies a full city block within the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. It holds a significant collection of marine art, including a 1,275-square-foot panoramic mural of a whaling voyage. Research facilities within the institution include the Kendall Whaling Museum Collection and an expansive library. The museum explores the cultural impact of whaling on 19th-century New Bedford, which was once the richest city per capita in the world. Permanent galleries examine the intersection of maritime history, human migration, and the whaling industry's scientific legacy.
On the deck of the Lagoda whaling ship model inside the main gallery.
Check the museum's events calendar for the daily 'Lagoda Talk' to learn how the ship model functions.
Visit the Seamen's Bethel across the street to see the pulpit shaped like a ship's prow, referenced in Moby-Dick.
Allow extra time to browse the extensive research library if you have an interest in maritime genealogy.
Do not attempt to see the entire collection in under an hour; the museum is physically larger than it appears from the street.
Closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day.
