Comment on New England port lore: Whaling, pizza and a perfect storm

New England port lore: Whaling, pizza and a perfect storm

From one of the world's great whaling ports to the Navy's first submarine base and the city featured in "The Perfect Storm," here is a look at their lore: Many remaining whaling merchants moved to San Francisco to get to the western Arctic faster, since they could send their products east using the new transcontinental railroad. In 1916, a naval yard and storage depot along the Thames River became the Navy's first submarine base. The city remained a fishing center as immigrants from Nova Scotia, Portugal and Sicily came to fish, but the industry declined through most of the 20th century because of overfishing and new regulations, the museum said. Many Newport families owned slaves, and the city's harbor teemed with trading ships, according to the Newport Historical Society. The picturesque city later reinvented itself as a summer resort, attracting artists, writers and scientists, the historical society said. During the Gilded Age, elite families like the Vanderbilts built the mansions for which the city is now known, along with musical festivals and sailing. The port of Mystic is known for a pizza parlor that helped launch Julia Roberts' career. In Bath, shipbuilding has been a way of life since 1762, when the sailing ship Earl of Bute was launched, and the General Dynamics Bath Iron Works shipyard is located there now, according to the company. Navy ships have been overhauled in Kittery, Maine, just across the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, since 1800, when the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was established as a public shipyard.

 

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