Visitors Center & Historical Society Museum

Fairhaven Visitors Center & Historical Society Museum at the Academy Building (1798) 141 Main Street, Fairhaven MA, (West lawn of Fairhaven High School) 508-979-4085 HOURS: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday 8:00 a.m. to Noon and 12:30 to 4:30 p.m., year round Housed in a Federal style schoolhouse built in 1798, the Fairhaven Visitors Center is operated year round by the Office of Tourism. Here you will find … [Read more...]

Fort Phoenix

Historical Fort Phoenix (1775-1876) South end of Fort St. at Beacon St,, Fairhaven June through September, the Office of Tourism offers a Fort Phoenix Minuteman Presentation on Fridays at 10:00 a.m. June through September, the Office of Tourism offers a "Dreadful Medicine" Presentation on Thursdays from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. On May 13-14, 1775, the first naval battle of the American Revolution took place off our shore when the local … [Read more...]

Town Hall

Town Hall (1894) 40 Center Street, Fairhaven 508-979-4023 Open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Town of Fairhaven website: https://www.Fairhaven-MA.gov   Among the services that visitors to Fairhaven might need from the Town Hall are:         • Shellfishing Permits         • Boat Stickers         • Notary A gift to her hometown from, Abbie Palmer (Gifford) Rogers, this French Gothic building was the second of … [Read more...]

Millicent Library

Millicent Library (1893) 45 Center Street, Fairhaven MA Monday and Wednesday, 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. 508-992-5342 Fairhaven’s Italian Renaissance-style library is named for Henry H. Rogers’ daughter Millicent, who died in 1890 at the age of 17. Designed by noted architect Charles Brigham, the library is ornamented with … [Read more...]

Riverside Cemetery

  Riverside Cemetery (est. 1850) 274 Main Street, Fairhaven, MA Open daylight hours year round Cemetery Office telephone: 508-999-7551 Cemetery website: http://riversidecemeteryfairhaven.weebly.com/ The lovely rural or garden-style Riverside Cemetery was created in 1850 by Warren Delano II, the grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The cemetery, with its winding paths and a wide variety of trees and shrubs, is a … [Read more...]

Unitarian Memorial Church

Unitarian Memorial Church (1904) 102 Green St Fairhaven, MA 508-992-7081 Tours available by appointment Dedicated in October 1904, this English Perpendicular Gothic style “cathedral” was designed by architect Charles Brigham and built by Henry H. Rogers in memory of his mother Mary E. Rogers. It was built of local granite quarried near Fort Phoenix and Indiana limestone by European artisans including Italian stone cutters and Bavarian … [Read more...]

Whitfield Manjiro Friendship House

Whitfield-Manjiro Friendship House 11 Cherry Street, Fairhaven, MA Open by appointment only 508-858-5303 or 508-995-1219 Visit one of the Oxford Village homes owned by whaling captain William H. Whitfield and learn the story of Manjiro Nakahama, the first Japanese person to live in America after he was rescued from a Pacific island by the captain in 1841. Manjiro lived for a short time in this neighborhood and went to school nearby. The … [Read more...]

Fairhaven High School

Fairhaven High School (1906) 12 Huttleston Avenue (Route 6), Fairhaven 508-979-4052 A member of the 1856 graduating class of the town’s original wooden high school (demolished in the 1920s), Henry H. Rogers chose to build an educational palace to instill in Fairhaven students a sense of the glories associated with learning. He consulted with the top educators of the day while planning the new school. The Elizabethan-influence design is by … [Read more...]

John Cooke Memorial

Cooke Memorial Park (1903) 2 Pilgrim Avenue, Fairhaven, MA John Cooke arrived in America at the age of 14 in the year 1620 with his father Francis aboard the Mayflower. In 1652 Cooke was among the 36 Plymouth colonists who purchased Dartmouth Township from Wampanoag leader Massasoit and his son Wamsutta. Cooke was the only one of the original Pilgrims to actually move to the town, building a home and a garrison near Howland Road. A … [Read more...]

Joseph Bates Boyhood Home

Joseph Bates Boyhood Home (1742) 191 Main Street, Fairhaven Hours by Appointment The front part of this house was built about 1742 by William Wood, who had purchased the entire Oxford area from Philip Taber a year or two earlier. The house was bought in 1793 by Joseph Bates, Sr. a prominent businessman who helped found the New Bedford (later Fairhaven) Academy in 1798.  Bates’ son, Joseph Bates Jr., grew up here before going to sea at … [Read more...]