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The Two New Bedfords: Spatial and Social Analysis of the City, 1800-1870

Mariner's Home

The Home opened in 1851. In its first nine months, the Ladies’ Branch served 633 boarders.^⁠1 They had more or less supervision over the Mariner’s Home, though a proprietor or superintendent (usually female) was hired for day-to-day management in addition to the work of the Bethel’s chaplain. Mary Dodge, the widow of a former sailor, served as the first superintendent of the home.^⁠2 The first floor served as an open public space, moving the small reading room from the Bethel into a more comfortable location filled with newspapers and literature, as well as a public parlor for socializing. In the basement, a hired cook served meals in the dining room, kitchen, and cook room. Up above, the second and third floor served as the lodging or “hospital” areas, with fireplaces and multiple beds to accommodate a number of lodgers.^⁠3 Details of the furnishings or the capacity of the home are unknown. However, a structure of this size and stature, along with the additional services provided, may have held several dozen people.

Those staying in the Home had access to clothing, medicine, and means of transportation. The Mariner’s Home, like traditional boardinghouses, also acted as a hiring center. Working alongside the reverend of the Bethel, the women would put the distressed seamen in contact with family members, better medical treatment, and even job opportunities. As reported by the Port Society in its twenty-ninth annual report, the Mariner's Home “has always been a comfortable place of abode for the sailor and a refuge for the sick and the destitute we know; for under its present management it could be none other and exist at all.”^⁠4 If sailors needed long stays due to severe medical injuries or simply lacked funds for passage home, the Ladies’ Branch provided train tickets to Boston, Providence, and New York.

¹Ibid.
²“Directory,” The New Bedford Directory containing the City Register, a general directory of citizens and a special directory of trades, professions, etc., no. 7 (1852): 86. Digitized by Google Books. http://tinyurl.com/hff6weq.
³Zephaniah W. Pease, “One hundredth anniversary, 1830 [to] 1930.” 1930, Morse Whaling Collection, John Hay Library, Brown University Libraries.
⁴New Bedford Port Society, Twenty-Ninth Annual Report.

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Photograph of William Rotch Jr. House, Mariners' Home, taken of the front, east side. 15 Johnny Cake Hill at the west side. A low fence runs the perimeter of the yard, flanked on either side by large bushy trees. The Mariners' Home was built in 1787, serving as the mansion home of William Rotch Jr. The house originally stood on the southeast corner of Water and Williams Streets, moving to its current location after a $3,000 re-furnishing compliments of the Ladies Branch of the New Bedford Port Society whose first president was Mrs. Sarah Rotch Arnold. Sarah Rotch Arnold, wife of James Arnold, was the daughter of William Rotch Jr. and she presented the home to the Port Society to serve as a Mariner's Home in 1851.
Photograph of the first floor interior, northeast room, of the William Rotch Jr. House, the Mariners' Home. Photograph of a vessel on the sea hanging on one wall and a framed instructional guide to tying different types of knots hanging on another wall. Window side-shutters ajar and door slightly ajar. The Mariners' Home was built in 1787, serving as the mansion home of William Rotch Jr. The house originally stood on the southeast corner of Water and Williams Streets, moving to its current location after a $3,000 re-furnishing compliments of the Ladies Branch of the New Bedford Port Society whose first president was Mrs. Sarah Rotch Arnold. Sarah Rotch Arnold, wife of James Arnold, was the daughter of William Rotch Jr. and she presented the home to the Port Society to serve as a Mariner's Home in 1851.
Photograph of the first floor hall and staircase of the William Rotch Jr. House, the Mariners' Home. The Mariners' Home was built in 1787, serving as the mansion home of William Rotch Jr. The house originally stood on the southeast corner of Water and Williams Streets, moving to its current location after a $3,000 re-furnishing compliments of the Ladies Branch of the New Bedford Port Society whose first president was Mrs. Sarah Rotch Arnold. Sarah Rotch Arnold, wife of James Arnold, was the daughter of William Rotch Jr. and she presented the home to the Port Society to serve as a Mariner's Home in 1851.