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

The Ark

As a result of the city’s involvement in maritime commerce, the working-class neighborhoods teemed with taverns and brothels, prone to brawls and violent disturbances. One such establishment, the Ark, attracted significant attention from local law enforcement through the 1820s. A brothel run aboard a defunct whaling vessel in an area of town known as “Hard Dig,” the Ark functioned as place of mob violence and frenzy. As Samuel Rodman, Jr., wrote in his a diary entry of August 23rd: “In the evening I met the Select Men and one of the other members of the committee chosen at the late town meeting to abate by legal proceeding the nuisance occasioned by the turbulent and unmoral practices of the occupants of the ‘Ark.’ Rodman reported on multiple occasions that the “riotous outbreakings of a turbulent spirit, impelling to promiscuous outrage and violence” caused great disruptions and disturbance. In efforts to quell the riots, the town required regulations and vigilant committees to keep note and control the degrading transient population.^⁠1

While the Ark was one of the worst offenders, taverns and brothels existed all along the waterfront. Often the first place a mariner would visit upon returning to port, these places served as a transition from voyage to mainland culture.

¹Rodman, as quoted in Grover, The Fugitive’s Gibraltar, iii.

Read more about the Ark on the New Bedford Guide.

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A house with a porch on three sides has been built on a ship's hull which rests on land. There are steps leading down to the ground on the left end, beside the bow. The nameboard "Ark Nantucket" is above two windows at the gable end of the house. Six people employed at various tasks are visible on the porch or through open widows and doors. A laundry tub is visible on the porch, and laundry hangs drying above. The roof is in disrepair, and water can be seen in the background.