Wamsutta Place is a historical building which once was the home to the Wamsutta Linen Company. World famous percale sheets were manufactured here that supplied the world’s finest hotels and the French Line’s flasgship, The Ile de France with sheets and pillow cases.

This May, the staff of The Coalition for Buzzards Bay moved into the newly renovated Buzzards Bay Center in the heart of New Bedford’s Waterfront Historic District and National Park. The center is a green rehabilitation of the historic Coggeshall Counting House, first built in 1832.

The Center marks The Coalitions first permanent home in its 23 year history and serves as a model of environmentally friendly building renovation and a community resource dedicated to the Bay that defines our region. The Center serves as the headquarters of the organization and also houses the Richard C. Wheeler Bay Learning Center, an educational space open to the public that illustrates the significance of Buzzards Bay and what we can all do to participate in its stewardship.

The design and construction of the Buzzards Bay Center focused on four key green building themes. First, The Coalition is committed to the reuse and redevelopment of existing urban spaces demonstrated by renovating the Coggeshall Counting House rather than consuming open space within the watershed. Second, the building was rebuilt to the highest standards of energy efficiency and then tested to ensure high performance. Third, the building contains innovative, proven technology such as air source heat pumps allowing the building to operate while using only 65% of the electricity of a comparable building and is powered in part by solar panels mounted on the roof. Finally, their vegetated ‘green’ roof actually reduces the building footprint by absorbing over 50% of rain runoff during storms, which can otherwise overwhelm city stormwater systems and pollute the bay.

The large building was constructed using granite from the same quarry (Quincy, MA) as the Bunker Hill monument in Boston. The front of the building features full height pillars and a large portico. Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Webster, and John Quincy Adams are among the distinguished visitors to the mansion.

The Grinnell family owned the mansion until 1940. It was given to the Roman Catholic Dioceses of Fall River, which used the mansion as a school and youth center until 1957. For many years after that, the mansion remained empty and deteriorating. In 1988, WHALE bought the property and in 1991, with the assistance of the Inter Church Council, began restorations. Restorations were completed in 1994 at a cost of $400,000.

The Corson Building, which is located next to the park visitor center, consists of two three-story brick structures built in 1875 and 1884. For many years the Corson Building housed Moby-Dick Marine Specialties on its first floor, a popular shopping stop for visitors to the historic district. In 1997, a devastating fire ripped through the building. The Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE (WHALE), a non-profit preservation organization, came to the building’s rescue after the fire, acquired the building through a donation from the Piva family, and secured the funds for its stabilization. WHALE, in turn, donated the building to the National Park Service in 2004.

Senator Edward Kennedy, the keynote speaker of the event and instrumental in the creation of the park in 1996 remarked, “Today, we celebrate New Bedford’s history and reaffirm our commitment to build on the great legacy of those who came before us, such as Herman Melville and Frederick Douglass, to build a strong future for this unique city, a city that Melville called the ‘dearest place to live in, in all New England.’” In addition to Senator Kennedy, Congressman Barney Frank and State Representatives Mark Montigny and Antonio Cabral were present to offer their congratulations on the National Park Service’s great achievement in preserving the historic structure and creating a multi-purpose learning center.

The Corson Maritime Learning Center includes an entire floor dedicated to educational activities, office space for staff, an archives room, new exhibits and a 55-seat theater.