1964 Map of New Bedford North

About this map

The Acushnet River serves as the industrial and social spine of this 1960s coastal landscape, separating the dense urban grid of New Bedford from the residential and cemetery-dotted shores of Fairhaven. Large infrastructure projects define the era, including the expanding Municipal Airport and the campus of the Southeastern Mass Technological Institute. To the north, the terrain shifts into a complex of wetlands and woodlands, dominated by the Acushnet Cedar Swamp and the Hathaway Swamp, providing a stark contrast to the heavily developed waterfront. Small neighborhoods like Braleys and Clifford are interspersed with numerous gravel pits and the prominent Sassaquin Hospital grounds. This sheet captures a critical moment of post-war suburban growth, showing emerging neighborhoods like Westgate Park and Sherwood Forest as they pushed into the traditional cranberry-producing regions of the northern interior.