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is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States, located 51 miles (82 kilometers) south of Boston, 28 miles (45 kilometers) southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, and about 12 miles (19 kilometers) east of Fall River. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 93,768, making it the seventh-largest in the state. New Bedford is nicknamed "The Whaling City" because it was, during the nineteenth century, one of the most important whaling ports in the world. The city, along with Fall River, is one of two cities on the south coast of Massachusetts.
New Bedford is located at (41.651803, -70.933705). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62.2 square kilometers (24.0 square miles). Of the total area, 20.1 square miles (52.1 km
)(16.23%) is water. New Bedford is a coastal city, a seaport, bordered on the west by Dartmouth, on the north by Freetown, on the east by Acushnet and Fairhaven, and on the south by Buzzards Bay.
New Bedford Harbor, a body of water shared with Fairhaven, is actually the estuary of the Acushnet River where it empties into Buzzards Bay. The river empties into the bay beyond Clark's Point, the southernmost point of the city. To the west of Clark's Point is Clark's Cove, which extends landward approximately one and a half mile from the bay. Just south of Palmers Island, beginning near Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven, lies a two-mile-long hurricane barrier, constructed in the 1960s to protect the inner harbor where the fishing fleet anchors. Along with Palmers Island, the city also lays claim to Fish Island and Pope's Island. Between these two islands lies one of the three sections, the central section, of the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge. The central span, a swing bridge, connects the two islands as well as allowing boats and ships passage to the upper harbor. Two conventional bridges connect each of the islands to the nearest mainland, Fish Island to New Bedford and Pope's Island to Fairhaven. In addition to the harbor, there are several small brooks and ponds within the city limits.
There are several parks and playgrounds located throughout the city, the largest being Brooklawn Park in the north end, Fort Taber Park (also referred to as Fort Rodman, the name of another fort built there) at Clark's Point, and Buttonwood Park, directly west of the downtown area near the Dartmouth town line. Buttonwood Park is also the site of a lagoon which feeds into Buttonwood Brook, and the Buttonwood Zoo. In the northwest part of the town, extending into Dartmouth, lies the Acushnet Cedar Swamp State Reservation.