Here are some of the historic persons you can learn about. You can choose to listen to a CD featuring eight voices with music or just wander, look, read, and linger at the exhibits.

Joseph Bates, Jr., 1792-1872

One of the three original founders of the Seventh Day Adventists

William Bradford 1823-1892


Native and lifelong resident of the part of Fairhaven that subsequently became Acushnet. Internationally renowned marine painter and photographer, commissioned by Queen Victoria of England.

Cara Rogers Broughton 1867-1939


Daughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers. Contributed money the town used to puchase Fort Phoenix from the Federal Government.

F. Eben Brown 1890-1980


Postmaster of Fairhaven and State Representative; patented a harpoon gun in the 1800s.

John I Bryant 1850-1929


Served in Civil War, served many years as a Fairhaven Selectman.

John Cooke 1606-1695

Came to Plymouth at the age of 14 aboard the Mayflower in 1620. One of the original purchasers of Old Dartmouth, he settled in what is now Fairhaven

Edward A. Dana 1818-1897


Dairy farmer, trout breeder and inventor who invented Dana Wind Engine a highly efficient windmill which was sold throughout the country.

Elizabeth Delano 1845-1933


Fairhaven artist noted for paintings of flowers.

Sarah Delano 1854-1941


Mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Warren Delano II 1809-1898

- the grandfather of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He was involved in the China Trade of 1830 - 1860s

Lemuel D. Eldred 1850-1921

Marine artist also known for etchings
A brief biography with links to images and other information

Major Israel Fearing 1758-1825

Wareham militia leader who marched to Fairhaven with 100 to 150 men to help drive the British from Fairhaven Village during the raid in September 1778

Charles Gifford 1839-1904


Artist of the Luminist School
A brief biography with links to images and other information

Weston Howland 1815-1901

Purchased Ezekial Sawin mansion in 1867. Said to be the first person to refine petroleum.

Charles Lewin 1902-1965

The Editor-in-Chief of the New Bedford Standard Times, promoter of the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. A friend of Joseph Kennedy, father of the President.
in an era of great newspapers and great newspapermen, Fairhaven's Charles Lewin stood at the top of his profession. A speech about Lewin by Judge William H. Carey

William LeBaron Jenney 1832-1907

Fairhaven native, designed and built the world's first skyscraper in Chicago in 1886

William F. Nye 1824-1910

Founder of Nye Oil Co. who began refining whale oil in the kitchen of his Fairhaven home in 1865. Today the company, now Nye Lubricants, provides oil for NASA's space shuttles.

Manjiro Nakahama 1827-1898

- First Japanese person to live in America. Shipwrecked, he was rescued and brought to Fairhaven by Captain William Whitfield. He helped to cement relations between Japan and the U.S. when Commodore Perry arrived in Japan

Abbie Palmer Gifford Rogers 1841-1894

Fairhaven native and first wife of Henry Huttleston Rogers, in whose honor the Town Hall was presented to Fairhaven.

Henry Huttleston Rogers 1840-1909

- Business genius of Standard Oil and benefactor of Fairhaven

(Mary) Millicent Rogers 1902-1953

Granddaughter of Henry Huttleston Rogers. She was a prominent socialite during the 1930s and her vast collection of turquoise jewelry and southwestern artifacts are housed in a museum bearing her name in Taos, New Mexico.

Ezekial Sawin 1792-1870

First president of the National Bank of Fairhaven. Builder of the first mansion in Fairhaven, featured in the movie "Down to the Sea in Ships"

Walter Silveira 1901-1988

Served the longest term as a Fairhaven selectman, 44 years, from 1944 until his death in 1988, which may be a Massachusetts record.

Martha Simon 1796-1859

Said to be the last full-blooded Wampanoag native in Fairhaven
A portrai of her by Albert Bierstadt is in the Millicent Library.

Captain Joshua Slocum 1844-1909

The first man to sail alone around the world. Left from Fairhaven on a boat provided by Eben Pierce

Levi Morton Snow 1841-1915

Operated the drug store at the corner of Main and Center Streets from 1876 to 1910 and was prominent in civic affairs, served as State Representative in 1900

Mary Ann (Mrs. Lemuel) Tripp 1810-1906

She made two voyages on her husband's ship and became the first woman to sail around the world.

Harry Tunstall 1870-1943

Inventor of the Tunstall Comber, an important improvement in a machine vital in the production of industrial yarn

Mark Twain1835-1910

Author and humorist, frequent visitor to Fairhaven, close friend of Henry Huttleston Rogers, who rescued Twain from financial disaster

Bartholomew West 1627-1703

Grandson of John Cooke; West's house was one of several burned by the British during their attach on New Bedford and Fairhaven in 1778. In his eighties at the time, West was carried from the home by his servant, Hannah Sogg, before the British set fire to the building.

Captain William H. Whitfield 1804-1886

Fairhaven whaling captain who, aboard the John Howland in 1841, rescued Manjiro Nakahama and four other Japanese fisherman from an island in the Pacific and brought Manjiro home to Fairhaven. Manjiro was the first Japanese person to live and be educated in America.

Captain Alexander Winsor 1811-1890

- Captain of the famed clipper ship Flying Cloud, which set world records under Winsor's command

Phillip Young 1885-1955

Founder of the Acushnet Company, manufacturer of Titleist golf equipment and golf balls.

Nathaniel Pope 1747-1817

Fairhaven native who on May 13, 1775 commanded a group of villagers aboard the sloop Success in the first naval battle of the American Revolution, fought in Buzzard's Bay.
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