Acushnet River

The Acushnet River is the largest river feeding into the Buzzards Bay watershed in southeastern Massachusetts. The name "Acushnet" comes from the Wampanoag "Cushnea," meaning "as far as the waters," originally designating the fact that the tribe which sold the land to the Puritans inhabited the lands leading up to the river.

Path of the River

The river is fed by Long Pond in Lakeville via the Squam Brook, which flows through Freetown before it feeds into the New Bedford Reservoir in the town of Acushnet. From the reservoir, the river travels through the town to the border with the city of New Bedford, which it travels along, also passing the town of Fairhaven before emptying into New Bedford Harbor, and eventually into Buzzards Bay.

The river proper is crossed six times. There are three small bridges within Acushnet before the river widens out. Howland Street, which becomes Coggeshall Street in New Bedford, crosses from Fairhaven to New Bedford, as does Interstate 195 about 400 feet south. There are then a series of three bridges crossing by way of US Route 6 connecting the islands in the river to New Bedford (whose territory they are in) to Fairhaven. First, there is a short bridge over the shallow water from the New Bedford shore to Fish Island. It then makes its main passage between Fish Island and Pope's Island via the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge, a swing bridge which originally opened in 1902. Finally, the road crosses the shallower eastern passage from Pope's Island to Fairhaven along the low-lying Pope's Island Bridge. In 1958, a hurricane barrier was built from just north of Fort Phoenix to New Bedford, closing most of the river off in case of hurricanes.

Historical Significance

The river historically was the site of many mills, especially on the New Bedford side of the river, and has long served as the home of the New Bedford fishing fleet. It is also the birthplace of New Bedford's whaling industry, as the "Dartmouth", the first boat laid in New Bedford, first set sail on the river. The boat would go on to fame as one of the boats involved in the Boston Tea Party. The junction of the river and the harbor is guarded by Fort Phoenix, which was involved in the first naval battle of the American Revolutionary War in 1775.