Folks With New Bedford Ties Are Everywhere You Go

Is it just me, or do you tend to run into people with New Bedford ties wherever you go? It's uncanny.

The above photograph was taken last year in National Harbor, Maryland. I use it in jest since Frederick Douglass, depicted by the statute, lived in New Bedford from 1838-1841. You never know who you might bump into on the road.

Many years ago, while I was dining at a German restaurant/beer garden in Montreal with family members, my uncle, while on his way to the restroom, ran into a table of people he knew from New Bedford. I think they were on a Paragon Tour or something. He brought them all to our table and introduced them around. We all had a good laugh over it.

Years later, my wife and I took the kids to Walt Disney World in Florida. I sat on a bench under a tree while she and the boys enjoyed a ride or did some shopping. It turns out the man sitting near me was from New Bedford. Not only was he from New Bedford, but we lived on different ends of the same street.

On another occasion, we went to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, to see the Red Sox play the Tampa Rays. The couple ahead of us in line was wearing Red Sox jerseys. Through some good-natured banter, we learned they were from New Bedford. We lived on Victoria Street, and they lived on Church Street, around the corner and just up the road.

All of those stories are true.

Has it ever happened to you that you run into people with ties to New Bedford while traveling around? Tell us about your experiences.