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With a fish tucked under each arm, a dolphin and swordfish spearheading a swirl of marine life beneath his feet, Poseidon is ready for another day under the New Bedford sun.
The sea god and his watery companions have been restored at a shop in Watertown: cracks and pits repaired, surface gunk cleared, the bronze returned to grayish green patina and coated against corrosion.
Now that the $49,000 job is completed, the question is where to put the sculpture, which stood for decades outside the New Bedford Whaling Museum, then at Tonnessen Park near the State Pier. It was replaced in 2016 with a literally more down-to-earth statue showing a fisherman in a baseball cap, his wife and two children.
The fishing family stands on the ground at human scale, the better to invite passersby to approach and relate. While Poseidon embraces a regional tradition of politically dominant families — his brother is Zeus — he’s not mixing with the locals.
He’s on one knee looking down at you from 14 feet off the ground.
The sculptor Anna Hyatt Huntington, a Massachusetts native, made it so before giving the piece to the city and the Old Dartmouth Historical Society in 1962. It was known originally as the Memorial to the Whalemen and Fishermen.
A new location is up to Mayor Jon Mitchell, who will consult with administration officials and consider public comment gathered in online surveys and in community meetings.
About 10 people gathered recently at the New Bedford National Historical Park Visitor Center to see a PowerPoint presentation on the site search, and offer their own thoughts.
City Planning Director Jennifer Carloni told the group that the short list at the moment includes eight sites near the waterfront on either side of Route 18, clustered on about nine blocks between Elm Street and Coast Guard Park.
The key considerations are proximity to the waterfront and to pedestrian walkways, lines of sight to the sculpture, a suitable scale fit for the surroundings.
Kellie Martin of New Bedford said she was all for the best possible pedestrian access.
“The beauty of that statue cannot be appreciated when you drive your car around it,” she said. Strollers should be able to “look, to feel, to explore” the piece.
“I just want people to appreciate it as I have always appreciated it,” Martin said.
Bill Wurm of New Bedford, who works on the seasonal New Bedford Launch, said he’s been struck by how Poseidon is missed by water taxi passengers.
“I cannot tell you how many people ask, ‘what happened to that beautiful statue?’” Wurm said. Near as he can tell, people like the old spot in Tonnessen Park.
“A lot of people would like to have it back in the original location,” Wurm said.
Dawn E. Salerno pressed the case for the easiest pedestrian access. She acknowledged that she only moved to town six years ago, so she has no experience with the original site, but she did not think nostalgia should weigh heavily in the choice.
“I think people will forget” the former location, “if it’s in the right spot,” she said. “I’d be happy with it anywhere,” as long as walkers can easily approach the piece, she said.
Kurt Pimentel told the group that his family would like to donate a small vacant lot on Rodney French Boulevard in the South End — out of range of the short-listed sites — next to a city beach just south of Cisco Brewers Kitchen & Bar.
While the City Council’s approval will not be needed to choose a location, Pimentel wrote to At-large Councilor Brian Gomes offering the property. He asked that the city consider allowing a tax break for the donation, and naming the spot in honor of the family patriarch, Carl Pimentel.
If one social media survey is any indication, a South End location is not popular, and nostalgia is winning the case.
Anne Louro, assistant city planner & preservation planner, told the group that she broke down the results of one of two social media surveys the city conducted on this. With more than 350 people responding to the survey on Facebook last year, she said the clear preference was for the previous location in Tonnessen Park.
The PowerPoint included a chart showing the votes on 23 locations, only two of which — the former site and Coast Guard Park — are specifically on the short list. The survey did include “Waterfront General,” which could encompass the whole list.
Of the 23, Tonnessen Park won easily with 75 votes. The next nearest was “Waterfront General” with 33 votes. Running third was Fort Taber in the South End with 15. A general South End location ran nearly last with about eight votes.
Carloni and Louro explained that the previous site in Tonnessen Park presents a few complications.
For one, the fisherman and his family are already there, and would have to be relocated. For another, the site is part of the State Pier, which the city doesn’t own.
Also, as State Pier redevelopment plans are in the works, it’s impossible to say now what the space will look like or whether there would be a suitable spot for the piece.
The city has no firm schedule on when to bring Poseidon back out to meet his public.
For years the work by Huntington — noted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as “one of the most prominent animal sculptors of the early twentieth century, celebrated for her keen powers of observation” — stood in a city public works yard on Shawmut Avenue.
A crew from Daedalus, Inc. art restorers moved the 2,000-pound piece to their Watertown studios in late June 2023, and completed their work in the middle of March 2024, according to city spokesman Jonathan Darling.
The piece is there still, awaiting a comeback.
According to the Daedalus proposal, the company cleaned the surface of dirt, salt, and corrosion, repaired surface cracks and pits, restored the original gray green patina, and applied three coats of acrylic resin to protect the work.
The crew removed visible water pipes but left the internal plumbing from when the piece worked as a fountain.
Water, as it turned out, was no friend to Poseidon. The statue’s days as a fountain are over. The water flowing, and standing around the base, appeared to hasten deterioration of the piece.
The restorer recommends a concrete foundation to support the piece and a stone or concrete pedestal.
That work remains, but the restoration is done, and the city is eager to get the piece back out in the open, Carloni said. Time will tell if it can go back where it was. For now, she said, they’re listening.
Email reporter Arthur Hirsch at ahirsch@newbedfordlight.org
One reason given for the original statue not being returned to it original location is that the fisherman and his family “would have to be relocated.” So what? Huntington’s sculpture is a far superior work of art, which may well be why a significant majority of people who participated in the survey about where it should be located voted for its return to its original location.
I’d like to see it on the corner of Union and rte 18
My husband and I have maintained the Tonnessen Park for 3 years now and we would love to see the Poseidon statue go back there we have been trying to get more funding for much needed perineals it has been very neglected over the years and it’s not only a beautiful location that overlooks the historic district but tons tourists that walk between the Fairfield Inn and pier 1 ferry traffic and now rail ends there it’s the perfect year to enhance it again there’s a spot in the front that could accommodate it without moving the fishermen statue it could be viewed nicely from there we are trying to get a meeting with the mayor about this it really needs to be replenished with some new perennial shrubs and flowers so years to come it will shine