History finds a home at the Fort Taber Fort Rodman Military Museum

At the southern end of New Bedford, just past East Beach, stands Fort Taber Park overlooking Buzzards Bay. And within that park sits a renovated military building once used as a post exchange and now home to The Fort Taber Fort Rodman Military Museum. 

When it opened in August 2004, the museum consisted of a model of the fort, about 20 pictures, two shelf units and a display case. 

The museum now holds donated objects from more than 2,000 people. Bill Niedzwiedz, president of the museum, said that almost everything donated to the museum was brought in by veterans and their families.

“From the beginning to the present, it has grown… exponentially,” Niedzwiedz said. “Once the word got out that there was a place you could bring your stuff to be honored, people brought it in.” 

The Fort Taber Fort Rodman Historical Association operates the museum alongside volunteers.

The museum has pieces of history from many different eras, including a piece of glassy residue that was left behind after the world’s first atomic bomb test. That was the Trinity Test, which occurred on July 16, 1945 in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The material left behind after the nuclear detonation is known as Trinitite, or Atomsite, or Alamogordo glass. 

Display cases on the walls are dedicated to artifacts from different wars and combat phases. There are portraits of service members from around and beyond the South Coast, uniforms, and service medals. The section dedicated to Vietnam veterans has an M49 spotting scope with its tripod and carrying case alongside other military memorabilia, such as patches and service ribbons. 

Niedzwiedz noted the burial flags that line the ledges of the wall. “A lot of them came out of dumpsters,” he said. “When an older person dies, who’s at home, there’s nobody left. Luckily, a lot of the people who do house cleanouts in the city know … that if they come up with military stuff, to please bring it down to us on a Sunday afternoon. We’ll make sure it’s honored.” 

The museum showcases artifacts from the Revolutionary War through the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“It reminds us of our heritage, reminds us of how we are today, who we are because of what came before us,” Donald Kilguss Jr, associate professor of history at Bristol Community College, said. ”That is the artifacts, certainly, but also remembering the people is so critical.”

“A museum like that is critical because it really focuses on the importance of the past to the present, but also the veterans and the volunteers who go there,” Kilguss said. “Sharing their stories and how the military history of New Bedford… has shaped the development of the region.” 

Lee Blake, president of New Bedford’s Historical Society, said, “All of our people, the African American, the Cape Verdean, the Portuguese communities here, our men were all in the service. Making sure that people see the array of figures, the array of time periods, and the great, wonderful pride all those people had in their service to the United States is a wonderful thing to point to.”

The museum had over 1,500 visitors during this summer. Over 450 of those visitors came from more than 50 miles away. Visitors from “as far away as Guam, Malaysia, Vietnam, Egypt, Afghanistan… have all been in here,” Niedzwiedz said.

The museum, which is open 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, is always looking for volunteers, Niedzwiedz said. “If somebody wants to put up our sign in front of the place, or come by and pick up some rack cards to put at their business, anything helps us.”

History of the museum and the fort

The Fort Taber Fort Rodman Historical Association was founded in 1972 under the name the Friends of Fort Taber. During this period, people dedicated time to help restore the stone fort, Fort Rodman, located in the park.

Fort Rodman was planned to be constructed as a permanent military installation in the late 1840s but wasn’t completed before the beginning of the Civil War. Many local New Bedford ships and the whaling fleets were captured and destroyed, so Isaac C. Taber, mayor of New Bedford at the time, and the City Council created plans for self-defense against the Confederate ships near Long Island Sound and Buzzards Bay. 

Fort Taber, a temporary earthworks fort located west of the in-progress Fort Rodman, was completed in 1861 and named after the mayor. In 1863, the walls of Fort Rodman were completed, so Fort Taber was dismantled. Since the stone fort was unnamed at the time, it continued to be referred to as Fort Taber. It wasn’t until 1898 that the fort was named Fort Rodman, in honor of Lt. Col. William Logan Rodman. 

After World War II, the fort was declared surplus. Even though the fort was no longer an active coastal defensive station, it was used for Army Reserve training throughout the Vietnam War. The city now owns Fort Taber Park.

In the late 1970s, The Friends of Fort Taber was formed and volunteers spent their time restoring Fort Rodman. In 2000, interest in the fort sparked again, and the Fort Taber Historical Association was created. Now, the historical association offers a virtual tour about the history of the park including interior views of Fort Rodman. 

In 2009, the museum built an addition, approved by former Mayor Scott Lang. In 2024, the name changed to Fort Taber Fort Rodman Military Museum and Veterans Memorial. 

Liv Hunt is a summer intern with the New Bedford Light, as part of the South Coast Internship designed for local students. Email Liv at lhunt@newbedfordlight.org. 

Editor’s note: Lee Blake is a member of The Light’s Board of Directors. The Light’s newsroom is scrupulously independent. Only the editors decide what to cover and what to publish. Founders, funders and board or advisory members have no influence over editorial content.