New Bedford Has 11 Sister Cities All Over the Globe

The City of New Bedford has sister city relationships with 11 communities that stretch from the northern tip of Alaska all the way to the island nation of Japan. Who knew?

Two of New Bedford's sister cities are on the Portuguese mainland: Figueira da Foz and Ilhavo. Horta is in the Azores and Funchal in Madeira.

Another of New Bedford's sister cities is Youghal, Ireland, and Londonderry, Northern Ireland, referred to as Derry by Irish Nationalists, is currently occupied by the Britain Crown.

Cuxhaven, Germany, and Grimsby, England, are also sister cities to New Bedford, as is Utqiagvik, Alaska (formerly known as Barrow), Mindelo, Cape Verde, and Tosashimizu, Japan.

Dartmouth has a sister city relationship with Dartmouth, England, and Lagoa, Portugal. Fairhaven, Fall River, Taunton, and Rehoboth also have sister city ties to Lagoa.

Dartmouth has sister city connections to Nordeste and Povoacao, both in Portugal.

Fairhaven has a sister city connection to Tosashimizu, Japan.

Taunton is also a sister city to Angra do Heroismo, Portugal, and Taunton, England.

Fall River, Ponta Delgada and Ribeira Grande, Portugal are sister cities.

New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell recently hosted a delegation of 15 high school students from Grimsby, England. Mitchell was part of a delegation that visited Grimsby five years ago "to see how it has reinvented itself as an offshore wind port."

Mitchell posted to his Facebook page that Grimsby, like New Bedford, has a rich fishing history and was once the largest fishing port in Europe.

It seems some SouthCoast communities have multiple sister city relationships while many others have none at all. Acushnet, Freetown, Lakeville, Westport, Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester, and Wareham have yet to establish sister city connections.

Many other New England cities have sister city relationship around the world. You can find a complete list here.