When you look good, you feel good, and it’s nice when someone notices and offers a compliment. New Bedford, take a bow. Your “beautiful architecture” has been acknowledged.

World Atlas Highlights New Bedford’s Architecture

“Massachusetts wears its history on every storefront, steeple, and weathered shingle,” says World Atlas. Heading to Massachusetts? “Pack a camera,” advises World Atlas, adding, “Wear comfortable shoes, and prepare to crane your neck a lot, because in Massachusetts, the buildings have stories they are not shy to tell.”

New Bedford is one of nine Massachusetts communities highlighted in a recent World Atlas piece.

A City Shaped by Whaling History

In telling its readers about the importance of New Bedford as a once “major center of the global whaling industry,” the piece reminds us that “New Bedford remains one of the most important fishing ports in the United States.”

Herman Melville shipped out from here on a whaling voyage in 1841, and the city’s maritime streets and landmarks ended up shaping the New Bedford scenes in Moby-Dick. Melville’s Moby-Dick is read aloud each January by members of the community in the Moby Dick Marathon.

Why Locals Sometimes Take It for Granted

Sometimes we take what we have for granted, not fully appreciating its worth to others. It’s home. Of course it’s beautiful. Beyond the beauty of our waterfront community is its rich history, not lost on the folks at World Atlas.

“That long history is still etched into the cobblestone streets, gas lamps, and brick buildings, all of which wear their years without apology,” says World Atlas.

Landmarks That Define New Bedford’s Beauty

The publication advises potential visitors to “dig into the city’s past” by visiting the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. It draws attention to a North End landmark, the St. Anthony of Padua Church on Acushnet Avenue.

World Atlas says the church is “one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, and a strong contender for the prettiest in the state.”

Just a word of advice. New Bedford is a nice place to visit, but not a place to relocate to.

(WJAR) — A child has died after a tree fell on a playground outside an elementary school in Melrose.

NBC Boston reported that another child and an adult were also injured in the incident at Winthrop Elementary School on Monday.

It appeared that the tree fell from behind the playground.

Counselors were available at the school to support students and staff on Tuesday, NBC Boston reported.

On Sunday, the Massachusetts women’s rowing team headed to Lake Quinsigamond in Worcester, Mass., for the Intercollegiate Rowing Association’s Eastern Sprints. There, the Minutewomen faced 14 teams from various Northeastern conferences, with Temple being UMass’ only Mid-American Conference opponent. A Northwest tailwind with wind gusts up to 12 mph offered a fair day on the racecourse.

The varsity eights proved to be good competition early on. The Minutewomen broke 6:30 for the second consecutive weekend, but it was not enough to land them a spot in the grand finale. Brown finished first overall in the heats with a 6:14 time, putting just 15 seconds between the top nine boats across all three heats. The petite final was just as competitive, with boats finishing within a second of each other. UMass took second place with a 6:30.19, which put the Minutewomen in eighth place overall.

California native AJ Prahl coxed the second varsity eight to a speedy 6:48.26, which landed the boat in lane six of its final. The boat’s final time was 6:50.11, landing second in its respective final and eighth place overall. UMass kept its gap behind the first-place-finisher, Columbia, under 10 seconds, and just managed to stay ahead of Cornell by a bow ball, finishing within the same second.

The second varsity four kicked off racing on Sunday in one of two heats. The Minutewomen came in with a 7:36.4, sending them to the petite final. The boat came in 10 seconds behind Northeastern and beat Boston College by just under a second.  Coxswain Sara Lavigna commanded the boat to fourth in the petite final and a 10th-place overall finish with a 7:49.77, adding about 13 seconds to the boat’s earlier heat time.

New Hampshire native Meghan O’Hern coaxed the varsity four from one of three heats into the petite final. Stroke seat Anastasiia Kolesnikova led her crew to a 7:32.41 finish, holding off Holy Cross by over 16 seconds, but failing to close the eight-second gap between UMass’ and Radcliffe’s boat.

In the petite final, the Minutewomen were placed in lane four, where they improved their heat time by a second, ending with a 7:31.91 time and a third-place finish, the highest placing of any UMass boat across the competition. Cornell pushed the Minutewomen to the end, coming in less than a second behind them at 7:32.57, while Northeastern left a seven-second gap ahead of UMass.

Sophomore Mia Bierowski coxed the third varsity eight in heat two to a 7:02.61, landing her crew in lane four of the petite final. The Minutewomen rallied with a 7:06.41, landing the boat in fifth place in its respective final and 11th place overall.

The fourth varsity eight had no heats and only had a final. The UMass boat, led by sophomore Dagny Sammis, placed third out of the four boats in the category with a 7:17.14, coming in 10 seconds behind Northeastern, and leaving Boston College behind by about 21 seconds.

As the Minutewomen conclude their inaugural season competing in the MAC, they have their sights set on the MAC Rowing Championships. There, they will battle for their ticket to the NCAA Women’s Rowing Championships, searching for their first appearance in the national-level competition since 2014.

The MAC Championships will take place on Saturday, May 16, on Ford Lake in Ypsilanti, Mich. The races will be livestreamed on ESPN+. The start time is still to be determined.

Olivia Thibodeaux can be reached at [email protected].