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29-419: Southeastern Massachusetts , Cape Cod , and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard consist of outwash from the last glacial maximum , which left thick glacial deposits of sand and gravel, providing the geologic foundation for a rare pine barren ecosystem. This fire-adapted forest and its coastal components are home to a host of rare species found almost nowhere else in the world. Interspersed among

58-485: A new commercial scale mariculture technique. In 1991, towns located on Buzzards Bay suffered the worst effects from the storm surge of Hurricane Bob . The Buzzards Bay disaster happened on April 27, 2003. An oil spill of 98,000 gallons of oil leaked from a barge , destroying much of the shellfish business and killing many birds . Ra Ra Riot 's John Pike's body was found in Buzzard's Bay. He had disappeared from

87-840: A pattern of immigration that began in the 19th century and was tied to the whaling industry. Today, many people in Southeastern Massachusetts, most notability Bristol County , trace their ancestry to mainland Portugal and the Azores . Quincy , Milton , and Randolph are all in Norfolk County and are included in the Southeastern Massachusetts definition; they are populated by Irish Americans , British Americans , African Americans , Asian Americans , Arab Americans and Latin Americans . Irish Americans dominate Norfolk County , Bristol County and Plymouth County which has been known as

116-456: Is Bristol County and the Western portion of Plymouth County. The region including Cape Cod roughly corresponds with the location of the historic Plymouth Colony , which became part of Massachusetts in 1691. As Southeastern Massachusetts is not an official designation, its borders are not exactly defined. At its broadest definition, it includes all of Plymouth and Bristol counties (particularly

145-619: Is a region of Massachusetts located south of Boston and east of Rhode Island . It is commonly used to describe areas with cultural ties to both Boston and Providence, Rhode Island , and includes the cities of New Bedford and Fall River and their respective suburbs. Despite the location of Cape Cod and the islands to its south, which are the southeasternmost parts of the state, they are not often grouped in this designation. At its broadest definition, it includes all of Massachusetts south of Boston, southeast of Worcester, and east of Providence, Rhode Island, while at its narrowest definition, it

174-520: Is approximately 28 miles (45 kilometers) long by 8 miles (12 kilometers) wide. It is a popular destination for fishing , boating , and tourism . Buzzards Bay is often considered the finest sailing location on the East Coast and is frequently compared in terms of sailing conditions to San Francisco Bay. Since 1914, Buzzards Bay has been connected to Cape Cod Bay by the Cape Cod Canal . In 1988, under

203-436: Is defined as fifty-two cities and towns from Bristol, Plymouth and Norfolk Counties. The region is geographically defined by Massachusetts Bay , Buzzards Bay , The [ sic ] Taunton River watershed, and its location relative to Boston, Rhode Island and Cape Cod . Bristol County, Massachusetts and Bristol County, Rhode Island are contiguous and are the only counties in the nation where Portuguese Americans make up

232-800: The American Revolution , the Battle off Fairhaven , occurred in Buzzards Bay when patriots retrieved two vessels that were captured by the British sloop of war Falcon . On 14 May 1775, American Captain Daniel Egery and Capt. Nathaniel Pope of Fairhaven in the sloop Success (40 tons, 30 men) retrieved two vessels captured by the British crew of Captain John Linzee (Lindsey), Royal Navy commander of HMS Falcon (14 guns, 110 men). Crew member Noah Stoddard and

261-798: The Clean Water Act , the Environmental Protection Agency and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts designated Buzzards Bay to the National Estuary Program , as "an estuary of national significance" that is threatened by pollution, land development, or overuse. It is surrounded by the Elizabeth Islands on the south, by Cape Cod on the east, and the southern coasts of Bristol and Plymouth counties in Massachusetts to

290-453: The Pleistocene epoch through the interplay of glacial and oceanic processes. Beginning fifty thousand to seventy thousand years ago, the edges of the continental ice sheet covering much of North America began to fluctuate, leaving moraines to mark the former extent of the receded ice. One such moraine forms Cape Cod, which is most of the eastern shoreline of Buzzards Bay. In addition to

319-541: The Plymouth/Carver Sole Source Aquifer , the largest drinking water aquifer in Massachusetts. The pace of development has increased tremendously in this ecoregion. Large-scale development proposals and an increase in the number of new homes are altering the quality of life for residents and rapid residential development has led to the fragmentation of the region's natural areas. Population increases have had serious secondary impacts as well, including

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348-1160: The South Coast along Buzzards Bay and the South Shore along Cape Cod Bay ), most of the cities and towns in Norfolk County , and even some towns in Worcester County . At its narrowest definition, it includes all of Bristol County, the western part of Plymouth County and the southwestern part of Norfolk County, with the South Shore and Metro-South areas being counted separately. The terms "Southeastern Massachusetts," "Southeastern New England", and " Southern New England " are much-used by Providence-area broadcasters and other local companies and organizations but are not used as frequently in other parts of Massachusetts. The Southeastern Regional Planning and Economic Development District (SRPEDD) task force, which concerns Southeastern Massachusetts in its broadest definition, describes: For this effort, southeastern [ sic ] Massachusetts

377-558: The "Irish Riviera". Cape Verdean Americans , Brazilian Americans , Angolan Americans , African Americans , Arab Americans , Irish Americans , British Americans , Portuguese Americans , Asian Americans , Latin Americans , Spanish Americans , Chinese Americans , Russian Americans , Turkish Americans , German Americans , Polish Americans , Swedish Americans , French Americans , Lebanese Americans , Italian Americans , and Greek Americans preside over Brockton, Taunton, Fall River and New Bedford. The following tabular list shows

406-472: The 12 government divisions of Southeastern Massachusetts which have been officially granted the right to use the city form of government along with the official name in use by each municipality. Institutions of higher learning which serve Southeastern Massachusetts communities include: Buzzards Bay Buzzards Bay is a bay of the Atlantic Ocean adjacent to the U.S. state of Massachusetts . It

435-609: The Massachusetts Chapter joined the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Massachusetts Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program to assist in nest site creation and nest monitoring, and habitat protection. The pine forests are also home to numerous species of birds and insects. Two other large, contiguous examples of this ecosystem remain in the northeastern United States , which include: Southeastern Massachusetts Southeastern Massachusetts

464-537: The current bay, between West Falmouth and Mattapoisett. The bay's current configuration, a well-mixed central bay and fringing shallow drowned-river valleys, with their shallow depth, tidal action, and surface waves, promotes mixing of the estuarine waters to create a productive aquatic ecosystem. Like many estuaries, however, increasing development and land-use changes by the surrounding communities are accompanied by nutrient runoff leading to eutrophication (an increase in nutrient levels leading to oxygen depletion) in

493-405: The depletion of the water table by water supply wells and the potential pollution of the aquifer. The development has also led to the suppression of natural wildfire, necessary to maintain the pinelands' rare habitats. Damaging recreation, such as off-road vehicle use on pond shores and in fragile pine barrens, was also on the rise but in recent years the area has also seen an increase in awareness of

522-409: The end of the last ice age, fifteen thousand years ago until about six thousand years ago, Buzzards Bay was still dry land. During the past six thousand years, sea level has risen an average of one foot per century, and until about four thousand years ago, the landward boundary of Buzzards Bay extended only to about the current thirty-foot bathymetric contour, forming a coastline two-thirds of the way up

551-572: The importance and fragility of the ecosystem and a corresponding increase in the number of groups working to protect and preserve the natural bounty. Sabatia kennedyana , New England boneset , golden hedge hyssops , pitch pine , and scrub oak , among other plant species, are found in this region. The federally endangered Plymouth red-bellied turtle is a star attraction in the Massachusetts Coastal Pine Barrens. With fewer than 600 of these federally endangered turtles remaining,

580-599: The largest cities in Southeastern Massachusetts and are close to one another in size. All four have a strong Portuguese presence. In 2000, 43.9% of Fall River residents identified as being of Portuguese heritage. This is the highest percentage of Portuguese Americans in the country. Most of the population claims to be of Azorean origin, many from São Miguel Island. There are smaller, but significant presences of other Portuguese-speaking communities, such as other Azorean Islanders, Portuguese from mainland Portugal, Madeirans, Cape Verdeans, Brazilians, and Angolans. In 2000 New Bedford had

609-579: The moraines, the melting ice sheet produced extensive outwash plains composed of mixed sediments and ice that bordered the bay to the northwest and west. Melting ice blocks in the outwash deposits formed distinctive circular features called kettle lakes . Numerous examples of kettle lakes can be found to the northwest of the Cape Cod Canal. Finally, waters released from the melting ice sheet raised sea level by sixty to one-hundred-twenty meters (198–396 feet) and drowned preexisting outwash channels. Toward

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638-463: The northwest. To the southwest, the bay is connected to Rhode Island Sound . The city of New Bedford, Massachusetts is a historically significant port on Buzzards Bay; the Port of New Bedford the world's most successful whaling port during the early- and mid-19th century, and has been the nation's most productive fishing port for the last several years. Buzzards Bay was created during the latter portion of

667-557: The others took the first naval prisoners of the war, 13 British crew; two were wounded and one died. The bay was the location, in 1936, of one of only five documented fatal shark attacks in the commonwealth's history. In 1987, researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution experimented with a new growth structure allowing Blue mussels to grow above the Benthic Turbidity Zone leading to

696-408: The over 500,000 acres (80 km) of fragmented pine barrens are dozens of coastal plain ponds, frost pockets, a wide variety of shapes and sizes of its signature tree, the fire-dependent pitch pine , the endangered Plymouth red-bellied turtles and other globally rare plant communities on top of deep deposits of glacially-deposited sands which filter and protect several sole-source aquifers including

725-569: The past thirty years, and new transportation improvements (commuter rail, Route 44 and Route 3 & 24 improvements) continue to attract more growth. Southeastern Massachusetts comprises several clearly defined sub-regions, including the South Shore , the South Coast and the Tri-City area around Brockton , Attleboro and Taunton . Despite the diversity within the region, the fifty-two cities and towns all have common concerns and opportunities. Taunton , Brockton , Fall River , and New Bedford are

754-780: The plurality of the population. This is due to the Portuguese-American population, the Portuguese-Brazilian population, and the Portuguese-Cape Verdean population that came to Southern New England in the 19th century to do the much needed whaling work; in fact, New Bedford is called "the Whaling City." ...[it] is home to approximately one million people residing in over 1,300 square miles (3,400 km ). We have been adding 10,000 new residents and consuming 4.7 square miles (12 km ) of undeveloped land each year for

783-484: The second highest percentage of Portuguese Americans with 38.6% of residents reporting that ancestry. New Bedford is also 8.0% Cape Verdean, 4.39% African American and 7.1% Puerto Rican , and 3% were other Hispanics, In 2000 it was 75% White alone. Like most of the state, Southeastern Massachusetts is ethnically, racially, linguistically, and religiously diverse. However, Portuguese-speakers are especially well represented in this area (especially Bristol County) due to

812-465: The smaller embayments . Decreases in eelgrass , scallops , and herring have also been noted, but direct cause-and-effect relationships are not clear. Coordinated management efforts in Buzzards Bay have helped to decrease shellfish closures, conserve habitat for sea birds , and preserve open space. Buzzards Bay was first named Gosnold's Hope by Captain Bartholomew Gosnold . The modern name

841-464: Was presumably given by colonists who saw a large bird that they called a buzzard near its shores. The bird was actually an osprey . After a downturn caused by DDT , today increasing numbers of osprey breed along the shores of the bay thanks to restoration efforts led by the Buzzards Bay Coalition and longtime Westport residents Gil and Josephine Fernandez. The first naval engagement of

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