page_title: Fairhaven, Massachusetts
section_title: Notable people
hierarchical_section_title: Fairhaven, Massachusetts / Notable people
context_page_description: Fairhaven is a town in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the South Coast of Massachusetts where the Acushnet River flows into Buzzards Bay, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean. The town shares a harbor with the city of New Bedford, a place well known for its whaling and fishing heritage; consequently, Fairhaven's history, economy, and culture are closely aligned with those of its larger neighbor. The population of Fairhaven was 15,873 at the time of the 2010 census and estimated at 16,078 in mid-2016.
context_section_description: John Cook Bennett (1804–1867), physician and a ranking and influential (but short-lived and controversial) leader in the Latter Day Saint movement, who acted as second in command to Joseph Smith for a brief period in the early 1840s
  William Bradford (1823–1892), marine painter and photographer
  Captain Paul Delano (1775–1842), a sea captain, moved to Chile in 1819 where he became an important part of that country's early Navy
  The 1st Baron Fairhaven (1896–1966), multi-multi-millionaire businessman, horse breeder, and art collector who mainly lived in Great Britain; born in Fairhaven but educated in Great Britain, he restored and expanded Anglesey Abbey, his country seat, in Cambridgeshire. Lord Fairhaven was the grandson of Henry Huttleston Rogers.
  William H. Hand Jr. (1875–1946), one of the most prolific yacht designers of the twentieth century, and whose office was in Fairhaven
  William Le Baron Jenney (1832–1907), architect and engineer who became known as the "Father of the American Skyscraper"; Fairhaven native
  "John" Manjiro Nakahama (1827–1898), the first Japanese person to live in America
  William H. Whitfield (1804–1886), the sea captain who rescued Manjiro Nakahama and with whom Manjiro lived during his time in Fairhaven
  Albert Pike (1809–1891), attorney, soldier, writer, and prominent Freemason. Pike is the only Confederate military officer or figure to be honored with an outdoor statue in Washington, D.C. (in Judiciary Square).  A Massachusetts native, he taught school in Fairhaven as a young man.
  Christopher Reeve (1952–2004), of Superman fame, kept a sailboat, the 40-foot (12 m) sloop-rigged Chandelle, at a Fairhaven shipyard and sometimes flew into New Bedford Regional Airport to pick it up or to stay in town during a stopover en route to Martha's Vineyard.
  Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States; summer resident
  Gil Santos, longtime radio play-by-play announcer for the New England Patriots of the National Football League and morning sports reporter for WBZ radio in Boston
  Frances Ford Seymour (1908–1950), wife of actor Henry Fonda and mother of actress Jane Fonda and actor Peter Fonda; lived in Fairhaven for several years with family members and attended Fairhaven High School
  Captain Joshua Slocum (1844–1909), the first man to sail alone around the world, and his ship, the Spray.  The Spray originally belonged to Captain Eben Pierce of Fairhaven, a whaling captain, who gave the derelict boat, slowly deteriorating in a ship cradle in a meadow on Fairhaven's Poverty Point, to his friend, Captain Slocum.  Slocum spent thirteen months in Fairhaven while working on the Spray, making her fit for open-ocean sailing.  Fairhaven oak formed much of the boat's refitted structure.  The Spray and her one-man crew returned after nearly three and a half-year to the very cedar spile that was used for her launch. Today, the student newspaper at Fairhaven High School is called "The Spray".
  Noah Stoddard – Captain in the American Revolution
  Mark Dion (b. 1961) noted conceptual artist and sculptor, known for his installations using found human-made and natural objects.
caption: Captain Slocum's Spray
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