Sarah Scudder Ashley Delano

WOMEN OF WESTPORT POINT

Sarah Scudder Ashley Delano (1904-1994)

Preservation activist

1838 Drift Road

Sarah Ashley Delano, courtesy Rotch Jones Duff House

Sarah was born in Chicago in 1904, the daughter of William Marshall Scudder and Helen Rotch Swift.  She summered in the south coast to visit her grandmother, Mrs. Sarah Rotch Swift, the daughter of William J. Rotch, Jr. of New Bedford.  Her grandmother Sarah had been raised in the James Arnold House (now the Wamsutta Club) and owned a cottage in nearby Nonquitt in South Dartmouth. During summer visits, Sarah Delano came to know and love New Bedford.

In 1932, Sarah married New Bedford artist Clifford Ashley who also was the author of the Book of Knots among others. During her marriage to Clifford, Sarah’s interest in local architecture grew. Sarah and Clifford restored a Westport farmhouse at 1838 Main Road and had two daughters, Phoebe and Jane.  The Ashley Farm, now 53 acres, with mostly preserved land, became one of the iconic places near the Point with its several restored buildings, windmill, maze, gardens and the rock island.  Clifford Ashley died in 1947.  The family continued to live at the Ashley Farm to this day across the road from Westport Point.

In 1951, Sarah married New Bedford native Stephen C. L. Delano, one of the founders of the Historic Area Committee that would eventually become WHALE in 1962 with a mission “to foster historic preservation and continued use of the city’s architectural heritage, so to balance community and economic vitality in New Bedford.” New Bedford had lost its whaling and textile industries, and WHALE’s focused on rehabilitation of the waterfront at first.

When Stephen was WHALE’s vice president and next in line to be president, he recommended instead Sarah for the job. In 1966, Sarah became WHALE’s president for 16 years through 1982 and led WHALE’s preservation efforts. During her first years as president, WHALE tried to preserve and restore the Waterfront District before other groups could demolish and rebuild there. By 1978, WHALE’s list of saved buildings included the Double Bank Building, the Rodman Candleworks, and the Sundial Building. Under Sarah’s leadership, the Waterfront Historic District, lined with cobblestone streets and period lighting, became a National Historic Landmark on its way to becoming the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Sarah steered WHALE through the process of saving a deteriorating vaudevillian theater from demolition, restoring it to its original grandeur, and transforming it into a performing arts center, the Zeiterion. Sarah directed another important save, an endangered whaling mansion on County Street, the William Rotch Jr. House. 

Sarah’s influence extended beyond the city of New Bedford. The Sarah R. Delano Preservation Awards are given annually by WHALE to individuals or groups “that have made outstanding contributions to the rehabilitation, restoration and interpretation of the historic character and environment of Greater New Bedford.”