Thanksgiving weekend: Battleship Cove, the zoo and the Whaling Museum close Thursday and reopen Friday

SOUTH COAST Battleship Cove, the Buttonwood Park Zoo and the New Bedford Whaling Museum all close for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, and reopen Friday for the rest of the long weekend.

Plimoth Patuxet in Plymouth posts a seven-day schedule that runs through that Sunday, Nov. 29, the last day of its 2026 season, while the Taunton Public Library closes at noon on Wednesday and stays closed through Saturday. Most listings below carry the place's phone number for anyone who wants to check before going.

How we chose

This guide includes museums, a zoo, nature trails and a public library on the South Coast or just past its edge that post a Thanksgiving closing or holiday schedule on their own websites, each read Friday, Nov. 13. Places that list only their regular hours are not included, and no place paid to be listed.

Battleship Cove, Fall River

The museum at 5 Water St. is closed on Thanksgiving, and its fall hours, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. seven days a week through Monday, Dec. 7, cover Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The last admission onto the ships is an hour and a half before closing, which makes 2:30 p.m. the last chance to board USS Massachusetts, USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and USS Lionfish.

General admission is $25 for adults, $23 for seniors 65 and older, $16 for active military members and veterans with ID and $15 for children 4 to 12, and children 3 and under get in free. The ticket includes the Maritime Museum, which keeps fall and winter hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday. From Tuesday, Dec. 8, the ships go to winter hours and open only Friday through Sunday, on Monday holidays and during school vacation weeks, and the museum answers questions at 508-678-1100.

Buttonwood Park Zoo, New Bedford

The zoo at 425 Hawthorn St. closes on Thanksgiving Day and is otherwise open every day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free parking and the Bear's Den Cafe serving from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The carousel and the Black Bear Express train take $3 tokens, and the zoo says the rides cannot run when the temperature drops below 45 degrees.

Daily admission is $13 for adults 13 to 61, $11 for seniors 62 and older and for high school and college students, and $9 for children 3 to 12, and children under 3 are free. New Bedford residents with an ID showing a current city address pay $7.50 for adults, $6 for seniors and students and $4.50 for children, and the zoo can be reached at 508-991-4556.

New Bedford Whaling Museum

The museum at 18 Johnny Cake Hill is closed on Thanksgiving Day and open every other day of the weekend from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with tickets sold online and at the door. Admission is $24 for adults, $22 for seniors 65 and older and $14 for youth, and members, children under 3, active military members, holders of a Massachusetts Teachers Association card and students of UMass Dartmouth and Bristol County Community College with ID get in free.

New Bedford residents get half off with a driver's license or utility bill, people with an EBT or ConnectorCare card pay $3 each for up to six people, and a pass borrowed from a participating library takes half off for up to four. The Elm Street Garage at 51 Elm St. is two blocks from the museum, which can be reached at 508-997-0046.

Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum, New Bedford

The house museum at 396 County St. lists Thanksgiving among its holiday closings, and its regular hours run Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., so it is open Friday and Saturday. Its Sunday hours run only from Memorial Day through Indigenous Peoples' Day, so the house is closed Sunday, Nov. 29. Admission is $8 for adults and $6 for seniors and students with ID, children under 18 get in free and a family pays no more than $25. The garden is free and open from sunrise to sunset every day, and the museum can be reached at 508-997-1401.

Plimoth Patuxet, Plymouth

The museum at 137 Warren Ave. is open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the Sunday after Thanksgiving, which makes Nov. 29 the last day of its 2026 season. Its exhibition "We Gather Together: Thanksgiving, Gratitude, and the Making of an American Holiday" looks at where the holiday came from.

A ticket to the Historic Patuxet Homesite, the 17th-Century English Village and the Craft Center costs $35 for adults, $31.50 for seniors and $20 for children, and the Mayflower II alone costs $19, $17.10 and $13. The two-day Heritage Pass, good at every historic site including Mayflower II and the Plimoth Grist Mill, costs $46, $41.40 and $29, and the museum can be reached at 508-746-1622.

Trails in Dartmouth

The Lloyd Center for the Environment at 430 Potomska Road keeps its walking trails open and free from dawn to dusk 365 days a year. Its main building is closed while construction goes on, and the center lists Thanksgiving and the Friday after it among the days the center itself closes.

Taunton Public Library

The Taunton Public Library at 12 Pleasant St. closes at noon on Wednesday, Nov. 25, and stays closed Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Nov. 26 to 28, under its 2026 holiday schedule. Its regular hours pick up again Monday, Nov. 30, at 8 a.m., and the main desk number is 508-821-1410.

Also this week

Package stores and other shops face the state's holiday rules on Thanksgiving Day, explained in our guide to what can open Nov. 26, and runners can start the day at one of three Thanksgiving morning 5Ks in Fairhaven, Plymouth and Seekonk.

Battleship Cove holds its Pearl Harbor Commemoration Ceremony on Monday, Dec. 7, and the zoo serves Breakfast with Santa on Dec. 12, 13 and 19, with seatings at 10 a.m., 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. and tickets of $25 for adults and $20 for children 1 to 12, or $20 and $15 for members.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.