Plymouth

Many times during this trip we’ve been amazed that we are really here meaning 1) some place we’d never planned on being, like North Dakota, and 2) some place something incredible or historical happened. This was our feeling again in Plymouth, the start of our country.

I knew Plymouth Rock wasn’t huge. I’d read many reviews talking about how small it was so after reading that and then seeing it, I was surprised it was as big as it was. The rock was near the replica Mayflower II. Both may not be the original items in the original locations, but what they represent was still incredible.

The Mayflower trip took 66 days. There were 102 passengers and a crew of 30. The Pilgrims were kept below decks in darkness with the animals. After surviving the trip they had to survive the winter. By the time winter was over only half of the Pilgrims made it, most of them being children and men. Only one family made it with all the family members surviving. They began to plant crops and were able to harvest them in the fall, resulting in the first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Sleeping areas below decks for the Pilgrims


Our next stop in the area was Plimouth Plantation. Back in the 1600s they didn’t have dictionaries and spelling wasn’t regulated. Gov. William Bradford spelled Plimouth different ways. The organization chose Plimouth because he frequently spelled it that way and so it wouldn’t be confused with the city of Plymouth.

The plantation is broken up into an Indian village, an English village, a farm and craft center. The Indians in the village were Native Americans not actors playing a part as they were in the English village. They spoke in modern speech so they could explain their history and their culture. We were fascinated with them and their discoveries- that the bark from a tree peels easily in a four week period in the spring. They use the bark to cover their winter homes. They layer the sheets of bark so the wind will blow over them. Their homes lasted about twenty years.

We watched as he hollowed out a tree with fire to make a canoe. They would first peel the bark off the trees and then fell them with fire. They would then use the tree for a boat. He said you could make a boat in just a couple of days if you kept the fire burning through the night.

Above is the winter home. He said it would be about 80 degrees in there with the fires going. The summer house below was made with swamp grass that would absorb the rain and expand in size. When it was dry out the grass would decrease in size thereby allowing a breeze to come in. Amazing!

At the English village actors dressed and spoke the part of settlers in 1627. We talked with the black smith, with ladies who showed us what they’d made for supper, with a couple of men who were repairing a roof. They did a great job with their parts making us feel like we were back in time.