Plimoth Plantation, Day 2

Lest we stray too far from the nautical theme of this blog, here are a couple of pictures of the Mayflower II, which sailed from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1957.

Here’s a close-up of one of the blocks:

This is the shallop, used for coastal exploration and for going ashore:

Then we returned to Plimoth Plantation. There were a few more villagers about and a lot more visitors. Having spent the entire previous day in the company of the villagers, we now felt completely at home. The kids immediately ran off to find the Cookes so they could say hello.

We were also treated to a demonstration of matchlock musketry (or an “exercise of the weapons”). Before firing the muskets, the village militia prayed:

They then marched down to the bottom of the village and discharged their weapons:

Click picture to see the muskets fire

There are not many children role players in the 1627 village, but we were fortunate to find Peregrin White (born on the Mayflower shortly after arriving). Here he is jumping over Y and P in a game of leapfrog:

Like the adult role players, Peregrin did an amazing job. When another young visitor pointed out a bee, Peregrin replied, “That’s not a bee. It’s a humble bee.” It was great to see my kids running all over the village with him as if they lived there too. It’s not every day they get to play “seek and hide” with a boy from the 17th century.

Karen and I spent much of the afternoon chatting once again with Hester Cooke. Our intention had been to visit the village for a short while, but we ended up spending the entire day there again. We left as they were closing the gates, and it felt like we were leaving friends behind. They had to shoo us out, as they did the day before:

I realized just how effective the visits had been when I turned to my daughter in the gift shop and asked if she’d picked out a magnet yet. She answered, without any hesitation, “Nay. I have not.”

Read Full Post »

Plimoth Plantation

This is a quick post from Plymouth, Massachusetts, simply to say that we had an absolutely amazing experience at Plimoth Plantation. I had thoroughly read their Web site, and thought I was prepared, but the actual experience was far beyond what I was expecting. It starts with a short video orientation, followed by a visit to the Wampanoag homesite, where Native People in traditional clothing talk about what it would have been like for their people in the early 1600s.

After a short walk along a nature trail, we arrived at the gates to the 1627 English village. Here, role players in period clothing speak and act as if it were 1627. They are so well-prepared that we felt like we were intruders in their homes. The best way to experience the re-created village is to walk into people’s homes and ask questions. It was so fascinating that we spent nearly five hours there, and we’re going back tomorrow.

Here are a few scenes.

Hester Cooke

Elizabeth Hopkins (and Y, pounding corn into flour)

Stephen Hopkins

Closing time with villager, making sure all guests are gone

Read Full Post »