Plimoth Plantation & the Mayflower II

One of the things I love about New England is the history that surrounds us. Our homeschool group was able to go and visit Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower II last Friday. The weather was looking mighty chancy, but we decided to brave it and possibly dodge raindrops. We did have rain all the way down, but once we got there, all was clear. It looked like it was going to be a good day. There was fog coming in from off the ocean (which you could see from the fort), and it was quite humid, but soon the fog lifted and there was a nice cool breeze (complete with threatening clouds).

We started off the day at the 1627 English village. It was neat seeing folks in costume going about their day as if everything was stuck in time. They even managed to pull off really great accents so that you would think they had just gotten off the boat! The kids enjoyed seeing the dirt floors, the gardens, the houses, beds and clothing. It made me very thankful for the modern conveniences that we now have.

After we had wound our way around to all the houses, the weather was starting to look threatening. Drops of rain were plopping onto our faces. We hurried inside and ate lunch as a group. It was relaxing to sit for a while in air conditioning as my back was sweaty from carrying a backpack all morning.

When it was time to continue on, the rain had stopped thankfully, so we walked on to the Wampanoag Homesite (Native American Village). Unlike the English village, the people here were not "in character," meaning, they weren't pretending to live like this, they were just there for information.

We stepped inside the wetu (traditional home) and came into the middle of a conversation. People were sitting around (coughing from smoke inhalation because the fire inside wasn't cooperating) and asking questions. I noticed that this Native American, though scantily clothed (I was hoping he wouldn't move), had a robe that was lined in skunk skins. "That's an interesting choice of fur," I thought. So I asked, what I thought was a very good question:

What's the significance of the skunk skins?"

I was thinking, "Maybe they thought it would ward off evil spirits." OR "Maybe it signified that they were chief or something."

This guy said simply that the costume department was out of deer skins so he got some skunk skins and sewed them on the edge because his rear end (he used a different term) was cold. So much for good questions. That'll teach me to open my mouth when it comes to clothing choices in Plimoth.

After the Wampanoag Homesite, we drove over to the Mayflower II. This has been a carefully crafted recreation of the original ship. The one thing that struck me was how small the ship was for all of the 102 pilgrims and the 25-30 crew members. This small vessel (technically a cargo ship) was home for all of these people for 66 days. That must have been grueling!

From the Mayflower II, we walked over to its landing place, Plymouth Rock. There is quite a story regarding this poor boulder. Do you think you know what that story is? Click on the link to see if you are right.

I know there is going to be some question about the differences in spelling: Plimoth and Plymouth. Click here to see why. It's not because I forgot to use spellcheck.

It was a long ride home as we hit Boston's Friday-going-home traffic, but I had great company in the car and the kids had entertaining friends too. Definitely worth the long trip and long day should you ever be in the area.