September 10, 2011 Plymouth, MA

     Saturday was the second day, we were up bright and early, and we headed toward Plymouth, MA. Along the way we drove through the town of Mystic Seaport, CT, then on through Rhode Island to MA.

The Union Baptist Church in Mystic Seaport, CT

      After a little bit of an issue with Tom Tom we found the Plimoth Plantation (spelled different from Plymouth to try differentiate it). The tour starts with a short video that tells you a little bit about what you’ll expect to see as you go on your tour. Our first stop is the Wampanoag Village. There are real Native American’s in their traditional clothing making traditional things like homes, canoes, clothes, and rugs. Everything that is in their village they have made. They are not actors and they speak like modern day people but they will answer your questions and tell you about their people. 

Nathan found it a little odd though as there was a Native man in an animal skin loin cloth talking about how horrible the traffic was on the highway to one of the visitors.

This was a picture on the wall in the visitor's center.

This was another picture in the visitor's center.

The outside of a winter home

 Inside of one of the winter homes

A winter home being built

     We learned that to make their winter homes, they cut the bark off of the trees in the spring when the sap is flowing through the trees, and lay it flat on the home and it will form to the frame. Then they hang woven rugs that they make out of grass/reeds several layers thick on the insides of the homes for insulation. They also have two fire pits inside that would burn all winter long and keep the inside around 75 degrees. In the winter they would build a trench next to their house and they would store dried corn in large animal skin bags.

The Summer home

     Their summer homes were shaped like a dome and they were covered with reeds.  If it rained the reeds would swell and keep the home dry, but if it was dry the reeds would shrink down and allow a slight breeze to pass through the home and keep it cool.

     I asked them if they ever hunted whales like the Natives did on the West coast. The guy said that they did and that they would spear the whale and then plug the blowhole and that would make the whale stay floating and they would then pull it to shore.

     There was also a young Native boy who was working on making a canoe. They would have a fire burning the center of the log until it was the correct thickness and then they would put the fire out. The heat from the fire would make the sap push outward and help seal and waterproof the boat. He said that it would typically take a week to make a canoe.

     Our next stop was the Plimouth Village, which is supposed to replicate what it would have been like for the first settlers.  The people in the Village are paid actors who play a character and are very good at what you do. They speak like they are from 17^th century England and act accordingly.  All of their tools, furniture, clothing, everything is made in a workshop that you can walk through. Everything is also made with traditional tools. Hand sewn clothes, dishes made by a potter, and furniture carved with chisels and hammers and tools from that time period.

 Plymouth Village from the top of the meeting building

Nate ready to defend the village

 Thatch on one of the roofs

A picture from the visitor's center of a woman watering her garden in the village

We were watching this young man split wood using the large wooden hammer and a wedge

Inside one of the houses

     Then they have a museum with myths about the first Thanksgiving. One of the big myths is that there weren’t very many Natives there, when in reality there were probably 3 natives for every 1 pilgrim. Another big myth is what we think they looked like, they didn’t have big buckles on their hats shoes and so on.

A lady working on making a cup for the Plymouth village

some chairs being made for the villagers

This was called the Mooflower

     After we left Plimouth Plantation we headed into Plymouth (the town) to find the Mayflower II, a replica of the original, built in Devon, England between 1955-56. It is made of solid oak timbers, tarred hemp rigging, and has hand-painted maps. The ship is 106 ft long by 25 ft wide, and has 4 Masts and 6 sails.

 The cabin of the Mayflower II

When the crew sailed this ship from England they had Felix the cat on board, and he had his own life vest.

This was a cool picture of the Mayflower next to a battle ship back in 19

     While on the lower deck of the Mayflower II a man with a fancy video camera came down and was setting up for a shot. He then filmed 4 larger ladies walking down the stairs and looking around. Nathan and I originally thought it was some rich family paying to have their vacation videotaped. After we got off the boat I saw the guy and I realized they were from a TV show called “Sister Wives”, about a polygamist family. The husband was there with his 4 wives and a few of their 16 children.

The Sister Wives TV show being filmed

     Next we hunted down Plymouth Rock, which I had already been warned was a disappointment because it is so small. It’s only about 5‘x3’x2’, pretty pathetic when you’re expecting something more like Beacon Rock in WA.

 Plymouth Rock

     After a long day we left Plymouth to drive up to Boston where we were staying the night. The sunset was beautiful along the way.