Visiting Plymouth and Plimoth

Two trips to Plymouth the past week-one a scouting mission and one a trip with my cousins from the west coast. The historical sites had certainly evolved from my last historical visit twenty years ago. Most of us probably have visited with kids, but Pilgrim Hall and Plimoth Plantation both deserve a second look as adults.

The scouting trip took me to Pilgrim Hall Museum at 75 Court Street (Route 3A). I remembered the museum as a stuffy old style place loaded with poorly lighted Pilgrim exhibits. Restored a few years ago, the museum now makes good use of its collection. Upon arrival you are urged to go to the basement exhibit area and see a short 13 minute film telling a modern version of the Pilgrim story. The highlight of the museum is its collection of 17^th century artifacts connected to Pilgrim families. These objects range from ceramics to armaments to furniture and clothing. The collection began when the museum was opened in 1824 “only” 200 years after the Pilgrims arrived. The artifacts there are well lit and even better explained. Unlike most museums there are a number of replicas with instructions to please touch. You can even try out a replica of one of those spindly great chairs. For my pilgrim families there were pieces of Brewster furniture and a beaver hat worn by Constance Hopkins.

The upper floor of the museum hosted a temporary exhibit of books and documents which was not very interesting to me and a permanent collection that explores how public views of the Pilgrims have changed through the generations. This is a great way to explore the museum’s collection of paintings, but the highlight is a collection of costumes that show the changing perceptions of the Pilgrims. There’s also a chunk of Plymouth Rock-please touch! The place is open daily from 9:30-4:30 (closed January and February) and is worth the price of admission which is $8 for adults with discounts for seniors and AAA members.

I visited Plimoth Plantation with the West Coast cousins who had just discovered they had family on the Mayflower. Due to justified pressure over the years this living history museum has matured and now offers a more balanced view of the Pilgrims and their Wampanoag neighbors. We came at the right time-the last of a thousand school children had just departed as we drove in. Again your visit is expected to start with a movie. This one is called “Two Peoples, One Story.” It does a good job tracing the complex interconnection of Native and Pilgrim culture while introducing you to the layout of the outdoor museum.

We moved onto the Wampanoag village. Staffed by native Wampanoags who act as modern museum docents in order to answer contemporary as well as historical questions, the six people in the village were practicing native crafts. Two were burning out a log to create a canoe as they introduced people to the village. We then went to the nuwetu-we would call it a long house. The young woman and her daughter in the long house answered all sorts of questions from us. Her explanation of how a matrilineal society worked was fascinating. Leaving the long house with a little more knowledge we saw that the village has full sized examples of all three of the seasonal houses of the Wampanoag. Before leaving the village we discovered the cooking display and had a wonderful chat with the women there. They had roasted a turkey earlier in the day and were now making a pot of turkey soup. They explained that a pot of soup was always available for visitors or returning hunters. One woman shared that her grandmother had continued the tradition down to modern times-a good example of cultural continuity and the reason for the modern interpreters in historic clothing.

On the other hand the people in the Pilgrim Village are “stuck” in the year 1627. Their first person stories and life style is a high point of any visit. Our first encounter was with three young wives led by Priscilla Alden. They were sitting outside, the day’s work done, working on three part harmony for a hymn. The sound of their singing could be heard all around the upper village as they alternated between religious and secular songs. They really set the stage for us to step back into the 17^th century. “Who are you looking for? Nobody seems to come here unless they are looking for somebody”, one girl said. We admitted we were looking for Mister Brewster and the Hopkins family and got general directions to their homes. Before we visited with “family” we stopped at other places in the village. At the blacksmith shop we learned about nail making and the economics of trade, as sparks flew all about us. Next we visited the house of Dr. Fuller. “Me husband is no doctor, “ said his wife, “He’s a surgeon.” This led to discussion of 17^th century medicine with the wife admitting rather proudly that her husband could mix up more complex medicine than the average housewife.

Finally we arrived at the Brewster home to discover Elder William Brewster and his daughter-in-law Lucretia, both ancestors. The actor playing the role of Brewster must have a doctoral degree in the 17^th century. We were happy to learn of his progressive attitude towards education. “When I had my sons sitting at the table learning their letters, I thought it silly not to have my daughters sit there too.” He was also surprisingly tolerant of the Native American religion. Pointing out a “conversation” with Tisquantum that led him to believe the Indians were on the right track-they had a great spirit after all-despite having many other gods. We learned that the Pilgrims had discussed the issue of conversion with English experts who had suggested letting the natives decide on their own. Our conversation continued on to many other subjects from the voyage of the Mayflower compared to other ships of the time and 17^th century printing in Holland that fascinated my cousin who is a modern day printer.

Our last stop in the village was with John Billington who was whittling a spoon. Unlike the scholarly Brewster, Billington was a working man, who filled us in on many details of ordinary village life. I stopped the cousins in their tracks as we left Billington with a whispered “He’s going to be hanged for murder in three years.” That’s an important consideration for an adult visit to Plimoth, the more you know about the people, the more fun the village is. A good place to start is Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower despite its emphasis beyond the first generation of Pilgrims. For those who have Pilgrim ancestors George Willison’s Saints and Strangers, is not as well written as Philbrick’s book and somewhat dated, but it offers a lot of information on individuals in the early years.

After leaving the village we spent time in the old visitor’s center which has been converted into a workshop for creating objects for the two villages using original techniques. We watched a potter at work, a Native American working with feathers, and a carpenter who was by far the most interesting and outgoing. True to its original purpose the building also had an extensive gift shop with lots of books. You could easily spend an hour here especially if you are a home woodworker.

All in all, I believe Plimoth Plantation has really stepped up its interpretation. It’s like taking an advanced degree in Pilgrim history and it’s exactly what a living history museum should be. The Plantation is open until November 25^th and reopens in the third week of March. Hours are 9-5.