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Published: September 20th 2010
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I bid you Good Evening and I do hope that you be well,
We are out of here tomorrow!! John has acquired a cottage near downtown Chatham only a nice half mile walk to Oyster Beach and closely located to both the famous Chatham Pier fresh fish nirvana, and The Imputent Oyster, a restaurant recommended by Dottie and Bob (thank you!) For tonight it is again a simple dinner in, while we make plans to be out of here tomorrow.
OH, but today! Even though it took forever to get out of here because it is such a disorganized and uncomfotable house, we finally got on the road to Plimouth Plantation. Subsequently, John and I are totally on history overload. At firs we just wandered around the settlement because it was difficult to approach the guides because of the crowds of children and Europeans trying out their English. Don't get me wrong, I am glad to see so many people coming to visit, but some folks dominate the small spaces within the houses and then they get on a roll of asking questions and do not gracefully bow out. Finally I was able to ascertain the location of the
The View into the Past
Walking into Plimouth Plantation guide who spends her days as my 9x's great grandmother, Mary Chilton Winslow. I became immediately tongue tied while she did marvellously well staying in character as I made references to the future. Since Plimouth exists in 1627 she could not imagine that I could be kin to her as well as "the Walloons?" Francis and Hester Cooke. With Mary's help we were able to locate the homes of the Winslow's, the Cooke's and William Brewster. Apparently by that time, the Warren's were living outside the walls of the village. We went on to visit the home of the Wampanoag and then on to Ye Olde Gift Shop. Funny how none of the souverniers are appealing after you have been living as close as possible to history.
Well, we thought, we are totally on overload, we may as well drive into Plymouth and visit Plymouth Rock and Mayflower II. Both are so tiny! It is hard to imagine 120 people living on the Mayflower for so many months. One of the very best guides on the ship was an older man who was in the role of a sailor. He had great presence, a wonderful command of the language,
Walking into Plimouth Plantation
The view over the pond and salt marshes and just kept going with one story after another. It is truly humbling to see the re-enactments of the way people lived and travelled just 375 or so years ago.
Poor Plymouth Rock lives in a stone gazebo, cordonned off by a metal barrier, but still was littered with pennies and cigarette butts. I was comforted by the tale from "Mary Chilton" about the Pilgrims embarking upon Plymouth. "We had to go from the ship and into the water for a long distance with out skirts tucked about us, the women and the girls both. We would not know who came to land first." So, was Mary the first Europen woman to touch land in the New World? Was it on Plymouth Rock? Some myths and legends are best left undisturbed, I think.
Tomorrow we are going back into Plymouth to see Pilgrim Hall and to wander about town for a bit, so if anybody wants a souveneir T-shirt, sweatshirt, Pilgrim or Wampanoag teddy bear, or picture of John and I decked out in Pilgrim attire, for Christmas, you need to answer this blog tonight with your requests. I have already been told that I may not
An 11 Generation Gap
Max, meet your great grandmother. Mary, meet your grand-daughter. buy the $500 carved turkey so I may have to get a Pilgrim hat--I look so good in hats. I did pass on the Tshirt with the Mayflower passanger list: seemed presumptious, I thought. Tomorrow afternoon we plan on a brain break as we move into Chatham and spend some time walking the town and the beach. We still need to see New Sandwich, Salisbury, and Duxbury at least. So much to do and so little time-all over again!
We do bid thee a good night,
Max and John
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Jennifer
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Small things
Yes, it's pretty startling how small those traveling ships were from the 16th anf 17th centuries. There was a full-scale replica of Francis Drake's Golden Hind built a number of years ago, and it was sailed from Dover to SF Bay. (It was also used in the mini-series "Shogun.") Walloon is one of the languages of Southern Belgiumg/Northern France, and people from that area were also referred to as "Walloons." Nice that you are getting to experience so much living history. John would have towered over quite a few people in the day.