East Coast Trip (Part 6) -- Plimouth Plantation and Mayflower II

During our final day in Massachusetts, we visited the Mayflower II, a full-size (and seaworthy) replica of the original ship complete with wonderfully informative characters dressed in period costumes. The ship's "captain" (see below) was a particularly excellent and knowledgeable character who spoke in a strong Scottish (?) brogue, knew every aspect of ships and sailing, and helped us better appreciate the rigors and hardships endured by the initial passengers and crew of the Mayflower.























Ready to board the Mayflower II


















Hoisting the anchor with the windlass























We also explored the Plimouth Plantation, which presented life at the first colonial settlement from the perspective of both the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people. I appreciated learning more about the lives and challenges of those early settlers and how being persecuted for their faith led them to seek a new life on a new continent. However, I continue to be deeply unsettled by and ambivalent about the legacy of the white man's displacement of the native americans. The cultures and civilizations that my ancestors displaced and/or eradicated (whether intentionally through conquest or inadvertently through disease) leaves me feeling unsettled about the whole "manifest destiny" thing (though that language wasn't used until the 1800s).

At the Plimouth Plantation


















Inside a Plimouth Plantation Home