Nov. 19, 2023, column from the Amarillo Globe-News:
Pilgrims' first landing wasn't at Plymouth Rock
On a rainy day this September, Kathy
and I had two of the best sandwiches we’ve ever eaten. They were messy, with
gobs of macaroni and cheese filling the space between two pieces of toast at a
place in Provincetown, Massachusetts, called the Grilled Cheese Gallery.
My wife and I followed that with some Lewis Brothers Homemade Ice Cream – also some of the best we’ve tasted – before getting back on the bus to continue our tour of New England.
Until that trip, we had no idea
that Provincetown was the real site of the Pilgrims’ first landing in 1620, not
Plymouth Rock, more than 20 miles across Cape Cod Bay.
Not to take away the
significance of that hallowed granite boulder, but the English Separatists,
looking for a favorable home where they could worship God as they believed they
should, set foot on shore in November 1620 near the tip of Cape Cod, which juts
out into the Atlantic Ocean in the form of an arm with a coiled fist.
We
Texans were surprised to learn that Provincetown, now a tourist destination,
even has a 252-foot tower, also granite, commemorating that first landing. It
was dedicated by President William H. Taft in 1910.
The famed Mayflower Compact,
which set out how the new settlement would be governed and which began, “for
the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith,” was signed by 41
male passengers while still aboard the even more famous ship as it was anchored
off what now is Provincetown, not Plymouth.
The travelers decided the area
wasn’t suitable for a permanent home, and a scouting party in a small boat
located the Plymouth site in December 1620. The Mayflower then sailed to the
location of Plymouth Rock, where all the 102 passengers disembarked.
The Pilgrims enjoyed no luxuries such as mac and cheese or ice cream. They had to scrounge for food, and after a harsh winter battling disease – possibly scurvy and pneumonia – only 53 people remained alive.
With help from the Wampanoag native American
tribe, the survivors grew corn and other crops in 1621, and they had a good yield
in the fall. In October, they celebrated with a three-day harvest festival, an
English tradition, attended by about 90 native people.
Edward Winslow, one of the
Pilgrim leaders, wrote about “the first Thanksgiving” in a journal published in
England in 1622:
“"…our harvest being gotten
in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special
manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors;
“…they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deer, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others.
“And
although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by
the goodness of God, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers
of our plenty.”
Inquiring
minds, of course, want to know, “Where are the turkeys?” Winslow didn’t mention
the Thanksgiving staple, but the group’s governor, William Bradford, and a
later arrival, William Hilton, both mentioned the big bird as common in the
area.
Bradford
wrote in “Plimoth Plantation”:
And Hilton wrote to his cousin in November 1621:
“At our arrival in New Plymouth , in New England, we found all our friends and planters in good health, though they were left sick and weak, with very small means; the Indians round about us peaceable and friendly; … Timber of all sorts you have in England doth cover the land, that affords beasts of divers sorts, and great flocks of turkey, quails, pigeons and partridges; many great lakes abounding with fish, fowl, beavers, and otters. …
“Our
company are, for most part, very religious, honest people; the word of God
sincerely taught us every Sabbath; so that I know not any thing a contented
mind can here want.”
On
our trip, Kathy and I did get to see Plymouth Rock, not far from where that
1621 celebration happened, and we went below decks of the Mayflower II, a
replica ship built in 1957. It’s docked in Plymouth Harbor, a two-minute walk
from the iconic rock.
I
think only the most adventurous of us today would undertake a 66-day voyage in
those cramped conditions with limited food and an uncertain future. The courage
that allowed the Pilgrims to do it and to start a successful community
undoubtedly came from their faith. Referring to the group years later, Bradford
wrote:
“All great and honorable actions are
accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both met and overcome with
answerable courage. … What, then, could now sustain them but the spirit of God,
and His grace?”
* * *
Mike
Haynes
taught journalism at Amarillo College
from 1991 to 2016 and has written for the Faith section since 1997. He can be
reached at haynescolumn@gmail.com.
Go to www.haynescolumn.blogspot.com for other recent columns.
