At this time of year, folks often turn to Plimoth Plantation’s website for educational materials related to the upcoming autumnal feast.
“We know that schools around the world are using us as a resource,” says Deputy Director Richard Pickering, noting that this is also a very busy time at the expansive living history museum in southeastern Massachusetts. “When you leave the Visitors Center, you make that transition back to the 1600s and a new way of life that’s looking at the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people.”
More than a dozen one-room homes with thatched roofs make up the 17th century village where visitors roam around, soaking up history.
“Our museum is a re-creation of what it looked like seven years after the Mayflower landed,” says Pickering.
The colonists were farmers in the new world.
“It’s a country life, certainly not what I’m accustomed to,” says a staff member, playing the role of Pilgrim Bridget Fuller. “It’s somewhat crude and course, but we knew that before we came.”
Several miles down the road, visitors can see Plymouth Rock, a scenic grist mill and the Mayflower 2, a full-scale reproduction of the infamous ship used for the Pilgrims’ historic voyage to America in 1620.
“We are three-dimensional history, and we get the kids to look up from the phone for a minute and explore the past in a new way,” says Pickering. “We’re about making memories. Not only are we helping people understand our past as Americans, but we’re helping them come together as families, groups and have wonderful, special times.”
Click here to check out the Plimoth Plantation’s website for teaching materials related to Thanksgiving and for information about new holiday programming, including Christmas strolls and dinners with Scrooge.