The Wampanoag named this island “Noepe,” meaning “dry land.” Bartholomew Gosnold named it Martha’s Vineyard in 1602. As Bo Van Riper has documented, Thomas Mayhew, Sr. purchased the island in 1641 “to convert wealth… into land.” He did his due diligence to make sure he paid off those who had previously laid claim to the…
When William Bradford, over 10 years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, pondered the real mission of the Leyden Church migrating to the new world, he wrote that: “A great hope and inward zeal they had for the propagating and advancing the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the…
The Pilgrims and the Puritans celebrated two types of prayer services: fasting (and humiliation), as well as thanksgiving. As I wrote in my book, Journey of Faith: “To the Pilgrim, as well as the Puritan, everything was religious, but a prayer and fast day was called in the spring (regularly by 1694), to confess sin…
The Pilgrims were a praying people. It was out of a prayerful heart that their story was born. It was in prayer that they confirmed their salvation and relationship to Jesus Christ to “reform their lives.” It was also in prayer that they consecrated themselves to one another “by a covenant of the Lord.” They…
Thomas Weston financially backed the Pilgrims and their voyage to the shores of New England. He was attracted to the Pilgrims because they came as families under a church covenant. This, he believed, would prove to be the best atmosphere for an investment that was risky, especially since many plantations did not have an outcome…
The story of Squanto is truly amazing. William Bradford called him “a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectation.” Introduced to the Pilgrims by Samoset in March of 1621, his story of being captured by Thomas Hunt in 1614, being sent to Spain, gaining his freedom, learning English, and returning in…
The Plimoth Fort and palisade wall were built in the summer of 1622. A Benjamin Franklin aphorism published in his Poor Richard’s Almanack was, “Love your neighbor, yet don’t pull down your hedge.” This “pithy observation” of his, like many others, was derived from the wisdom literature of the Bible. The Bible’s injunction from the…
There were only about 140 people who attended the first harvest feast in the fall of 1621. But on November 20, 2021 thousands lined the route of this year’s Thanksgiving parade held in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. Plymouth Rock Foundation, parent organization of America’s Hometown Thanksgiving and original sponsor was again proud to be involved in…
On Tuesday, October 5, as people gathered on the historic Plymouth waterfront, the long-awaited American Pilgrimage 400 culminated with the re-enactment of the landing of the Pilgrims from the newly restored replica shallop. Jumping from the boat into waist deep water to the cheers of on-lookers, the role players from Plimoth-Patuxet Museums came ashore, some…
When exploring on Cape Cod, the Pilgrims desired to know everything they could about the Natives who already lived there. What they may not have known, however, was that in 1614, previous to their arrival, Thomas Hunt, an English trader, had taken over 20 Natives to Europe as slaves, leaving another stain upon the reputation…
Under a hill in Bournedale a plaque commemorates the burying ground of a Praying Indian village where the first meeting house for Native converts was once located in 1637. Two individuals from Sandwich are named as the principal missionaries – Richard Bourne and Thomas Tupper. Though the plaque merely mentions the name of Bourne I…