Plimoth Fort

The Plimoth Fort: 1622-2022

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…

AHTC

America’s Hometown Thanksgiving: The 400th Anniversary of the 1621 Harvest Feast

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…

The Centennial of Pilgrim Progress

They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket or firelock, in front of the captain’s door, they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeant without beat of drum. Behind comes the Governor, in a long robe; beside him on the right hand, comes…

Reconciliation with the Nauset

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…

The Return of the Mayflower to England

William Bradford wrote under the title of “Anno 1621”: “They now began to dispatch the ship away which brought them over, which lay till about this time, or the beginning of April.”  Though there are practical reasons Bradford states as to why the Mayflower had stayed so long through the winter of 1620-21, even after…