Leaving the Visitor Center and starting our tour of Plimoth Plantation, Michael looks at the packed earth below us, saying, “You realize we are walking down hill, right?”
“Which means we are going to have to walk uphill to get out of here. I know,” I say, trying to keep the sigh I feel deep within from bubbling up and bursting forth.
Hills and stairs—our nemesis. We can’t seem to escape them. Ever.
We come to a curve and stop to read a sign about the Wampanoag People and the home-site we are about to enter.
Another Land – Another People
The Wampanoag were the first Native Americans that the Colonists encountered. This particular home-site is a re-creation of the home of Hobbamock and his extended family. They were the only Native People who were known to live alongside the newly arrived English settlers. Perhaps this was because Hobbamock was a councilman to Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoag. Hobbamock served as a liaison between the English and the Native People.
We also read that the interpreters and guides we encounter will all be Native American’s, some of them Wampanoag, and others are from various Native Nations.
It is a cloudy, cool, breezy October day. Many of the interpreters and Native Guides are to me, scantily clad, in traditional costume, with not a goose-bump anywhere. They tell me their blood acclimates and it is not cold. I have on four layers and two scarves. I’m not cold either. Cool, not cold.
A Different Way of Life
There are many lean-to’s and two enclosed huts. One round, one oblong. These structures were built by the Wampanoag for thousands of years. The round one—a mat-covered wetu—is typically used during the summer months. This is when many of the Native People make their home along the coastal waters for fishing, hunting, gathering and farming. All of this, in preparation for the winter ahead.
In the winter they move inland into the larger oblong bark-covered longhouse—a nush wetu—which has three fire pits. One of them has a warming fire going and a Native guide telling his stories. We sit on a fur covered seat (used for sleeping) and listen.
Outside, we see several, of what I would call, dugout canoes. The Native People call them mishoonash or boats. They are shaped by the laborious method of burning and scraping the interior until they are seaworthy. One that is being worked on at the moment, is so long it looks like it will take years of arduous work to complete.
Leaving the world of the Wampanoag—there is so much more to their story, disease, death, near extinction, war—we stop by the craft center, promising ourselves to return before we leave.
Time Travelers
Cresting a small hill, we see what surely must be the replica of the fort, a.k.a. meeting house, that originally stood on top of Burial Hill. Walking into and out of this structure, we make our way downward to the 17th-Century English Village. It is a re-creation of the homes, gardens, storehouses, and animal pens the colonists built almost 400 years ago.
This is a village at work, and at rest. Everyone we meet is dressed in 17th Century clothing and speaks in the dialect of their home region. They talk of the here and now in the time period in which they live.
I hate to say it but the women seem to be working today and many of the men just sitting, talking or resting. I’m sure they are tired from working in the fields.
All of the dwellings are emblazoned with the name of the original inhabitants. The home of Myles Standish is closest to the fort and is in the throes of repair. Most of the houses have thatched roofs. However we walk into one that has wooden shingles, and I ask the gentleman, sitting at a table, seemingly relaxing, “Why?”
“A matter of preference,” he tells me. “Plus, they are much safer for my neighbors if a flying ember catches my roof on fire. It will burn and fall-in on itself. If a thatched roof catches fire, the entire village is likely to go up in flames.”
Something worth thinking about.
Listening to Their Stories
Walking into the house where Isaac Allerton lives, I expect to see his wife Fear. Instead, Mistress Standish is tending the fire and making a porridge out of dried peas. She explains she is helping out her friend, who is left taking care of four children, while her husband returns to England to negotiate with the Colonists’ agent in London. Mistress Standish explains, “It is a hard life to be here with your husband gone for so long. I try to help where I can.”
We walk in and out of these ancient lives, listening to their stories. We learn how many years each individual has left to give to the London agents before being able to receive their own land and begin working for themselves. Hearing this surprises both of us. Neither Michael nor I having any idea that these early settlers are under obligation to give their labors and profits to another individual.
How Poor Farmers Paid Their Way Across the Atlantic
Most of the Colonists who made the trip were actually Separatist farmers. They were very poor, mostly uneducated, and had little money to invest in a trip all the way across the Atlantic. Not only did it cost money to be able to board the boat itself, it cost money to stock the ship, pay the sailors and it cost money to set up an entire new settlement on an entirely different continent.
These determined individuals financed the venture by signing an agreement with Thomas Weston a wealthy iron merchant in London. The Colonists agreed to contribute their services at a certain flat fee. They agreed to work as traders or fisherman for seven years, sending back furs, lumber, and other resources so that Weston and his partners could profit from financing the Colonists trip to the New World.
Recreating the Colony
Walking in and out of this re-created re-imagined world, I wonder how long these structures will last. Since everyone we meet cannot leave the Century they live in, or step out of the character they portray, there is no one to ask. Until, that is, we hear a saw. We make sure to find out if the 21st Century is the one the gentleman wielding the saw is living in, and then begin to bombard him with questions.
Our new found friend is more than happy to supply the answers. One, and only one house, has been here since the last time we visited in 1966. The other oldest home was built in 1993. The one currently being rebuilt is using a cement foundation to help it last a bit longer. He points out the rotted foundation post they dug out of the ground before starting the reconstruction.
Finally, when all of the homes and gardens are seen, and the animals spoken to, we turn our backs on the past and walk toward the future. We take with us two birdbath-shaped pottery salt cellars and two tiny reproduction silver spoons.
Dinner in the 21st Century
The future brings us back to the house built in the 1700s where a good bottle of red wine and a savory pot roast awaits. All I have to do is mash a few potatoes, set the table and pour the wine. I’m grateful to be living what seems to be an easier, warmer life.
Always Questions
I wonder about the English Colonists (who did not appreciate the name Pilgrim or the nomenclature Puritan) and about the Wampanoag. Whenever I discover the intolerance of the Colonists toward other religions and Native People it saddens me. I do not understand this attitude at all. It seems they would be the most tolerant, the most understanding, of any individuals.
The more I see and hear, the more questions I have. The more curious I become. It is never ending. Perhaps I should just stay home in familiar surroundings where all questions have answers and are safely put to bed.
What kind of relationship did the Pilgrims and Native People have?
Taken from www.plimoth.org – Frequently Asked Historical Questions
Unfortunately, there is not a simple answer to this question. At times, relations were tense. In the winter of 1620, the English colonists stole Native corn they found buried on Cape Cod and raided several Native graves. On December 8, 1620, a group of Nauset Wampanoag attacked one of the Pilgrims’ exploratory parties. And soon after that initial encounter, the Pilgrims left Cape Cod to make their homes in Plymouth, on land that had been previously occupied by the Wampanoag village of Patuxet.
Learning to Live in Harmony
At other times, relations were less strained and more cooperative. Massasoit, an important sachem (leader) of the Wampanoag village of Pokanoket in present-day Rhode Island, concluded a treaty of mutual protection with the Pilgrims. He, like the English, sought a bulwark against Native enemies in New England. On March 22, 1621, Massasoit, English Governor John Carver and delegations from both sides met in Plymouth. Squanto, a Wampanoag man who had spent time as a captive in England, acted as translator. The resulting treaty had six components. Neither party would harm the other. If anything was stolen, it would be returned and the offending person sent back to his own people for justice. Both sides also agreed to leave their weapons behind when meeting, and Massasoit promised that he would spread word of the treaty to neighboring Native communities. The two groups would serve as allies in time of war.
There were difficulties throughout the 1620s as the two cultures learned more about one another. Massasoit and ninety of his men joined the colonists in Plymouth in the fall of 1621 for a celebration of the harvest. Due to the scant writing about the event, however, we don’t know why the Wampanoag attended. Were they invited? Or did they hear the Pilgrims’ celebratory firing of muskets and come to ensure the safety of their own communities? Almost a year later in 1622, when a group of unruly and undisciplined Englishmen arrived at Wessagusset (now Weymouth) intending to settle, they caused discord between the English and Wampanoag.
The Beginning of the End
Despite periods of misunderstanding and tension, the Wampanoag and the English worked to achieve relative peace throughout the 1620s. They enjoyed military agreements, trade relations, regular communications and even some social interactions, but both sides remained wary of the other. After 1627, as the Pilgrims left the town of Plymouth to make homes elsewhere in the Wampanoag homeland, relations would become less cooperative.
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