One woman busily husked corn in the bright sunshine at
the village center as another woman carefully crafted a bowl under the
sheltering trees near a cooking fire at her home just a few minutes’ walk away
from the cornhusker.
The common threads of caring for family ran through
both vignettes, but the scenes at Plimoth Plantation were worlds apart in many other
ways.
Plimoth Plantation presents a respectful
representation of life in two distinctly different cultures. Modern Wampanoag
and other Native Americans represent the Wampanoag living and working in Patuxet,
while a cast of interpretive role players represent life in a neighboring 1627
colonial village populated by English settlers near the area now known as Plymouth,
Massachusetts.
We left our car in Plimoth Plantation’s huge parking
lot and took a short walk back in time to the wooded Wampanoag homesite. Signs
along the trail urged visitors to ask questions and interact with the Wampanoag.
The signs also gently reminded visitors to avoid culturally insensitive questions
and stereotyping. This struck me as a slightly disturbing comment on the depth
of the differences and misunderstanding existing between differing cultures,
but these are differences that Plimoth Plantation strives to respect as the
site educates visitors about the Native Americans and English settlers working
and living there in the 1620s.
The wooded site and quiet industry of the Wampanoag
as they worked in their home and gardens lent the site a sense of serenity,
while the starkly sunlit colonial village and more vocally businesslike manner
of the Pilgrims seemed to lend the village a more relentlessly bustling
character. The contrasting character of each community only served to highlight
a common strength of character that allowed both communities to carve homes out
of a harsh land and climate.
Dusty trails led uphill to a fort that served as a
defense for the colonial village, as well as hosting community meetings and worship.
The village buzzed with activity as settlers prepared the harvest for use,
maybe to cook in one of the settlement’s outdoor community ovens, and for preservation
to last the harsh Plimoth winter.
Villagers acknowledged us and genially wished us “good
morrow” as they continued their constant labor. Each thatch-roofed home in the
village bid us to enter through open doors and see where the early Pilgrims
spent time with their families, slept and arose to another work-filled day.
The Plimoth Plantation guidebook I purchased at the
site’s gift store (yes, there’s always a gift store at these places, and I
always end up with at least one book when I visit!) explained the site’s name.
The spelling of P-l-i-m-o-t-h comes from a spelling used by early Plymouth
Colony governor William Bradford in a history about the area. Seventeenth-century
English people commonly used “plantation” to describe new colonies, or places
they planted with people.
And it’s the people that make Plimoth Plantation
come alive for modern visitors. Spending a pleasant day strolling through the
1627 village and returning the cheerful greetings of the industrious Pilgrims,
or spending time with a Native American woman who showed me the soup she was
preparing for her family and explained how she carefully maintained her cooking
fire, gave me a new respect for the hard work required of each community to
carve a decent life for their families out of the 1620s wilderness.
Postscript:
The Mayflower II is part of Plimoth Plantation, and
you can read about our visit to the ship here.
The main Plimoth Plantation complex also includes a
Crafts Center and a few conventional indoor museum exhibits in the Visitor
Center near the entrance.
Museum visitors learn that the “first Thanksgiving”
was really a harvest celebration, coupled with military exercises and
diplomatic events during a three-day meeting between the Wampanoag and English colonists
in 1621. It wasn’t until much later, in 1863, that President Lincoln declared
Thanksgiving as a national holiday for expressing gratitude.
In any case, if you’re celebrating Thanksgiving this
week, enjoy!
And thanks to everyone visiting Midwest Guest!
© Dominique King 2008
Comments