Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Plantation, and Mayflower II

Saturday we headed south 2-2.5 hours to Plymouth, Massachusettes. It's the original place for the first thanksgiving, what a perfect place to go over Thanksgiving break! It is so cool to go to these historic places and think about how things all began for our country. Sometimes it gives me chills! Maybe I'm just a big history dork , but sometimes these places give me chills!

Statue of William Bradford- Governor of the Plymouth Colony

This is the famous Plymouth Rock!! It was much smaller than I always imagined. I thought it was a huge, cliff-like style rock, but apparently not. I guess this was "big" at the time???
The monument that was built around the rock.

a view of Massachuesttes Bay

Near Plymouth Rock they have a replica of the original Mayflower called the Mayflower 2 that was built in the 1950s. This pic below is the "kitchen" or place where they cooked their food aboard the Mayflower. It was pretty smoky so it's hard to see.

Another part of the kitchen for storage, and food prep.

Here is the "boomers" from that time. Pretty small compared to the cannons that we saw from the U.S.S. Constitution.

Here is their sleeping quarters. The Mayflower had about a crew of 100. This didn't look very comfy to me and it was pretty cramped.

This boat was the boat that they had to bring pieces and put together when they were ready to use it. This is the boat that they had to take to land b/c they couldn't dock the big Mayflower ship.

This is the FANCY captain's quarters.

Melanie and Edgie on the Mayflower

Upper deck of the Mayflower

Another view of Jeremy and I on the Mayflower 2.

Back end of the Mayflower 2.

The Mayflower 2 took a crew in the 1950s on what they thought was the same route as the original Mayflower. I don't think that would be a very fun trip! I bet ya those boys were pretty stinky! :)

Statue of the Wampanoag leader. The Native American tribe that the Pilgrims encountered.

This little plaque made me think that not everyone thinks that the pilgrims landing and Thanksgiving celebrations are good or positive. It talked about the impact that pilgrims had on the natives and how it completely wiped out some native tribes. :(

Next we went to the Plimoth Plantation that was AWESOME!! They recreated an english plantation and a native american (Wampanaog) village.

It's cool places like these that make me wish that I taught in a place that had neat museums to visit. This plantation had actors that would answer questions and interact with the visitors while performing their duties that they would have had to do back then. Here is a Wampanoag house that could fit approximately 15 people.

Outside part of it. (sorry, I actually deleted the other one.) :(

I was a little disappointed in the Wampanaog part of it b/c the actors didn't seem very pumped to be there that day.

Pic of the English Plantation

Houses built completely out of wood

The English village was much larger and the actors were not allowed to talk in present day English. It was funny b/c one lady asked about their restrooms. And the actress asked, "What's a restroom?" I think I would love to work at one of these places! At least for a week or two! :)

Jeremy and I at Plimoth Plantation. You can check out their website and see some of their cool stuff!

We were going to go to Salem, Massaschussettes too, but didn't have time. That's on the agenda for next time. I had a BLAST today!