Plimoth Plantation. The 1600s and guidance.

Having transferred from our rented house, close to the Kettle Ho Inn, in School Street, Cotuit, to the warmest hospitality of the Brazee Condo, Cotuit, we had visited Plymouth, Cape Cod.

Normally the location of the replica Mayflower, we had visited the Plimoth Plantation to find that this famous transportation vessel of the Pilgrims was away in dry dock, being prepared for the forthcoming 400 year celebration in 2020. There was still the Native American village to see, staffed by genuine ancestors of the original local people. I just loved this place. A couple were making a log canoe, burning a void in a tree trunk. Rubbing off the charred timber with equally charred sticks. Apparently the sap gets driven down into the base of the canoe, enhancing the life of the vessel and adding to the weight , low down. The man was mixed race with Welsh heritage. Very knowledgable, he immediately pinpointed my origins in England !

A beautiful lady welcomed our party to her bark covered, open fire heated replica hut. Hung with reed mats for decorative insulation and draped with animal furs for sleeping and seating comfort, it was extremely comfortable. An emotional experience. A step back in time to another culture.

The replica ” 17C English Village”   (see top)  was staffed by role playing actors, dressed in period costume. One chap wearing woollen “felt” clothes ( which would have been imported from England) was hilarious in his dialogue. I could not move away, he was so funny and not at all politically correct, which appealed to my naughty side !

When the hordes of well behaved American school children, eventually moved away, I had a private word with this “historical Baldrick”. He claimed to be Irish and named Reverend  Layfort, but not  100% convinced what with his comical rascal nature !

My overwhelming memory of our visit to “Plimoth” (spelt correctly in the 1620 fashion, by the way) was the Wampanoag  Native American. A group of peoples from several tribes, they endured French, Dutch , Portuguese and English ” invasion”. Some visitors took to kidnap and enslavement to Europe but others cooperated, traded and lived alongside these healthy eating and living folk. Fish and farmed corn and vegetables sustained them along with seasonal hunted meats. Local history says that we English were far behind other Europeans and also the Vikings. Respect ! They really did get around ! 

One Wampanoag guide told us of evevidence of their people going back some 8,000 years plus.