Plymouth, Massachuttes

We had explored and toured Newport and now it was time to go a little farther afield. So we set out for Plymouth, almost a 2 hour drive, but it was worth it. Great little town. Unfortunately we didn't realize it would take us so long to get there or we would have started out earlier. Most of the historical places closed by 5 p.m. so we had to pick the ones we wanted to see the most. There were several other things I would have liked to see that day but we thoroughly enjoyed the place.

We visited the Smithsonian's recreation of Plymouth village. The first building we came to was a two story square building. The ground floor was their meeting house/church. You can see the pulpit in the picture above. The second floor had cannons and slots in the wall to fire guns from. Beyond this was the village itself. The photo on the opposite page is looking down the main street from the meeting house.

Every cabin had a backyard garden and the insides small and simply furnished.

The ladies in the top left photo are plucking a turkey, getting it ready

to cook for supper. The other three photos are the inside of the cabin they were sitting in front of. It was one of the larger cabins and one of the few that had two rooms. Most consisted of one room where cooking, eating, sleeping etc all took place.
Some of the people who portray the pilgrims spend all day there, gardening, doing chores, taking care of the livestock and working in the gardens, even cooking their meals there in the same way the pilgrims did. They basically live there and just go home to sleep.

On the opposite page Lee is standing in the doorway of the community "barn" where the livestock is kept. The photo below is of one of the larger gardens that are grown behind or beside every cabin.

Top left photo is a community oven. A few cabins had a much smaller version in them, but most just had a very primitive fireplace for simple cooking. The top right picture is of some of their corn harvest, dried and ready for winter. Bottom left is a replica of the type of chairs they built and used and the bottom right is a picture of some of the "livestock".

A short walk from Plymouth village was a replica of the Indian village that was fairly close to the village. These were the Indians that befriended the pilgrims and celebrated the first Thanksgiving with them. The photos on the opposite page are of the outside and inside of their big winter lodge. It is covered with bark on the outside which kept the rain, snow and wind out. Many families could spend the winter together in here. The more people, the more body heat. In the summer they lived in single family dwellings.

The two bottom pictures are of the outside and the inside of one of their summer houses. Instead of covered with bark as their winter homes were these were made of small trees and branches. The top photos are of the tribe's community kitchen.

On the opposite page the top picture is of a craftsman carving patterns into clay plates he had made on the potter's wheel. The engravings on the plates were typical pilgrim, Indian, Mayflower etc depictions. In another room they had a kitchen where they baked the same bread using the same kind of grains that were available to the pilgrims. The bottom picture is of some of the goats that were common in the 17th century.

Above: In the harbor at Plymouth sits a replica of the original Mayflower.

We have had a few laughs with strangers on this trip. The pictures on the opposite page of Plymouth Rock is one of those times. The rock is at the bottom of a short shaft to protect it from people breaking off chunks of it for souvenirs. In the top photo you cannot read the date carved in the rock because of the sunlight coming through the shaft. An older gentleman on my right said, "There is just no way to get a good picture!" "I know, the sunlight blots out the numbers" I replied. "You know what we need to do?" he grinned. "We need to stand together then our shadows will blot out the sun!" "Okay", I laughed, "sounds like a plan". So we snugged in tight shoulder to shoulder and sure enough it worked! In the bottom photo you can make out the date 1620 on the rock. We had a good laugh and got our pictures too.

We visited Plymouth, MA on Monday, September 21. It was Lee's birthday (67, but who's counting?) as well. So on the way back to Newport we stopped at one his of favorite restaurants, Texas Roadhouse for his birthday dinner. I told him to smile for the picture, I really did! In fact I took 3 pictures trying to get him to smile, but this was all I got. One would think he was being served his last meal after the governor refused to pardon him.

We left Newport on Wednesday, September 23, and headed for the Berkshires to a little spot on the map, Hancock, MA. I am an early riser and that morning I was up by 5 a.m. The pictures on the opposite page are of the view that greeted me that morning from the balcony. The photos don't do it justice. Dawn was just breaking and the light was so soft, defused through the light mist from the water and the lights in the marina were glowing like soft twinkling stars. What a wonderful farewell memory.

Goodbye Newport, I enjoyed getting to know you.