Pilgrim History
The Founding of Plimoth Plantation
Seventy-five years ago, on October 2, 1947, a group of people met and completed the paperwork to bring Plimoth Plantation into existence. There is a very interesting history behind this decision, and Plimoth Plantation has set new standards for living history museums.
In 1936, at the age of 19, Henry Hornblower II wrote in his journal about things that he might do in the future. He already had a very active interest in both archeology and the Pilgrims. While his family lived in Boston, they had a summer home just outside of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
One of the things that he wrote that he might want to do was to do archeological work into the Pilgrims, the founding of Plymouth, and the indigenous people (mainly the Wampanog) of the area and their interactions.
Shortly after that he sketched a map of a site that would house reproductions of the homes of Pilgrims, the Stockade and Meetinghouse and a native village. He also dreamed that the site would sit on the water and a replica of the Mayflower would be anchored within sight of the reproduction village.
Even before the Plantation was incorporated, Harry began working with an architect and they began sketching possible layouts for the village. Those sketches always included an indigenous village very close to the colonial village. All structures were to be as close to accurate reproductions as possible.
In 1949, a single cabin was built within site of Plymouth Rock at the harbor in Plymouth. That year 300,000 tourist from around the area and across the nation visited the cabin. There was a great deal of controversy because the cabin was not a log cabin. For many years the thought was that the Pilgrims would have built log cabins similar to ones built in the Midwest and even in Mukwonago. However, the Pilgrims would never have seen a log cabin and they would not have known how to build one. The cabin was built with a large stone fireplace and chimney. Later archeological digs on the homesites of the original settlers showed that this was not the case.
Within two years a second cabin was built at the Plymouth Rock site. Meanwhile attention turned to how the group would build a reproduction of the Mayflower. No plans for the Mayflower were known to exist. While we now view the Mayflower as an important historical artifact, at the time of it’s sailing, little note was given to the ship. In fact, there is no record of what happened to the ship after its return 1621. It’s captain, Christopher Jones died in 1622 and the ship was idle until at least 1624 when a court action was brought to free it from the estate, but there is no record that the ship ever sailed again.
At the same time, in England members of the Royal Navy also became interested in the ships used to colonize the New World and wondered if a ship built using the techniques of that time would actually sail across the ocean. A US boating magazine published an article on the desire of Plimoth Plantation to build a replica of the Mayflower. Not long after that, Harry Hornblower received a call from England asking if the group would accept a reproduction of the Mayflower if one were built and sailed across the Atlantic. Hornblower said yes and that is how the Mayflower II came to Plimoth Plantation.
In 1955, Harry Hornblower’s grandmother, Hattie passed away. In her will, she left the family summer home and the land around it to Plimoth Plantation. It became the site where the reproduction Pilgrim village and the indigenous village currently sit. If you are traveling to Boston, a trip about 40 miles south to Plymouth and Plimoth Patuxat would be both interesting and informative.
