The “Boys” Make History: 2017
As most of you know, in a previous life I was a U.S. History teacher. It both disturbed and saddened me that a majority of incoming students would rather have their fingernails torn from their bodies than have to take a class on history. I always thought, how could that be? As people aged, they loved history. Not so much early on. My suspicion was the teaching of it was the problem. It could be so interesting. There is so much material.
With that in mind, we (mostly me) decided to take the grandsons on a tour of Plymouth Plantation in MA to see what Pilgrim life was like in the 1620’s; then onto Williamsburg, VA to sample life as a colonist in the 1770’s and, finally, a tour of Sturbridge Village trying to get a feel for life in a 1830’s Massachusetts town.
In essence, a tour of 17th, 18th and 19th century life in the U.S. How things were and how they changed over a period of a couple hundred years. Each site was chosen because of the meticulous presentation and historical accuracy they represented. Each location was staffed by folks in period costume, doing daily chores and routines willing and able to share their lives with us.
Before taking the journey, let me introduce the players: Harrison 9, Riley 12, Bennett 12, and Fletcher 11. Harrison and Bennett are Sara’s sons. Riley and Fletcher are Lisa’a (not shown are Lisa, Sara, Linda, and Gil). They are all a treat by themselves and a treasure together. This was going to be fun and, if by chance, something was learned and appreciated...well, I never told them that.
August 10, 2017
Fortunately, we got the last eight tickets on a direct flight to Boston. Unfortunately, it meant everyone met at the airport at 5:00 a.m. After we landed, a greeter in th airport welcomed us to Baaston. He asked if we needed a Kaa. Bennett looked at Sara and asked, “Are they born that way?” We were off to a great start.
The Pilgrims wanted to establish a new church in the New World. They did not want to pledge allegiance to the Church of England which they believed was nearly as corrupt and idolatrous as the Catholic Church it had replaced.
These early settlers took 66 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean during the height of storm season. As a result, the 102 passengers plus crew endured a horrible passage. Many of them were so seasick, they were barely able to get up. The waves were so rough that one of them was swept overboard and drowned.
Soaked and half-frozen, they landed on December 8, 1620. If not for friendly native American Wampanoags, it would have been a worse disaster. Probably because half the newcomers were women and children who sailed and landed at the worst time of year, they were helped, not assaulted. As it was, over half the settlers perished the first winter from malnutrition, disease and exposure to the harsh New England weather. They are buried in a mass grave atop a bluff overlooking Plymouth Harbor.
By the following summer, with help from the Wampanoags, the surviving colonists celebrated their first successful harvest with a three day festival of thanksgiving. We still celebrate this feast today.
The boys felt a real respect for the people who could leave everything behind and venture into the unknown.
We walked the historic area near the harbor to the site where the first settlement was located. Because we were too early to check into our lodging, we decided to drive a short distance to Cape Cod. We got as far a Hyannis, turned around and stopped at a beach in Barnstable to let the boys put their feet into the Atlantic. Dinner tonight was on a deck overlooking the ocean.
August 11, 2017
While the town goes by “Plymouth,” the living museum takes the spelling “Plimoth.” There were no rules for the spelling of English words in the early 17th century, and each writer did as he or she pleased, phonetically spelling the word as seemed fit, often with different variations in the same document. The museum takes its spelling from a historical account of the town by Governor William Bradford.
Alongside the settlement is a re-creation of a Wampanoag home site, where modern American Indians from a variety of tribes in traditional dress explain and demonstrate how the Wampanoag’s ancestors lived and interacted with the settlers.
The re-creations of the village are based upon a wide variety of first-hand and second-hand records, accounts, articles, and period paintings and artifacts. Ongoing research and scholarship is done on sight.
In the 1624 English Village section of the museum, first-person interpreters have been trained to speak, act, and dress appropriately for the period. It is quite fetching and adds a real touch of reality to the experience.
August 12, 2012
We drove from New Haven, CT to Williamsburg, VA. The trip passed through New York City, skirted past Philadelphia, through Washington, D.C. and Baltimore and bypassed Richmond. It took about 10 hours.
Two things came to mind. First, if we had been riding in a coach 250 years ago, the journey would have last somewhere around 10 days. Second, as every parent probably knows, if there is a swimming pool at the destination every evening, a lot of issues can be remedied.
Lisa booked a ghost tour of Williamsburg for all of us tonight. So after checking in, SWIMMING, a shuttle to Colonial Williamsburg, and a quick dinner, we met our ghost guide at 8:30. Harrison is not a big fan of these kind of stories...lights mysteriously going on and off, noises from the upstairs of empty houses, guides who swear apparitions have appeared before them...but we all survived and it was a nice introduction to the town.
August 13, 2017
Jamestown continued to be the colony’s capital until 1698, when its statehouse burned down for the fourth time. One year late, the colony’s elected representatives, called burgesses, decided to build a new capital. It was to be called Williamsburg, named in honor of the English King.
The new site was located on a peninsula between the James and York Rivers. It was threaded by deep creeks that made it easy to transport goods by boat, and it had springs to provide water for drinking. The capital site already had two important institutions, the new College of William and Mary, founded in 1693 (only Harvard, 1636, is older) and Bruton Parish Church.
The present site of Colonial Williamsburg measures approximately 1/2 mile by 1 mile and consists of more than 300 acres. This living history museum is unique for having been constructed from a living town whose inhabitants and post-Colonial-era buildings have been removed. There are 88 original 18th-century structures and hundreds of houses, shops, and public outbuildings that have been reconstructed on their original foundations.
It is a wonderful place.
He also said most trades, and there are many, generally had a 6 or 7 year apprenticeship. All the shops we would see over the next two days would require this training. Typically, unless someone was going to become a doctor, lawyer, soldier, or clergy they apprenticed for a trade, farmed or hired out for menial chores.
We watched tinsmiths and blacksmiths (a smithy typically works with a forge hammering some kind of hot metal). All very interesting.
After lunch at Chowning’s Tavern, we took a coach ride around part of the town. After a tour of the Governor’s Palace, we went to the Bruton Parish Church. The pews were marked with famous people who had attended services there...George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Monroe...almost an endless list of famous early Americans.
The docent pointed out there were no collections at church services. The King was head of both Church and State. Taxes paid church expenses. After the Revolution, the Anglican Church of England was shunned and rather morphed into Presbyterianism.
August 14, 2017
Our final trade was a visit to the gunsmith shop. Prior to the American Revolution there was little need for the industry in the colonies. Most firearms came from England. Gunsmiths in the colonies primarily repaired muskets, rifles and guns. However, a few weapons were made here and the boys each got a turn drilling out a musket barrel, helped make a sand mold for some of the design work and were utterly fascinated. The average musket took some 400 hours of skilled labor to construct.
Deer skins were a prized commodity, not just for personal use, but as a source of income. A “buck” was equal to one Spanish gold dollar, the value of one deer.
Tonight, the boys sat on the jury of a witch trial. She was found not guilty, although Bennett voted the other way.
August 15, 2017
Almost the same drive from Boston to Williamsburg, but in reverse. Sturbridge is about an hour west of Boston. I keep rethinking the sanity of doing this, but I wanted the progression of sites to be sequential, hopefully, to better etch in the boy’s minds the flow of change among the different periods of time. We shall see.
August 16, 2017
Sturbridge Village in southern Massachusetts is another living museum site. This one is devoted to a representation of life in rural New England around 1830. As their brochure states, “Talk with costumed historians, farmers and artisans, meet our heritage breed animals, see 19th-century demonstrations and experience history hands-on!”
The site reminds me of Old World Wisconsin. Historic structures were found and moved or reconstructed here; others were faithfully reproduced based upon detailed plans that research discovered. The effect and feel is extremely well done.
After an introduction to the village from a matron in period dress, we walked through a parsonage (both husband and wife were home), past the village green and over a quaint covered bridge.
Next door was the gristmill. Same stream from the same backed up pond; completely different water wheel generating the power. But no less fascinating than the sawmill. The workers ground corn and oats into a mixture used for horse feed.
Next to the gristmill was a carding mill used to prepare wool for spinning. All of these were incredible to see.
August 17, 2017
Having everyone together on a fun week-long trip is a memory to last forever. Will the knowledge and flow-of-history just observed be a catalyst for a lifelong fascination with our country’s past? Who can tell. This much I do know...voted number one on the list of best things this trip...the ghost tour. Gotta love it.