WASHINGTON., November 17, 2011 – Where better to encounter an all-American Thanksgiving celebration than at Plymouth, Massachusetts, site of the Pilgrims’ landing in 1620? There’s lots going on there in the coming ten days or so, but if you can’t make the 17th century scene in person, you and the family may enjoy some fun and educational encounters at a very 21st century stop online.
The historic Plymouth Harbor and Waterfront will be bustling this weekend with annual celebratory events that will showcase a week of authentic Americana from more than one century. “America ’s Hometown Thanksgiving Celebration,” will be attended by Pilgrims, Native Americans, patriots and others who’ll march in a parade, present musical concerts, and serve up chowder and other fare to visitors.
Over at Plimoth Plantation – an interactive living history Smithsonian affiliate site open from March through November - Governor William Bradford, Miles Standish, members of the Wampanoag tribe and their village friends will greet visitors who arrive for the celebratory events.
The plantation’s big feature next week will be a Thanksgiving “groaning board” of 17th century fare hosted by residents of circa 1627 Plimoth. Costumed interpreters will serve guests and start conversations about the lives they left behind in England and the challenges they’ve had in setting up their village which dates to 1627. Psalms singing will be part of the entertainment. Other dinners and buffets of more familiar Thanksgiving fare are also on the plantation’s calendar for several days next week.
Cooking at Plymouth/Image Plimouth Plantation
The Pilgrims were Puritans – separatists from the Church of England – who left their homeland for freedom of religious expression, and a half-hour Thanksgiving Meetinghouse worship service called “smidgeon of religion” (Puritan services lasted for hours) is one of the interactive experiences visitors may have at the plantation. Readings from the Geneva Bible (then preferred over the King James version) and interpretive discussions will be part of that event.
And don’t miss the Mayflower II ship, Wampanoag Native homesite, and display of rare breed animals that were part of the 17th colony and are endangered due to changes in agricultural practice in the past four centuries. In Plimoth’s craft center, artisans demonstrate tools and craft techniques of the 1600s for visitors.
If seats at Plimoth’s Thanksgiving dinners aren’t available, or you can’t travel to Plymouth and Plimoth now, there’s lots of 21st century interactive online education and fun about Thanksgiving to experience on the plantation’s website. Go to “You are a Historian” an interactive game about the First Thanksgiving, and virtual video tours of the plantation for families and kids.
Plimoth Plantation also works with teachers and home schoolers year ‘round to bring students to the Massachusetts site, and to transport education to schools all over the U.S.
Read more of Ruth Hill’s columns at Contemporary Christian Travel in the Washington Times Communities.
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