Verity I Say: Day 2 -- Boston and Plymouth area

On Saturday, June 18 we went to Plymouth plantation, Plymouth Rock, the replica of the Mayflower, and the freedom trail in downtown Boston. Even though we are on a LDS History study abroad, we need to study the early reformers because they led the way for Joseph Smith to restore the Church.

Plymouth plantation is a living museum, meaning that there are actors portraying the role or real people that lived there at the time, and they base what they say off of the journal entries of the people that lived there. The first man we saw was portraying a 'natural' (Native American) and he did a very good job of acting as if he was a natural from the 1620's. (Look at the scarcity of his clothing!) The funny thing is that he had a thick Bostonian accent so I kept laughing to myself listening to him.

After we were done talking with the Native American guy we walked on. As you move on there is a fortress of some kind and we went up the stairs and there were replica cannons and this cool broom. :) (they did not call the building a fort but I cannot remember the word they used so for now I will call it a fort :)

View from the top of the fort

All of the homes are all along this path straight down

So all of the actors (besides the Native American guy) spoke with British accents which was awesome because the people the portray were all from England. This actor is portraying a guy named James (couldn't understand his last name) His character was from England and was apart of a reformed congregation. About half of the people at Plymouth plantation were of the Church of England and the other half were Protestants. This created some tensions (and we were supposed to talk to the people to learn about the contentions) but according to the actors even though they had different spiritual beliefs than their neighbors they still get along just fine. So I am not entirely sure of the whole history at Plymouth plantation but it was cool to talk to these people. It felt like we had gone back in time. We need more living museums.

This is not a very good picture but look at all of that wood in the background!

Random Llama

The original Mayflower is long gone but here is a replica! The Separatists (Pilgrims) sailed on the Mayflower and landed in Plymouth in 1620. These separatists were being persecuted in England so they moved to Holland. But their children started to act like Holland children and they wanted their kids to keep their English heritage so they decided to ask the King if they could sail to the new world. The King lets them. While on board the Mayflower the passengers on board sign the Mayflower Contract, which acts as the first governing document in the new world. (It is the predecessor of the Declaration of Independence, the article of confederation, and eventually the constitution of the United States)

The Mayflower II

One of my instructors, Dr. Manscill, made it sound like Plymouth Rock was a very BIG/HUGE rock and that we should be super excited to see it. While we are walking towards it, there is this big monument area protecting the rock (which made me excited once I saw it) but once I walked inside and actually saw the rock I was surprised at how tiny it is! So Dr. Manscill tricked me and I realized that I am very gullible.

Presenting.....Plymouth Rock

Lunch!

We got to tour downtown Boston because there are a bunch of historic sites relating to the revolutionary war. The Freedom Trail, takes you to all of these sites and it is pretty legit. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide (who was dressed in period dress...awesome) and I really enjoyed the tour. It was after the tour that they let us roam Boston for 3 hours that killed me off. At the end of the day my phone said that I had walked over 8 miles that day. It was a fun day, but one of my longest like ever. :)