Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth!
We finally made it to Plimoth Plantation today. We made the plan on a whim and in 3.5 hours we were there. It was a glorious day, after so much rain and it felt like we were going on a vacation! The kids couldn’t have been more excited.
I tried to find out what they already knew about the settlement at Plymouth, the Mayflower and the Native Americans. It turns out that they knew a lot more than me. Chuckles had read a book the day before on Thanksgiving and Speed had read the Magic Tree Book “Thanksgiving on Thursday”. So instead of going through the teachers notes we learned the English National Anthem and the first verse of the Australian Anthem for good measure. I don’t have that many songs ready to go in my head! Oh… and a list of Old English phrases to use at the English Settlement. Then I relented and let them watch a DVD!
It was such a magnificent day, cool and crisp with the sunlight playing with those new leaves of spring. On arrival you view a 14 minute orientation video, which gives you the lay of the land and the history of the peoples represented at the plantation. It also gave us a plan.
The first area we visited was the Native American exhibit. 
The Wampanoag People have lived in southeastern New England for over 12,000 years. This homesite explores their culture and homelife, giving visitors a chance to find out Native American opinions past and present.
The staff in this area are all Native Americans going about their business. They answer questions and tell you about what they are doing. There was a canoe being burnt out, a lady weaving in the kitchen after the food had been prepared and another guide explaining the different play items he had in his napsack. 
The houses and implements were all constructed by hand out of original materials. The children enjoyed the houses, which were dome shaped and like giant cubbies. Speed loved the canoe 
making.
I especially loved the dolls made out of leather and skunk hair, beautifully decorated and accessorized.
A short walk through the woods is the 1627 English Settlement. It is a re-creation of the small farming town built by English colonists in the midst of the Wampanoag homeland. Here, what appear to be original pilgrims in dress and occupation, answer questions and engage you into their preoccupations. They speak in Old English and it was interesting to see the materials and methods they used to build their dwellings. The children were fascinated by their small yet comfy beds.
On the way back to the entrance is the craft center and shop. The children saw various craftsman potting, carving, embroidering and weaving. They were interesting, however Speed was disappointed he couldn’t work with the clay. We bought a few goodies as momentos and shuffled off to book into our hotel.
A swim and a quick change later, we went out to the wharf for fish and chips and a play along the harbor front. Speed climbed over the rocks and bandied about. Chuckles was happy to walk arm in arm and chat. We saw Plymouth Rock which was not particularly impressive caged up in its Greek colosseum. We saw the Mayflower replica and are going back tomorrow for a closer look before heading back to CT, stopping at the Mystic Aquarium on the way.
It has been a very enjoyable little field trip!
May 20th, 2009 at 1:10 pm
what a lovely outing you set up! well done darling. Wish I could have come. Almost feel like I did reading your post…. So glad it was one day…I miss you.