The Mayflower Compact

Signing the Mayflower Compact
Bradford St.
Provincetown, Mass.

After a torturous three month crossing of the Atlantic Ocean a small group of Pilgrims (separatists from the Puritan Church of England) found themselves in a new land. Having taken a more northerly course than originally planned the crew and the passengers of the Mayflower began to survey the harbor and the surrounding land of what is now Provincetown, Mass.

They found the area unsuitable to their needs and went on to establish their settlement in what is now Plymouth, Mass., but while still in the harbor the Pilgrims wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact. This compact or agreement was meant to establish a new form of governance for their new colony under the auspices ands authority of their sovereign King James I. It was signed by 41 of the colonists. The text is as follows:

In the name of God, Amen. We whose names are under-written, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

Having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do by these presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one of another, covenant and combine our selves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the eleventh of November [New Style, November 21], in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James, of England, France, and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Dom. 1620.

This bas-relief of the signing can be found on Bradford St. in Provincetown at the base of the Pilgrim Monument.

Guess Who's Coming to (Thanksgiving) Dinner?

The First Thanksgiving

Interested in spicing up the conversation at your Thanksgiving Dinner? Plimoth Plantation is sending Edward Winslow and Hobbamock to spend Thanksgiving with an anonymous winner of its auction on Ebay. The auction winner, a Cape Cod resident, will be hosting employees of Plimoth Plantation portraying Edward

Winslow, the former Governor of the Plymoth Colony and Hobbamock, a representative of the Wampanoag Indian tribe, for Thanksgiving. The winning bid was for $5,000. The Daily News Tribune of Waltham has their version of the story by Edward S. Colby here.

I thought this was a good idea from the people at Plimoth Plantation. This is kind of a variation of the old question: if you could meet an historic figure from the past, would would it be? A very difficult question to answer, but I'm going to answer a variation of the question. What if I could just choose my dinner companions?

In choosing dinner companions I would be naturally be looking for famous people from the past that I admire and who led interesting lives. I would also choose people who were famous for their intelligence, wit and after-dinner conversation.

Narrowing it down to just three, my choices would be: Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890), Samuel Clemens (1835-1910) and Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965). First enjoying dinner and then spending an evening listening to the conversation of these three gentlemen, maybe while they played Billiards and smoked cigars, would certainly be a night to remember.

Wind power on Old Cape Cod

Old East Mill
Heritage museums & gardens
67 Grove St.
Sandwich, Mass.

Years ago windmills, like this windmill in Sandwich, could have been found all over Cape Cod. Water power was always the preferred method for powering mills, but the lack of rivers and streams on the Cape led to using wind power instead. As times changed and the windmills were no longer needed, attrition reduced the number of windmills on the Cape. At the present time there are only a handful left.

The first windmills on the Cape were built in the early 1600's at Plymouth. Many of the original founders of the Plymouth Colony had lived in Holland prior to coming to the New World, giving a Dutch influence to the windmills. As the Pilgrims began to spread further out onto the Cape, establishing the towns of Sandwich, Eastham and others, more windmills were built.

In addition to grinding grain, windmills were used in the Cape's salt industry, both to grind it and to produce it from (evaporated) seawater. Salt was vital to the Cape's largest employer, the fishing industry.

The Old East Mill was built in 1800 in Orleans. By 1893 the mill had fallen into disuse as it had become cheaper to purchase milled grain from the mid-west. In 1968 the mill was purchased and moved to its present location by the founder of the Heritage museums and gardens, J. K. Livy III.