A Walk in His Gardens--New England

In the steps of my ancestors~

About 355 years ago a small group of Christians, known as Separatists and later as the Pilgrims, left aboard a small ship--the Mayflower--in hopes of making a new life in a new land for themselves and their children. It was a long crossing by today's standards, with very cramped conditions and not without inherent dangers...but they made it to America and gave thanks to God for helping them do so.

First some of them stepped ashore in the area of Provincetown. After scouting around the areas nearby they picked out the Plymouth locality to settle in. During the hard New England winter many of that small band died; out of the survivors there was just a handful of women.

Most likely the Pilgrims buried their early dead on Cole's Hill just above the area of "Plymouth Rock"- later burials took place on Burial Hill. There were no gravestone markers because the deaths were so many and the number of Pilgrim's were so greatly reduced during this terrible time.

The settlement knew more trials but it survived with the help of the Native Americans of the area, hard work and by the grace of God.

Today the earliest Pilgrim's houses are long gone but there are still some traces of their time there--aad the beautiful town of Plymouth lives on. as do the memories of these brave early American settlers.

Personal Note:

A lot of misinformation is out there about the Pilgrims, the first Thanksgiving and the Native Americans who helped them and you cannot believe some of it whether you hear it on TV or read it. If you want to learn more about them, and separate out some facts from the fiction, then I would recommend these sites (the first two links are primary records/narratives of THAT time that you can read for yourself).

While you read this material keep in mind that these people lived in a totally different world and time then we do today--but still managed to live fairly peacefully with their Native American neighbors till more then 1/2 century after their arrival on the eastern seaboard, many years after the death of a lot of the founding forefathers,

Links to more information:

• Online digitized version of Gov. William Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation.
• Another link for the above book. *Link gave me problems--try this if you experience the same:
  http://www.mith2.umd.edu/eada/html/display.php?docs=bradford_history.xml
• A very thorough, well researched site on the Pilgrims' history.
• Short history of the Pilgrims.
• From Great Britain. A site on the Pilgrim's origins.
• A huge site on the Pilgrims with photos & links.
• More Pilgrim information.
• Link to the Mayflower Society for membership info if you believe or know you have a Pilgrim ancestor.

ALL PHOTOS on this Post:
© F & B Blessings; All Rights Reserved. Used with permission here.
A BIG thank you to them for allowing me to post these photos, taken several years ago, online here.
And a happy & blessed Thanksgiving to you my Pilgrim cousins!!! Aimee