The Pilgrims first landed at what was to become Provincetown, on Cape Cod, on November 21, 1620. A small party of men, led by Myles Standish, went ashore to explore. They found a place where Native People had stored corn underground and confiscated it to use for seed. Due to lack of fresh water and poor soil, they decided to move on.
| ...Now was the heart of winter and unseasonable weather was come upon us...it was in the end concluded to make some discovery within the bay. |
The Mayflower’s pilot, Robert Coppin, remembered the bay from a previous visit. The area was called Patuxet by the Natives and Plymouth by the English, from an earlier map drawn by the explorer Captain John Smith. The Mayflower passengers may have also known from an account of a recent exploration that the area had been depopulated.
| An exploring party set out in the shallop : ...though it was very dark and rained sore, yet in the end they got under the lee of a small island [Clark's Island] and remained there all that night in safety... And this being the last day of the week, they prepared there to keep the Sabbath. |
| On Monday they sounded the harbor and found it fit for shipping, and marched into the land and found divers cornfield, and little running brooks, a place (as they supposed) fit for situation. We Must Not Forget Our History! Dear God! Perhaps We Already Have! |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment