{"id":660,"date":"2011-08-05T11:57:33","date_gmt":"2011-08-05T11:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bucksurdu.com\/blog\/?p=660"},"modified":"2011-08-05T11:57:33","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T11:57:33","slug":"2011-vacation-day-six-plymouth-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/2011\/08\/05\/2011-vacation-day-six-plymouth-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"2011 Vacation: Day Six: Plymouth and Beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Entrance<\/a>
Entrance to the Mayflower II Exhibit<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After another run along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, we packed up and headed to Plymouth, MA. \u00a0Our first stop was to see the Mayflower II. \u00a0This ship is an authentic recreation of the Mayflower. \u00a0It was built in 1957 and sailed from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, MA in 55 days. \u00a0While it has sailed to different parts of the US from time to time, it mostly rests in Plymouth, MA, as an exhibit.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Mayflower II at dock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The cost of entry was supposed to be over $100 for us to see this and the Plimouth [sic] Plantation (see below). \u00a0We must have found one of three non-Marxists in New England, because when Candy asked about the advertised military discount, the man behind the counter admitted us to both exhibits for FREE. \u00a0What a great way to start the day! \u00a0 \u00a0We thanked him several times, and he joked about possibly losing his job at the end of the day when the counted the till. \u00a0It was a very nice gesture.<\/p>\n

\"Living<\/a>
Living history actor on board taking on the role of the ship's captain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There were two living history interpreters on board when we visited. \u00a0This one in the picture played the role of the ship’s captain. \u00a0I learned a great deal about the economics of 17th century merchantmen from this man. \u00a0He was very interesting. \u00a0Below on the Orlop Deck was an actor playing the role of a seaman. \u00a0Topside was a plain-clothes docent who was enthusiastic and informative. \u00a0One of her interesting stories was the fact that the Mayflower only had a 20-foot draught. \u00a0In heavy weather the yardarms could touch the water. \u00a0I had always heard that the pilgrims were not allowed on deck, but after this discussion I realized that was for their own safety. \u00a0Apparently one of the pilgrims who was on deck (illicitly) actually fell overboard and would have drowned had he not luckily grabbed a line that had also fallen into the water.<\/p>\n

We thought that the ship would be the sidelight and that the main event would be Plimouth Plantation. \u00a0We enjoyed the ship more than the plantation.<\/p>\n

\"Entrance<\/a>
Entrance to the Plimouth village<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At Plimouth Plantation they built a Wapanoag (Indian) village and a reconstruction of the 1627 Plimouth settlement. \u00a0We found the Wapanoag village underwhelming. \u00a0There were several living history re-enactors there, but they interacted very little with the visitors. \u00a0When we did ask questions, we received short, curt answers. \u00a0There were two men apparently building another long house, but they couldn’t be bothered to talk to us about what they were doing. \u00a0The only vocal person was a woman who was expounding on the evil Europeans.<\/p>\n

\"Tom<\/a>
Tom and Sam at the Wapanoag village<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One thing I found interesting was that the corn was planted as the Indians would have done so. \u00a0It was not planted in tight rows as we do today. \u00a0It was planted in a more open, non-row pattern with an equal distance between plants in all directions. \u00a0Clearly using rows gives you more corn per acre. \u00a0This is the kind of attention to detail that characterized the Plimouth Plantation. \u00a0After a little while we moved on to the Plimouth settlement.<\/p>\n

\"Part<\/a>
Part of the reconstructed Plimouth settlement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They’ve done a tremendous job of using historical records to lay out this village, complete with stockade walls, meeting house, and various dwellings. \u00a0There were a few living history re-enactors around the village taking on the roles of various historical personalities. \u00a0They had really done their homework and could talk in great detail about the persona they were taking on. \u00a0One of them had some interesting insights on the relationship of the common folk with the royalty and Church of England.<\/p>\n

\"View<\/a>
View down the main street of Plimouth settlement from the meeting house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While there were several living history re-enactors scattered around the village, the man representing John Brewster (the religious leader) and one of the men in the process of constructing a new house were the most informative and outgoing. \u00a0One thing notably absent were working craftsmen in the village. \u00a0Other than the three men building a new house, most folks were wandering around talking to visitors. \u00a0As a result, it was difficult to get a sense of what daily life was like in the colony.<\/p>\n

\"Most<\/a>
Most of the buildings were decorated to this level of detail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Probably the most interesting tidbit of information was the reason the pilgrims came to the New World. \u00a0They had fled from England to Holland for religious freedom (their Church was outlawed in England), but not being citizens of Holland, they were relegated to a very menial existence. \u00a0They petitioned the king to form a colony for economic reasons. \u00a0By the way, half the folks on the Mayflower were not part of the pilgrims’ religion, but participation in their ceremonies was compulsory for all members of the colony.<\/p>\n

\"Candy<\/a>
Candy and Tom replacing secret blue prints in the Cabal safe<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From Plymouth we headed to Foxboro (outside Boston) to a place called Five Wits. \u00a0I had read about their immersive entertainment experiences in the IAAPA trade journal some years earlier. \u00a0As I am a zealot for mixed and augmented reality for training and entertainment, I really wanted to see this. \u00a0In the Foxboro location they have two “shows:” Espionage and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. \u00a0Both experiences involve a plot line that has the participants moving through several rooms. \u00a0In each room you have to solve one or more puzzles to move to the next room. \u00a0Most of the puzzles were clever. \u00a0After cracking the safe of the evil group Cabal, in the picture above you see Tom and Candy replacing the blueprints to hide the fact that we had been there.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
A "steampunk" exhibit in the front lobby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The second event was the 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea experience. \u00a0The event was of similar design but with a Jules Verne appearance and a different set of puzzles to be solved. \u00a0We disagreed on which experience we liked better. \u00a0Both had their plusses and minuses. \u00a0We really enjoyed both.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
Steampunk bicycle in the museum that was the hidden entrance to Nemo's Nautilus on which our adventure took place<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Tomorrow: Lexington, Concord, and a long drive to Maine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After another run along the Cape Cod Rail Trail, we packed up and headed to Plymouth, MA. \u00a0Our first stop was to see the Mayflower II. \u00a0This ship is an authentic recreation of the Mayflower. \u00a0It was built in 1957 and sailed from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, MA in 55 days. \u00a0While it has sailed … Continue reading 2011 Vacation: Day Six: Plymouth and Beyond<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=660"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/660\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=660"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=660"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bucksurdu.com\/bucksblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=660"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}