Schellhase 2016 New England Trip: 21 July - Plymouth MA, the Mayflower II and the Rock!

21 July
Today we drove just south of the campgrounds about 15 miles to Plymouth MA, home of the Plymouth Rock where the Pilgrims landed back in 1620. It is a quaint area with a plethora of shops and restaurants.

A memorial to those who gave their lives at sea.

Beautiful harbor!

We first visited the Mayflower II, a replica of the Mayflower ship used by the Pilgrims. The original Mayflower set sail from Plymouth England in 1620 with 120 passengers and arrived in Provincetown harbor on November 11 after just 66 days at sea. They explained that day most of the male passengers on board signed the famous Mayflower Compact.

In April 1621, Mayflower returned to England with none of the original passengers. The Mayflower II was constructed in England and was sailed from Plymouth England to Plymouth MA from April 20 to June 13 1957 by 33 men.

The Mayflower II is a beautiful ship and has recently ungone some renovation to preserve it. The 400 year anniversary is coming up in 2020 and they will celebrate it with the Mayflower II.

We took the tour and it is evident they worked very hard to try and make it look original. They have re-enactors answering questions and explaining various facts about the ship.

Ship's bell.

Winch

Oven / stove

Various artifacts in the kitchen area

Looking into the hold

Winch for the anchor line

The rudder

Doreen with Samuel Adams !

We then walked to the Plymouth Rock memorial. It was much smaller than I expected, but apparently over the last almost 400 years souvenir hunters have been chipping away at it. The rock is now protected inside a structure as part of the National Parks.