July 16, 2019

July 16, 2019

Besides looking for a break from Arizona’s summer heat, we came to Boston to help celebrate the anniversary of the Pilgrims. 400 years ago this Puritan group, looking for religious freedom, was granted a charter from the English king to settle in the New World. They spent the following year selling their homes, possessions, and businesses, raising financing and sailing to the New World arriving in late 1620. They were lucky enough to find an Indian village that had been vacated by disease. They partnered with some local Indians who helped them survive in return for mutual defense against a hostile neighbor.

To explore this Founding Father history we drove out the long narrow hook-shaped Cape Cod peninsula. Our first stop is the National Seashore Visitor Center. While today the Cape is an extremely popular summer vacation destination, it started out totally different. The area was once filled with Fishing, Whaling, Salt Making, and Cranberry Bogs. This little museum does a great job covering the working history. We then watched a film about the Marconi Station that was built a few miles north. Cape Cod was the site of the first Radio message sent from the US to Europe in 1903.

We then drove the length of Cape Cod National Seashore. The Cape started life as the sandy moraine left behind by a retreating glacier during the last Ice Age. At the tip we stopped in Provincetown, a former whaling village. Despite its small size it is bustling with tourists and we struggle to find a parking spot. We quickly peruse the town and head uphill to the very tall Pilgrim Monument. Provincetown is where the Puritans first sighted land. Finding it unsuitable they moved on to Plymouth.

Following the Pilgrim Fathers we retraced our journey back down Cape Cod stopping briefly to hike around the Marconi Station site. This headland facing Europe once held several giant Antennas and a powerful electric generator. Erosion of the sand banks has washed most of the site into the ocean, where we spot several dozen seals floating on the waves. Local TV news reported the resurgent seal population is attracting sharks to the beaches.

About halfway back to Boston we pulled off the highway at Plymouth. Our first stop is Pilgrim Memorial State Park and Plymouth Rock. Legend says they stepped ashore atop it or at least tied their rowboat to it. It is now enclosed in a marble temple. Surprisingly it is a third its original size. It was common to take a hammer to it for souvenir chunks. Since that is no longer allowed we settle for touching a fragment now sitting in the Pilgrim Hall Museum. This wonderful museum while small does a great job telling the Pilgrim story. I would not have wanted to be one of the 100 passengers crammed like sardines into the Mayflower. Only half survived the journey and first winter.

After an early Thai dinner we strolled this historic town. Plymouth was chosen for settlement because it not only had a small picturesque harbor but a permanent freshwater stream. There were better sites available but after 60 days stuck in a cargo boat, everyone was desperate to get ashore.