Hunting Up the Past

I grew up around here and tracking down ancestors was just an excuse to come back and visit the tourist places I missed when I was a kid.

The highlight? Probably Plimouth Plantation. It was just a very pleasant day spent unhurriedly wandering through the past.

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We found this little place by asking one of the shop owners where we could get great seafood, but we wanted a local place, not a tourist restaurant. She directed us to the Lobster Hut, which was practically across the street, just down from the Mayflower.

Its a rambling sea-side "shack", right on the water. Inside, it was crowded, noisy and smelled like heaven. Like a fast food joint, you order at one window and pick up at another. We (all of us in line to order) were told in no uncertain terms that if we didn't know what we wanted, get out of line. We knew just what we wanted. I had fried clams that came in a pile at least six inches high; my mother had a broiled fish that was twice the size of the bun they served it on, and my Dad has what he considered the best lobster roll he'd ever eaten. Everything came with a mound of fries. We took our food out under the canopy where it was a little quieter and overlooks the harbor. If you angle your head right, you can see the masts of the Mayflower.

If you’ve wanted to try time travel, this might be a good bet. I've been to 'living' museums before, but none done quite as well as Plimouth Plantation.

Once you step through the Stockade, you walk into another era. Each of the interpreters has taken on the persona of one of the original residents circa 1627. They speak in the heavily accented period English appropriate to the part of England their character came from, dress in 17th century clothing, and 'live' in thatched houses furnished as they would have been in 1627. Even the larger homes show that life here was not luxury.

We walked from house to house, including about half a dozen that "belonged" to ancestors. Along the way, we listened to skippets of local gossip, listened to discussions on what life is like, how the dishes are made, and other topics questions by 'guests'. They'll discuss anything as long as you remember their knowledge of the world stops in 1627. You can even get 17th century tips on raising livestock or vegetables.

The setting is stunning. A broad view down to the bay, the town itself surrounded by woods. After our trip through the world of the pilgrims, we strolled through the woods to the Wamanoag village, and then took the Eel River nature trail. Before you leave, be sure you climb to the top of the Stockade. The view is magnificent. Life might have been harsh, but it certainly had a lovely setting.

Most of the reproductions used to furnish the houses are made onsite and at the Visitor's Center you can watch the potters and woodcarvers and other craftsmen at work. The Center also has a gallery of rotating exhibits and an extensive gift shop, and a dining room. Admission varies, depending on what you want. For both the Plantation and the Mayflower II, it runs about $19 for adults.

It’s a tidy looking little ship tied up at Town Wharf and swarming with 17th century seamen readying the ship for the return voyage to England. Like Plimouth Plantation, this is a living museum and you can go aboard and talk to the 'crew' as they go about their chores.

The quarters shared by the 102 passengers, who spent 66 days here sailing toward freedom and the unknown, are cramped and dark and stuffy (and I thought the cabins on the Queen Mary were a bit tight). You have to admire the determination of these people crowded into the 'tween decks area. There was little privacy other than blankets hung as curtains between the piles of their worldly belongings separating one family from the next.

If you're claustrophobic, this probably isn't the tour you'd want to take, though it is fascinating to get a glimpse into the past.

I must confess, my cynicism tends to creep up now and again and I have trouble swallowing the tourist line. Take Plymouth Rock. To listen to the legends (including the one that my 12th great grandmother, Mary Chilton, leapt from the boat ahead of the others and when her toe touched the Rock, she became the first European woman to land in New England), I thought the Rock should be at least the size of Gibraltar. Not so. It's a smallish, rather unimpressive rock on which someone has carved '1620'. It sits at the base of a hill in the middle of town, protected by iron bars and enshrined beneath a neo-Grecian structure of columns and roof a couple hundred yards from the edge of the water.

We walked across the road to the monument; I peered over the edge and said to my Dad, 'That's it?' That was it. Not everything lives up to one's expectations, not even legends.

While we dug around Plymouth for my father’s relatives, we had to slip down the coast to Sandwich, to find my mother’s. Sandwich was one of the early settlements and it has the picture postcard beauty of small town New England. There is the requisite white-spired church, the green common, the white colonial homes surrounded by incredibly green lawns and ancient shade trees.

We were looking for the grave of Ezra Perry who had been buried here in 1689, so our goal was the Old Town Cemetery, behind the Town Hall. It sits on a grassy knoll along the edge of the Shawme Pond, which feeds water to the old mill that had been grinding flour when Ezra was here. It is still a working mill and for a small fee you can visit inside.

With a little help from the locals, we found the right area to search in, but had little luck. We did find reconstructed grave stones of his in-laws, the Burgesses, and a beautiful old lichen covered stone that simply said 'Elizabeth Perry' which may have been his mother or his daughter, both Elizabeths, or someone much later.

Although we didn't find what we were looking for, we did have a marvelous afternoon wandering around town. You can pick up a Walking Guide to the town just about anywhere. There is also a little trolley to help you get around. We didn't spend the night here, but there are a slew of bed and breakfast establishments that looked charming along with several restaurants.