Strolling Through Plimoth Village–A Peak into Our Colonial Past

Historic Living History Museum: the 1627 Plimoth Village in Plymouth, MA, depicts how the early Colonists lived. This view looks out toward Plymouth Rock and the Atlantic coast on a summer day.

This actor is playing the role of Edward Winslow, a prominent member of the early Plimoth Village community. He answered questions and stayed in character throughout. He asked where I was from in 17th century dialect and when I answered he said he had not heard of Baltimore! He said that his mug contained beer, and he regretted that most of the hops they grew was put to medicinal purposes!

Across from the cottage where I visited Colonist Edward Winslow a vigorous crop of hops grows along the wall of another modest wooden home. The Colonists used hops to calm the nerves, soothe stomach troubles, and sometimes to brew beer (which also helps calm the nerves!).

A young matron of the Plimoth Colony shows me the garden behind her cottage. Most plants she identifies are edible; she calls all the vegetables “herbs.”

Some settlers maintain their gardens better than other. The patch behind the fence contains onions that have been pulled and laid out to dry in the sun.

Colonists used a communal bake oven such as this one now on site at Plimoth Village. Usually, they baked with cornmeal, as corn was the most abundant grain. The native Americans taught them to fertilize the planting mounds with fish carcasses so their corn grew well.

The modern-day “Colonists” at Plimoth Village actually play the part of individuals who were listed on logs and sailing registers. If you ask  how they happened to come to the New World they will share their story. This woman said she came to join her husband several years after he had arrived. Note that the flowers are calendula; the settlers  say they collect the seeds and eat them.

Right outside the gates of the Plimoth settlement a stand of corn grows tall in the summer sun. Dried corn (not fresh ears which Colonists were forbidden to eat), was the mainstay through winters. Edward Winslow wrote in a letter back to England: “Our Indian corn, even the coarsest, maketh as pleasant a meal as rice.”