Plimoth Rocked by Modern Pilgrims : PLIMOTH: Pilgrims

PLYMOUTH, Mass. — So you think you’ve got it rough, what with your manicurist on vacation and your microwave oven on the blink.

At Plimoth Plantation near Cape Cod, Elizabeth Hopkins is one of only four women who survived the pilgrims’ first winter. She patiently explains to a tourist that she’d rather be home in London than in Massachusetts in the year 1627. Unfortunately, she had no choice in the matter.

“I do what my husband wills, and he did wish to come here,” she says. “Since I am his wife, I am to be at his side, to bear him many children, to cook for him and to serve him. My life is difficult. I work from before the sunrise to after sunset. I am so happy to have the Sunday, for it is illegal to work on that day.”

Of course, she is speaking from the past, although it certainly looks like the present. And in the sunshine, surrounded by the wooden houses and clucking chickens of the pilgrim settlement called Plimoth Plantation, the visitor can imagine that time has changed direction, that the people dressed in Puritan garb, speaking in British-flavored dialects and carrying out the tasks of the 17th-Century farmer, are the reality and that the 1989 visitor is the fantasy.

When Hopkins needs butter, she is saying, she must order it from England. Delivery takes four to six weeks.

Before baking a loaf of bread for her family, Hopkins explains, she must first make the beer from which she gleans leavening to use in the baking. She also must grind the grain by hand to make flour.

“I care for it not,” Hopkins says of her New England life. Little wonder.

Walking, Talking Museum

Known in 1989 as Troy Creane, Hopkins is among the 180 or so characters inhabiting this walking, talking museum who portray known residents of the colony settled in 1620 by pilgrims who landed on the Mayflower.

Dressed in period clothing, they pursue the daily tasks of 17th-Century life, engaging visitors in discussions while fashioning candles, baking bread, tilling small gardens or milking a goat. The characters are based on the lives of real settlers, and speak in accordance with history, as it is known.

The plantation is a working replica of the settlement. Baby chickens toddle across a yard, bumping into a resting goat, housewives weave cloth while their husbands split logs to burn in fireplaces that provide heat for warmth and cooking, as well as illumination for the night.

Plimoth Plantation inhabitants are a courteous lot. When questioned, they speak in detail about life in 1627.

“Many of the folks that came were ill-suited to the enterprise,” explains the second governor of the settlement, William Bradford (known in 1989 as Jeff Scotland).

“And when we arrived, we were ill-prepared for fishing. There were fish, but we had not the means to fetch them. The Indians instructed us in how to plant the corn of diverse colors and how to fish.”

During the year 1627, the settlers were assembling the 2,700 needed to pay off the English merchants who financed the New World venture. The money was earned mostly through trading animal skins “with the Indians, the naturals of this country,” Bradford explained.

With the seven-year contract with the merchants about to expire, and the land about to be divided between the pilgrims, Bradford is worried about the stability of the settlement after the split.

“There is great concern we will not be so well defended,” Bradford said, and that when separated by miles the pilgrims will not travel the distance necessary to observe the Sabbath at the settlement.

Happy to Be There

While life is difficult, Bradford said he is happy to have made the journey.

“I am a Christian. There is much trial and tribulation in this country, but I think it is well that I will be able to raise my children in a place free from the corruption of England.”

It is from Bradford’s journal, written before the time of standardized spelling, that the odd spelling of Plimoth Plantation was gleaned. Yet the pilgrims did not name Plymouth.

Capt. John Smith explored the New England coast in 1614 and gave his map to Prince Charles (who became King Charles I). Charles peppered the map with names he found attractive, names such as Plymouth and the Charles River.

The modern-day Plimoth Plantation was born through the dream of Henry Hornblower II, who persuaded his father, Ralph, to give the Pilgrim Society money to buy land for a pilgrim village.

The first Plimoth Plantation house was constructed in 1949. Over the next 30 years, the museum grew to a full settlement consisting of a collection of about 20 structures, including 13 furnished homes and a religious meeting house, gardens that are harvested and an assortment of animals.

The talking, working pilgrims showed up in 1978.

When you visit the pilgrims, you also can see the adjacent Wampanoag Indian Settlement, a re-creation of a Native American camp. Dome-shaped dwellings made of bent saplings and woven reeds or bark illustrate the architecture of the people who populated New England before the pilgrims arrived.

Then you can hop into your car and drive about 10 minutes to see a piece of Plymouth Rock, as well as a reconstruction of a ship that probably was similar to the Mayflower, which carried the pilgrims across the sea.

And if you’re hungry for food as well as history, on Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. during summer and at specified other times during the year, the plantation serves a 17th-Century dinner.

Finger-Lickin’ Good

The 1 1/2-hour dinner celebrates foods popular during the pilgrim period, such as mussels steamed in beer, salad, chicken, sweet potatoes, apples and Indian pudding.

But beware: pilgrims didn’t use forks. And so you are given a knife, spoon and napkin and expected to augment with your fingers. The pilgrims also were known to share plates and cups, but that’s up to you.

In addition to food, diners are entertained by performers singing country songs of the period.

The cost is $25.95 per person, $12.95 for children under 12. Reservations are recommended. The price does not include entry to the Plantation.

Admission to the Pilgrim Village and Wampanoag Settlement is $12 for adults, $8 for children 5 to 12. Admission to Mayflower II is $5 for adults, $3.25 for children. A combination admission ticket for all exhibits is $15 for adults, $10 for children. Children under 5 are admitted free to all museum exhibits.

Plimoth Plantation is about an hour from Boston by car, and about 1 hour, 15 minutes from Providence, R.I. It is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except from late June to Labor Day when Mayflower II is open until 6:30 p.m. Combination tickets for both sites and group rates are offered.

For more information, write to P.O. Box 1620, Plymouth, Mass. 02360, or call (508) 746-1622.