American Settlers at Plymouth

• STEP 1: The Journey. Sailing on wooden ships, like the Mayflower, all the way across the Atlantic ocean, took many months. In modern time, taking a non-stop flight from Los Angeles, California to London, England takes about 15 hours. The journey in the Mayflower from Southampton to Plymouth took 165 days.
  • Approximately how many weeks in 165 days?
  • How many Months?
  • How many hours?
  • How many meals would the passengers consume assuming they eat three meals a day?
  • How many more hours did the Pilgrims spend sailing than it takes for a modern traveler to fly from Los Angeles, California to London, England?
  • How did the travelers navigate across the ocean with out the aid of modern technology? What prevented them from getting lost?

  ASSIGNMENT: Make a list of items the Pilgrims would need to bring with them on the journey. Keep in mind: There was limited cargo space. They needed food and supplies during the trip AND after landing in America.

• Step 2: Geography. Look at Plymouth on this historic map of the original colonies just before the Revolutionary War in 1776. This map was created 156 years after the Plymouth Plantation was established but the map has a very good detail of the bay and the cape. (http://scarlett.libs.uga.edu/darchive/hargrett/maps/1776b6.jpg)

• Why do you think the Pilgrims chose to settle in Plymouth?

• What geographical features make Plymouth a good location for the settlement?

• What type of climate does Massachusetts have throughout the year? Click on (http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/cgi-bin/data/usclimate/state.pl?lane=fast&state=MA)

• STEP 3: Tour Plymouth Plantation. Now let's visit a reenactment of Plymouth Plantation showing what life was like back in 1627 for those original colonists. Click on this Internet site to begin your tour (http://pilgrims.net/plimothplantation/vtour/index.htm)

  The Interpretive Guide

  • In this living history of Plymouth, the first people you see on your tour are performing the role of an Interpretive Guide (http://pilgrims.net/plimothplantation/vtour/guides.htm).
  • Look up the word interpret and write in one sentence what you think these guides jobs were in 1627.
  • Looking at the interpretive guide, notice how they are dressed. How might their clothing be changed if they were living in modern times?

  Take a look at the second Interpretive Guide:

  • Looking at the second Interpretive Guide, list the items he is wearing that probably came from the Native Americans.
  • How do you think he got all of these items from the Native American?

  Dwellings

  There are several examples of dwellings in Plymouth Plantation http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/pliplant.jpg. Each dwelling has different structures. After viewing each dwelling, make a chart and write down all of the differences you see among them.

  View the dwellings on this Virtual Tour http://www.plimoth.org/visit/virtual/ If your computer does not have the needed plug-in, use the links provided after each dwelling number.

  Describe what the roof, interior walls exterior walls, windows, and the yards looked like in each dwelling. Make a chart like the one below for each of the five dwellings in Plymouth Plantation.

  Here are the sites for each of the five dwellings:

  • Dwelling #1
  • Dwelling #2
  • Dwelling #3
  • Dwelling #4
  • Dwelling #5

  ASSIGNMENT: Compare the dwellings of early Americans to our modern homes.  What is different about them? What is the same?

  After completing each of the charts above, write a list of the main differences between each of the dwellings.

  The Kitchen

  Plimoth plantation hearth cooking
  http://www.williamrubel.com/hearthcooking/museums/hearth-cooking-at-plimoth-plantation/

  1. Why do you think the early Americans put their baking oven outside?
  2. What do you think the colonists did for refrigeration? How did they keep things from spoiling?
  3. From whom do you think the colonists learned many of their ideas about cooking and food preservation?
  4. How did the colonists store food?

Transportation and Housing

1. What do you think the colonists used for transportation over land?
2. How do you think the colonists made boat?

http://www.proteacher.com/cgi-bin/outsidesite.cgi?id=16646&external=
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mosmd/&original=http://www.proteacher.com/090096.shtml
&title=The%20Pilgrims%20&%20Plymouth%20Colony:%201620

Farming

See these sites for faming in Plimoth colony
http://www.plimoth.org/learn/history/behind/shallop.asp
http://pilgrims.net/plimothplantation/vtour/

1. For what do you think each tool was used for?
2. What is maize?
3. From the Virtual Tour, what did you learn about How the colonists store maize?
4. By looking at the picture of the chicken roasting on the fire, what are three things that you see that reveal that this campfire is from the time the colonists lived?
5. Looking at the barn what types of animals do you think the colonists brought from England and why?

• STEP 5: Letters Home. Now that you are familiar with what life was like in PlymouthPlantation, you are going to assume the role of a child in the plantation and correspond with your family and friends back in England.  Looking at the list of the passengers aboard the Mayflower, choose a family with a son or daughter you would like to pretend to be. Click on that family name to see the rest of the family.

1. You will become a child in that family and will write five letters to the rest of your friends and family still living in England. Once you have selected a family, write down the names of all of the family members so you can mention them in your letters home to England. Also note the names of others on board the Mayflower so you can mention your friends and neighbors in the New World to your family back in England.

   In your five letters, you will explain what the New World is like. Also include one drawing in each of the letters of something important in the New World.

   In your letters, be sure to mention the following:

   • What the New World looks like during each of the four seasons. Refer back to the climate maps and geographical maps of the area.
   • Explain what chores you are responsible for.
   • Be sure to tell your family and friends back in England exactly what they should bring with them when they come to the New World, such as, food, clothing, animals, tools, etc.

   To see an example of an actual letter that Mayflower passenger William Hilton wrote to his cousin in England, asking to have his wife and children sent to him in the New World, look at this site.