Saga of the Speedwell

by | Sep 11, 2020 | 17th-Century British & American History, European and British Colonization of America, The Pilgrims, The Year of the Mayflower

Inside the Mayflower II Replica ~ 2016, Plymouth, Massachusetts

The Surrender of the Speedwell ~ Incompetence or Intent?

It’s July 1620 in Leyden, the Netherlands. The financially strapped group of Separatist Puritans finally (“at length,” writes William Bradford) bought and fitted a small ship ~ the Speedwell ~ with a plan for it to remain with them in their New World colony for fishing and “other affairs.” (more…)

Who Were the Pilgrims & Why Were They So Brave? (Part II)

by | May 10, 2020 | 17th-Century British & American History, Braving the New World, European and British Colonization of America, The Pilgrims, The Year of the Mayflower

Plymouth’s Famous Rock (author’s photo)

 

Physical & Spiritual Rocks of Faith & Bravery

Above, you see a famous rock (boulder) that resides for viewing within an enclosure on the beach of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At some point, the date 1620 was carved into it. Look closely and you will see where the rock had broken into two pieces and was repaired. (more…)

Who Were the Pilgrims & Why Were They So Brave? (Part I)

by | Apr 26, 2020 | 17th-Century British & American History, Braving the New World, European and British Colonization of America, The Pilgrims, The Year of the Mayflower

Dwelling Interior, Plimouth Plantation, Plymouth, Massachusetts (author’s photo)

So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims…William Bradford

 

Why Do We Call the Mayflower Passengers “Pilgrims”?

The words above, penned (literally) by Plymouth Governor William Bradford, are a reference to the New Testament letter to the Hebrews (11:13). The letter’s eleventh chapter is known as the hall of fame of (more…)

The Wars and the Plague That Prepared a Place for the Pilgrims

by | Mar 28, 2020 | 17th-Century British & American History, Braving the New World, Captain John Smith, Captain Thomas Dermer, European and British Colonization of America, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, The Pilgrims, The Year of the Mayflower

“An Extraordinary Plague”

This blog entry is dated March 28, 2020, so it is perhaps a pertinent time, as we Americans endure an unprecedented and rather peculiar quarantine, to explore a curious and historically important plague of four centuries ago.

In 1616, several years prior to the year of the Mayflower, an unseen enemy stalked (more…)

Where Were the Pilgrims Going in 1620?

by | Feb 8, 2020 | 17th-Century British & American History, Braving the New World, European and British Colonization of America, South America, The Pilgrims, The Year of the Mayflower

 

Cape Cod? New Plymouth? The Hudson River?

The Pilgrims Were Headed for Virginia?

We saw in a previous post titled “The Year of the Mayflower” (Feb 2020) that the Pilgrim Fathers had a patent to settle their own, independent colony within the greater Virginia (which stretched from modern-day South Carolina to mid-Maine), with intent to settle somewhere along the Hudson River, and that Plymouth was already named on John Smith’s map (a copy of which the Pilgrims had purchased), but that the New Plymouth was not on the itinerary. So, how did they end up on the coast of Massachusetts? (more…)