We thoroughly enjoyed our visit to Plimoth Plantation. It was the most interesting history museum I've ever been to, because they not only have displays like, Thanksgiving: Memory, Myth and Meaning. But they also have the Pilgrim and Wampanoag villages which are live, and interactive. You can learn a lot there, and have a great time doing it.
We didn't like a few things, however, and if you're planning a trip, maybe these will be helpful to you.
We should have gone right away to the living history in the villages instead of spending so much time in the museum part. We enjoyed the Thanksgiving display, but spent too much time there.
In the Pilgrim village, we noticed that they had a bias, which we hadn't expected. Very little is said of religious life, beliefs, or the religious persecution that motivated many of the Pilgrims to leave England in the first place. For a time period that didn't understand politically correct, our modern bias towards that was quite evident. If you spend any time in the museum, reading the journals of the colonists then you will realize that they were quite prejudiced about the "savages" who were their neighbors, and that out of the 102 colonists there were about 30 religious leaders.
The Wampanoag village seemed to have much less attention than the Pilgrim village. It was smaller, and had fewer displays and staff. For a culture so rich, it was not represented as well as it could be. Also, the Wampanoag people are very sensitive about what can and cannot be asked, understandable to some degree, but still a little biased that the indians were the good guys instead of just being people - the good, bad, and the ugly in humanity.
We found it very interesting that God was very little mentioned in the Pilgrim village, but the Wampanoag people recognize a Creator of all living things.
A very interesting place to visit and probably the best I've ever been to. We even had a chance to eat some Native food in the snack bar, or at the restaurant. I highly recommend taking the time (your ticket is good for two days) to visit. Check them out on the web at: www.plimoth.org
We didn't like a few things, however, and if you're planning a trip, maybe these will be helpful to you.
We should have gone right away to the living history in the villages instead of spending so much time in the museum part. We enjoyed the Thanksgiving display, but spent too much time there.
In the Pilgrim village, we noticed that they had a bias, which we hadn't expected. Very little is said of religious life, beliefs, or the religious persecution that motivated many of the Pilgrims to leave England in the first place. For a time period that didn't understand politically correct, our modern bias towards that was quite evident. If you spend any time in the museum, reading the journals of the colonists then you will realize that they were quite prejudiced about the "savages" who were their neighbors, and that out of the 102 colonists there were about 30 religious leaders.
The Wampanoag village seemed to have much less attention than the Pilgrim village. It was smaller, and had fewer displays and staff. For a culture so rich, it was not represented as well as it could be. Also, the Wampanoag people are very sensitive about what can and cannot be asked, understandable to some degree, but still a little biased that the indians were the good guys instead of just being people - the good, bad, and the ugly in humanity.
We found it very interesting that God was very little mentioned in the Pilgrim village, but the Wampanoag people recognize a Creator of all living things.
A very interesting place to visit and probably the best I've ever been to. We even had a chance to eat some Native food in the snack bar, or at the restaurant. I highly recommend taking the time (your ticket is good for two days) to visit. Check them out on the web at: www.plimoth.org
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