Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in

Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth ( ; historically also spelled as Plimouth and Plimoth) is a town in and the county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklor ...

founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It replicates the original settlement of the

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

established in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as the Pilgrims. They were among the first people who emigrated to America to seek religious separation from the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

. It is a not-for-profit museum supported by administrations, contributions, grants, and volunteers. The recreations are based upon a wide variety of first-hand and second-hand records, accounts, articles, and period paintings and artifacts, and the museum conducts ongoing research and scholarship, including historical archaeological excavation and curation locally and abroad. In the English Village section of the museum, trained first-person ("historical") interpreters speak, act, and dress appropriately for the period, interacting with visitors by answering questions, discussing their lives and viewpoints, and participating in tasks such as cooking, planting, and animal husbandry. Third-person ("modern") interpreters answer guests' questions that the first-person interpreters cannot. The English Village represents the year 1627 through most of the museum season (which lasts from early April to late November), depicting day-to-day life and seasonal activities. In November, the English Village typically represents the year 1621, which is the year of the first

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

to take place in Plymouth Colony.

History

Henry Hornblower II, son of Ralph Hornblower, started the museum in 1947 with help and support from friends, family, and business associates as two English cottages and a fort on Plymouth's waterfront. Since then, the museum has grown to include the '' Mayflower II'', a 1957 replica of the

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English sailing ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, reac ...

, the English Village (1959), the Wampanoag Homesite (1973), the Hornblower Visitor Center (1987), the Craft Center (1992), the Maxwell and Nye Barns (1994), and the Plimoth Grist Mill (2013). Alongside the settlement is a recreation of a

Wampanoag The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and forme ...

home site, where Indians from a variety of tribes explain and demonstrate how the Wampanoags' ancestors lived. The museum grounds at Plimoth Patuxet also include Nye Barn where historical breeds of livestock are kept, a crafts center where many objects are created for use in the village exhibits, a cinema where educational videos are shown, a Colonial Education site for youth and adult groups, and a visitors' center with indoor exhibits and educational programs. The two houses on the Colonial Education site were built for the PBS show '' Colonial House'', which was filmed in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

. Following the filming, the museum disassembled the houses and reconstructed them at on their current site. The roof of the Cooke House was destroyed by a fire from a fireplace on November 19, 2011, and the building had to be demolished. ''Mayflower II'' is docked near Plymouth Rock and is also under the care of the museum. Museum employees in modern dress interpret history to guests from a third-person perspective.

Name change

In July 2020, officials announced that the museum would be renamed, noting that their plan, "for some time, has been to announce a new name for the Museum later this year as we commemorate the 400th anniversary (1620–2020) of the Pilgrims' arrival on the shores of historic Patuxet." It coincided with a wave of name changes caused by the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...

that year meant to be more inclusive. While the word "plantation" historically referred to a type of colony, and this was the sense intended for Plimoth Plantation, it soon came to refer to a type of farming estate established to grow cash crops, and in the modern era has become popularly associated with those plantations that employed

slave labor Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

, especially in the South. Officials stated that discussions had been ongoing for more than a year to assess whether the existing name reflected "the full, multivalent history that is at the core of the museum's mission." While a new name was not yet revealed, the museum began using a new logo that read "Plimoth Patuxet" instead of "Plimoth Plantation".

Images

File:Plimoth Plantation Native American Wigwam.jpg, Wigwam and

guide File:Plimoth Plantation Canoe.jpg, American Indian canoes (mishoons) under construction File:Wampanoag Wigwam Plimoth Patuxet.jpg, Inside wetu (house) or wigwam File:Plimoth Plantation entrance.jpg, Entrance, with blacksmith shop on the right File:Plimoth Plantation blacksmith.jpg, Blacksmith File:Plimoth Plantation Mary Soule.jpg, Mary Soule, wife of George Soule File:Plimoth Plantation house.jpg, House File:Plimoth Plantation goats.jpg, Livestock File:Longhorn cattle Plimoth Patuxet.jpg, A goodwife with longhorn File:Plimoth Plantation fort and meeting house.jpg, Recreated fort; the original fort also served as First Parish Church in Plymouth and a colony meeting house on Burial Hill. File:Plimoth Plantation view.jpg, View from the fort, looking down a recreation of Leyden Street, the first street in Plymouth File:Plimoth Plantation Samuel Fuller.jpg, Dr. John Kemp, director of the Colonial Interpretation Department, portraying Samuel Fuller (Mayflower physician) at the church File:Plimoth Plantation Fort.jpg, Fort (which actually stood on Burial Hill) as it might have appeared when coming up Leyden Street File:Plimoth Plantation farm house.jpg, Pilgrim George Soule house File:Plimouth Plantation Pilgrim house replicas.jpg, Pilgrim home File:Druming Pilgrim Plimoth Patuxet.jpg, Drummer File:Pilgrims lined Plimoth Patuxet.jpg, alt= Plimoth-plantation 5540506329 o (1).jpg, Massachusetts Governor

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was the first African Americans, African-American Governor of Massachusetts and the first Democratic Pa ...

(center) during a 2011 visit

Notes

External links

*
Plimoth Patuxet Museums

"Writings of William Bradford"
from

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American Cable television in the United States, cable and Satellite television in the United States, satellite television network, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a Non ...

's '' American Writers: A Journey Through History'', broadcast from Plimoth Plantation, March 19, 2001 {{Authority control 1947 establishments in Massachusetts English colonization of the Americas Native American museums in Massachusetts Living museums in Massachusetts Open-air museums in Massachusetts Museums established in 1947 Museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts Plymouth Colony Wampanoag Name changes due to the George Floyd protests