Mayan Life Style

Admin | November 17, 2011 | Comments Off

Mayan Life Style

Mayan Life Style

The little corn field up on the hill behind the meeting house hid the graves of more than half of the 101 passengers who had crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower. Though it was with a mixture of sadness and gladness that this handful of people gathered that first Plymouth Thanksgiving, they had almost proven that they could be self-sustaining.

The First Thanksgiving in Plymouth

These pilgrims had also come a long way in establishing a colony based upon their experiment in religious freedom and a government based upon the concurrent precepts of equality, justice and democratic representation.

A tidy little town had been planted along what is described in Mourt’s Relation as “a very sweete brooke under a hillside.” There were 11 buildings along Leyden Street, seven being private domiciles and four serving as common buildings housing the group’s bachelors, as well as provisions and weapons.

It was amazing. Despite that first bitter winter’s hardships and a spring epidemic of scurvy and pneumonia, “when they were but six or seven sound persons” to erect buildings and work in the fields, much progress had been made. (Mourt’s Relation)

First Plymouth Marriage and First Plymouth Duel

The pilgrims had witnessed the colony’s first marriage when Edward Winslow, a widower of less than two months, wed Susanna (Fuller) White, a widow of three months. How come so fast? They both had losses, which meant heartache and pain, and were probably there to comfort each other. The widow White also needed someone to look after her interests and provide for her.

The colony’s first and last duel, a face off between Edward Dotey and Edward Leister, had also occurred.