Plimouth Patuxet Village Experience - a vacation education destination

Vacation Education Books are about getting out of the textbooks and into the world for some hands-on learning. Plimouth Patuxet is a great place to do just that.

This past summer, our family went on an adventure from our Wisconsin home to explore the eastern seashore of the United States. You can read about the whole journey, including how we planned it and budgeted it in our travelogue 15 States in 25 Days.

One of those days was spent at the Plimouth Patuxet Museum.

 It is a living history village where they populate the outdoor museum with actors who play the parts of the actual people who lived in the colony. The children were mustered into the defense of the colony and learned how to use a pike.

We spent a long time watching a pair of women cooking the supper. We watched in awe as she only had an open fire to put the pan that cooked the pumpkin while she waited for the men to come back with "those delicious urchins that crawl on the floor of the bay." It took the kids a while to realize she meant lobster. Her task of cooking took up a large portion of her day.

We spent awhile helping two women with the daily repairing of the walls of their mud houses. That meant mixing water and dirt with your hands and slapping it on all the sports of the wall that were crumbling apart. We also watched a young man with the morning task of sifting the wheat for his mother to use for bread. That meant cracking the wheat and sifting it and then grinding it, a process that took many hours each day.

The actors invited questions and answered as though we all were really in 1620. Questions and references that eluded to things in modern life (like a machine to wash clothing) were met with puzzled looks and suspicion. 

One interesting story was of one of the women patching the wall. She had been taken in by the family that built the home. She had been sent to America by her father that wanted to be rid of her and her five siblings while they were still children. Just put on a boat and sent to who knows where! The journey and first winter took the lives of all her siblings which left her all alone. But, not alone, for the community took her in and raised her as part of their family. They loved her and cared for her.

When we left to go back to our car and then out to eat at a modern-day restaurant, I couldn't help but wonder how they did it all. All alone. A tiny village. Supplies from England took months to arrive. No stores to pop over and pick up groceries or other goods, no doctors if you got sick, no emergency services to call.

Looking around at the top of their little fort you could see all around the area for quite a distance. It made me feel small and isolated. This great gigantic land and all they had was this tiny village. With my ability to go wherever I want and do whatever I want, the thought of being tied to that place started to make me feel claustrophobic, tiny, and alone.

So, how did they do it? In each house, they had very few possessions, but they all had a Bible and a catechism and other books that taught them how to live as a Christian. These books were the driving force of their everyday life. For the pilgrims, being in the new land meant they were allowed to worship God freely. They were able to pray to Him and most importantly, they were able to teach their children the right way to go.

For the pilgrims, the hardships weren't hardships. They were all thankful to God for bringing them to that wonderful place where they could be together in faith and life. They were thankful to God for what He had done and was doing for them. They were never alone. God was with them all the time. Was it hard? Yes! Did they suffer? Yes! Did they endure? Yes! Did they thank God? Yes!

Amid our daily lives, whatever struggles we have, may we remember that God is with us. May we remember His hand guides us, and may we lead lives of Thanksgiving to God.

"Oh, give thanks unto the Lord for He is good, and His mercy endures forever." 

Note: My wonderful husband wrote this post for me, and I love it.