386 years ago...

On December 20,1620, the Pilgrims landed at the site now called Plymouth. However there seems to be some disagreement as to the actual date, with some sources listing December 18 and some December 20-21. And then, other pedantic types point out that there is no mention made of the legendary 'Plymouth Rock' until a century or more later. Be that as it may, this is as good a time as any to remember the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth, and to honor their place in our history.
Friendly, non-PC accounts of the Pilgrims' journey and landing are scarce on the Internet as elsewhere, but here is one
which offers a respectful account of the Pilgrims' landing.
The Pilgrims' arrival in America is personally significant to me, because a number of my ancestors were English Puritan Separatists, or 'Pilgrims' who arrived in the 1620s - 1630s.
My ancestors were not on the Mayflower, however, but came later, many with Winthrop's fleet, which consisted of eleven ships which sailed from Yarmouth, England, and brought as many as 1000 colonists to America.
My ancestors, including Farringtons, Browns, Pembertons, Abbotts, Parkers, and many others who came as part of this wave, were not Mayflower Pilgrims, but those Mayflower settlers were the beginning for all of us who are part of the American old stock settlement in New England.
I have many more ancestors who came to Jamestown, and whose story follows a different trajectory, through the American South, but they shared origins in England with those of the New England colonists. Despite their religious differences, they were children of the same mother.
And so were all of us who call ourselves Americans; until the balkanizing influences of multiculturalism came into play, everybody in America identified with the early colonists and their experiences. Those who are not descended from them by blood were considered grafted into the American family tree. The Pilgrim Fathers belonged to all of us, at one time. Now, the Pilgrim Fathers are reviled as 'religious fanatics', racists, and committers of 'genocide' against the Indians. And some of our younger generations do not understand that it was not always so.
It's good to remember that now-lost era when we were more unified as a country, with an agreed-upon culture and heritage. 'How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.'

Labels: 386 Years Ago