Pilgrims Facts
Pilgrims Facts
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| Interesting Pilgrims Facts: |
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| Prior to deciding to start a new colony in America, the Pilgrims had moved from England to Holland when the king of England refused to allow them religious freedom to start their own church. |
| They moved back to England when they determined they needed to start a new colony. In England they made preparations for their trip to America to establish their new colony. |
| Plymouth Colony was the second successful English colony in America. The first was Jamestown, Virginia, settled in 1607. Although briefly abandoned in 1610 it was soon resettled and repopulated. |
| Originally two ships were used for the voyage to America, the Mayflower and the Speedwell. Shortly after leaving England the Speedwell started to leak. Both ships returned to England and some of the passengers on the Speedwell boarded the Mayflower for the trip. |
| After arriving at Plymouth Rock aboard the Mayflower the settlers had to wait for two weeks to do much exploring of the area. The boat that they were to use to sail from the Mayflower to shore had been damaged on the voyage and it took this long to repair it for regular use. Small groups would wade to shore in order to bathe and make small explorations of the area. |
| The first governor of Plymouth Colony was John Carver. |
| Almost half of the settlers at Plymouth Colony died the first winter, due to harsh weather, poor housing, and malnutrition. Of the original 102 settlers, there were only 47 left after the cold winter. |
| The Pilgrims at Plymouth Colony soon met a man named Squanto, a Native American who spoke English, from the Pawtuxet tribe. Squanto acted as an interpreter between the Pilgrims and Native American tribes such as the Wampanoag. |
| Squanto taught the Pilgrims skills to survive such as planting corn, how to trap beaver, and where to fish. |
| The Pilgrims shared a feast with the Wampanoag tribe to celebrate the harvest in autumn of 1621. This is considered to be the first Thanksgiving Day. They didn't actually refer to the holiday as Thanksgiving until 1623. |
| The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth where there is a rock that was later named Plymouth Rock. This rock is only about 1/3rd of its original size as people have been chipping off pieces for many years as souvenirs of this important place in the history of the United States. |