Plimoth Plantation is a living
history museum dedicated to presenting the history, separate as well as shared,
of both the English colonists and the Wampanoag Natives during the earliest
years of colonial settlements in the 1620s.
Unlike a more traditional house museum, which captures a moment frozen
in time by hosting a collection of items and artifacts used and owned by the
former residents of the house in question, Plimoth Plantation is an immersive
environment in which visitors engage with staff members in a setting which
recreates—as much as is possible in this modern age—the colonists’ Plymouth and
Natives’ Patuxet villages in the mid 1620s.
In each village, costumed interpreters act as guides throughout the
experience; in the Wampanoag Homesite, the Native guides interact directly with
visitors as themselves while discussing and demonstrating aspects of their
ancestors’ way of life, while in the English village, the interpreters take on
the roles of actual colonists who lived in Plymouth in 1627, conducting all of
their interactions with visitors completely “in character,” with the guides
speaking with the same vocabulary and accents from their original homes in England
that their characters would have used. Combined
with the carefully crafted homes, tools, domestic interiors, clothing, gardens,
and all the necessities of ordinary daily life, the overall intention and
effect is to give the visitor as close a sense of “being there” as is possible
in the modern world. According to the
mission statement:
Plimoth
Plantation offers powerful personal encounters with history built on thorough
research about the Wampanoag People and the Colonial English community in the 1600s. The guest experience is at the heart of our
work. Plimoth’s unique and evocative
setting, professional staff and compelling approach to history in an immersive
environment combine to provide a guest experience that is at once authentic,
engaging, educational and fun. We strive
for excellence in our work and are successful when a satisfied guest recommends
us to family and friends.[1]
Plimoth
Plantation was originally incorporated in 1947 by founder Harry Hornblower II,
with the first house built on the waterfront in 1949, and the main site
acquired from the Hornblower family (members of whom sit on the Board of
Trustees to this day) in 1956. The use
of costumed guides began in 1969, with the roleplaying of actual colonists
following ten years later. The Native
perspective, which Hornblower always felt needed to be depicted, began to be
incorporated by the addition of the first “wigwam” in 1964. In 1973 the Native American Studies Program
(now the Wampanoag Indigenous Program) took over the Native exhibits, and has
been responsible for all Native interpretation since then, with Plimoth
Plantation finally becoming a truly bi-cultural institution in 2005. “Plimoth Plantation’s programs and
exhibits are the expression of an educational organization that is
interested in telling the stories of all the people who lived in Colonial
Plymouth, or Patuxet, as it was called by Native People. The Museum is deeply
committed to recovering and interpreting these historic voices so that guests
can experience more fully the complex and richly nuanced portrait of life in
the 1600s.”[2] The Museum is overseen by a Board of Trustees
(headed by a Chair), Honorary Trustees, and a Museum Council.
Museum
Collections
A significant way in which Plimoth
Plantation differs from more traditional house museums is the lack of artifacts
on display—while I saw a few items at the Hornblower Visitor Center, and some
others are depicted on the plimoth.org website, all of the items used or
displayed at both the English Village and the Wampanoag Homesite are
high-quality reproductions, many of which are made on site by artisans at the
Craft Center. Understandably, original items would not be used for the living
history exhibits, but it is a bit surprising that more of the period items in the
collections are not on display. (One
room in the Hornblower Visitor Center includes reproductions of both Native and
English clothing as well as some pottery, carved wooden chests, a bow and
arrows, and guns.) The collection items shown
on the website—which are not easy to find; you have to go from the front page
to “Plan Your Visit” to “School Groups” to “Field Trip Materials”[3],
scroll down to “Visiting the Museum Sites,” and then click on the “Collections”
links—vary by site: the Wampanoag
collection contains mainly archeological finds such as a granite hoe blade, a
stone pestle and clay cooking pot, and a soapstone tobacco pipe and net sinker;
the English collection features an oak baby chair, a Geneva Bible (preferred by
the Separatists to the King James Bible, which was the official Bible of the
Church of England), an armor breastplate, and an embroidered sampler; and the
Craft Center collection displays original pottery and furniture, some of which
have been reproduced for use in the English Village, along with reproductions
of tools and a woven bag that were also crafted at the Center by Native
artisans.
I didn’t have the opportunity to
speak with anyone about the museum’s collections, so I don’t know if they feel
the collection is too small to display, if space is at a premium, if
environmental issues are a concern (the higher humidity near the ocean could
definitely be problematic), or if those in charge simply feel that their time
and money is better spent concentrating on their main mission of education
through immersive experience; my best guess would be some combination of all of
the above, with their greatest emphasis being on maintaining their current
focus, since it is most central to their mission. As for preservation, according to the mission
statement: “We are diligent in our care
of original and reproduction artifacts, our living collection of plants and
animals, and in our conservation of the Museum’s environment.”[4] While this doesn’t go into detail about
specific preservation techniques or what their disaster plan entails, I believe
it shows that the Museum does take its curatorial responsibilities very
seriously, so I’m not particularly worried about the collections in this
regard.
Web
Presence
Based on what I’ve been told by people
younger than me who grew up much closer to Plymouth, a school field trip to
Plimoth Plantation is a semi-obligatory rite of passage for a great many
schoolchildren in southern New England, and if your school didn’t drag your
class along at some point in time, then your parents probably brought you and
your siblings to make sure you got your obligatory dose of history. All cynicism aside, simply due to its
importance at the very beginnings of American history, Plimoth Plantation would
be a major attraction for school groups and parents looking for an educational
vacation spot regardless of its actual quality as a historical site;
fortunately, though, not only is the Museum itself one of the best immersive historical
experiences in the country, but the plimoth.org web site also demonstrates its
commitment to the Museum’s educational mission by the amount and depth of
information it contains for potential visitors or the simply curious, the
helpful guides for teachers, and the fun, informative, and interactive
materials for students. Instead of continuing
to babble on about the website, however, I’ll use two potential and perfectly
plausible scenarios to demonstrate just how helpful the site can be to someone
planning a Museum trip, as well as to someone else simply seeking more
information.
For example, let’s say you’re a
fifth grade teacher who wants to schedule a field trip for your American
History class. First, head to the main www.plimoth.org page, go to “Learn”, and
click on “Programs for Schools.” This
brings you to “Experiences for Schools;” under “Programs at Plymouth,” click on
“Field Trips.” Once you’re at “School
Groups and Field Trips,” you have a number of different options—opening the
“Reservations” link has suggestions for scheduling, explains the chaperone
policy (one chaperone per ten students), more links for tour extras such as
hands-on sessions, guided tours, and theme dining, and possible options for
outside funding of your field trip. “Book
a Special Program” offers suggestions for how to customize your particular trip
with those hands-on sessions, etc. that were mentioned above—you can even
arrange for a sleepover visit if your students’ parents agree! “Group Dining” explains the various options
for keeping your students fed and happy: vouchers for café dining, catered
lunches, box lunches, or a customized special event (OK, you probably won’t be
doing that last one, but it’s always nice to know about). “Parking and Access” covers how to get
there, where to park the bus once you get there, and suggests where people with
disabilities should park and which parts of the site are most accessible for
them. Finally, “Tips for Your Visit”
covers all the usual topics—payment, bathrooms, restrictions, lost and found,
what to do in case of an emergency—as well as a link to a Chaperones’ Guide,
which includes information on how to prepare your students for their visit,
and, in particular, how to behave respectfully to the Native people while at
the Wampanoag Homesite.
You’ve gotten off to a good start,
but you’d like even more information about the Museum, and more suggestions for
planning the best trip possible, and perhaps even some lesson plans before the
trip. No problem—go to “Plan Your Visit”
at the top of the page, scroll down to “School Groups,” and you’ll see a
drop-down menu pop up; scroll down and click on “Field Trip Materials.” This brings up “Teaching and Visiting Plimoth
Plantation: An Educator’s Guide,” which provides you with a wide range of
suggestions for how to make the most of your upcoming trip. “A Focused Field Trip” suggests a number of
different areas upon which you and your students may want to concentrate during
the trip; “Gathering Information” describes several ways that students may want
to collect and save information while onsite; and various activities are
suggested that are suitable for either younger or older students. “Visiting the Museum Sites” covers all of the
main sites (the Hornblower Visitor Center, the Wampanoag Homesite, the 17th-Century
English Village, the Craft Center, the Nye Barn, and the Mayflower II),
suggests questions that your students could ask the staff members at the sites
and things to do while they’re at each site (notices how the smells differ from
what they’re used to), and again emphasizes the need for cultural sensitivity
at the Wampanoag Homesite. Finally, the
suggestion is made to ask your students to evaluate their trip—What did they
enjoy the most? The least? Was it what they expected?—and to forward the
comments to Guest Services at Plimoth Plantation, so they can use your
students’ comments to continue to improve the Museum experience.
Here’s a different scenario: you’re a fourth-grade student who isn’t going
on a field trip to the Museum, but perhaps you have to write a paper on some
aspect of life in Plymouth, or maybe you find history fascinating and are doing
research on your own to learn as much as you possibly can. You come across the plimoth.org website and
decide to check it out, so you go to “Learn” at the top of the page, scroll
down to “Just for Kids,” and up comes another drop-down menu with the following
links: “Coloring Pictures,” “Plimoth &
Patuxet Ancestors,” “Talk Like a Pilgrim,” “Homework Help,” “Make It At Home,” “Recipes,”
“Stories,” “Thanksgiving Virtual Field Trip,” and “Thanksgiving Interactive:
You are the Historian.”
“Coloring Pictures” is what you
expected it to be—pictures of the Wampanoag Homesite, the English Village, and
Felix, the Mayflower II’s ship’s cat, all designed for coloring. “Plimoth & Patuxet Ancestors”[5]
has genealogical profiles of many of the English colonists, as well as essays
about different aspects of children’s lives in the colony. “Talk Like a Pilgrim” features some of the 17th-century
words used by the colonists, along with sound files so that you can listen to
how they actually would have sounded if you want to practice talking like that
yourself. “Homework Help” has essays on
various topics such as who the Pilgrims and Wampanoag were, what clothing they
wore and what food they ate, how both groups built homes, and the role of
children in both communities. “Make It At
Home” has instructions on how to make two different games, “Toss and Catch,”
which Wampanoag children played, and “Fox and Geese,” which was popular with
English children. “Recipes” includes
both Wampanoag and English recipes that you can make yourself (although they do
recommend having an adult help you), and “Stories” are two very short stories,
one from each community. “Thanksgiving
Virtual Field Trip” consists of two short videos, one of the Pilgrims and one
of the Wampanoag, and also features a link to an e-newsletter so you can keep
up with all the latest news from Plimoth Plantation. Finally, “Thanksgiving Interactive: You are
the Historian” is an award-winning activity in which you play the role of a
“history detective” to find out what really happened at the first Thanksgiving
in 1621, along with “The Journey of the Mayflower II,” another interactive adventure. (If you want to play the Thanksgiving game on
Thanksgiving, it’s recommended that you download the application well in
advance because of slow response and loading times due to high levels of
demand.)
These are only two examples of how
the plimoth.org website can be a useful and helpful adjunct to the overall
Plimoth Plantation immersive experience.
No, it’s definitely not the same as being there in person, but it can
provide a decent amount of information to those unable to attend in person, and
the advance preparation it can provide to those who are planning a trip is
truly invaluable. (One small example: I
was very thankful to learn that different groups of Natives are referred to as
Nations and not tribes before I
accidentally stuck my foot in my mouth!)
Amateur genealogists can find information on their Mayflower ancestors,
people with disabilities can determine whether or not enough of the site is
accessible to make it worth their while (some is, some isn’t, but the staff is
aware of the problems and is working on them), and couples who love history can
get married on site (but not in either of the villages, alas), in addition to
teachers and families planning trips, and scholars--young and old, amateur and
professional—doing their research. The
site isn’t perfect, of course—sometimes navigation is a bit awkward, and there
are a number of dead links that are annoying—but overall these are minor
inconveniences. While Executive Director
Ellie Donovan was specifically referring to historical crafts and trades when
she said “I hope the reasons are self-evident when we say that it is vitally
important to preserve our intangible cultural heritage,”[6]
I believe the same can be said about the Museum as a whole, and if one sign of
a museum’s success as a cultural heritage institution is a website that is
helpful, educational, and enjoyable for a wide range of users, then Plimoth
Plantation’s plimoth.org certainly fits the bill.
[1]
“Who We Are,” Plimoth Plantation, accessed February 7, 2016, http://www.plimoth.org/who-we-are.
[2] “Presenting the Story of Two Cultures,” Plimoth Plantation, accessed May 1,
2016, http://www.plimoth.org/who-we-are/presenting-story-two-cultures.
[3] “Field Trip Materials,” Plimoth Plantation, accessed April 27,
2016, http://www.plimoth.org/plan-your-visit/groups/field-trips/field-trip-materials.
[4] “Who We Are,” Plimoth Plantation, accessed February 7, 2016, http://www.plimoth.org/who-we-are.
[5] “Plymouth & Patuxet Ancestors,” Plimoth Plantation, accessed May 1,
2016, http://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/plimoth-patuxet-ancestors. Further information is available at
PlymouthAncestors.org, a collaboration between Plimoth Plantation and the New
England Historical Genealogical Society.
[6] Ellie Donovan, “Letter from the
Executive Director,” Plymouth Life,
14, no. 1 (2016), p. 1.
No comments:
Post a Comment