A visit to Plimoth Plantation

During our trip to Boston in August one of the most exciting places we visited (at least for me!) was Plimouth Plantation.  Just about an hour south of Boston Plimouth Plantation is just outside of the town Plymouth, where Plymouth rock is found.  The Plantation is what is called a Living History Museum or Open Air Museum.  It is a specific way of exhibiting the collections outdoors and most of the time nowadays it involves some sort of costumed interpretation.

At Plimouth Plantation there were two main areas being interpreted, the Wampanoag homesite and the 17th century English village.  What is extremely unique about these is that at the Wampanoag they interpret the history in third person (they are talking about the people) and at the village it's interpreted in first person(they are the people).  Usually if there is any type of historical interpretation an institution will stick to one tense so people do not get confused but here at Plimouth they felt that to have the Wampanoag descendants speaking about their ancestors and heritage it would be much easier for visitors to ask questions and really understand.  This was definitely the case with our group, we ended up meeting up with one of my cousins and their kids.  The kids asked a ton of questions and probably wouldn't have understood as much if it would have been relayed to them in first person.

Yup that's the Atlantic Ocean!!

Heading through the forest you come out into plowed fields with livestock and timber houses.  As you head closer you start to see people working in their gardens or going about their daily chores.  We got to see three young ladies preparing their midday meal, chopping beets and cooking a stew on the fire with a nice, heavy cast iron cauldron (a small one but still heavy!).  I absolutely loved talking with the interpreters.  So did dad too for that matter!  He talked to the minister for at least 15 minutes. After going through the entire village it was extremely impressive that they were all still in character and were so the entire time they talked to us.  The museum professional in me really wanted to ask how they were trained before starting but I knew they wouldn't answer me : )

One of the most fascinating aspects of Plimouth Plantation is that everything used at the Plantation is made in their Craft Center.  The pottery you see in the above photo, the furniture, the houses, everything!  The artisan below was working on a beautifully intricate chair and there were other pieces that we just waiting to be painted.  You were able to buy many of the pottery pieces in the shop and we went home with a little pottery jug like the green one above.  It's a perfect little vase.  

  
I would definitely go back again to visit since there were parts we did not get to see like the Plimouth Grist Mill and the Mayflower II, which was closed for repairs while we were there.  Since it was right at the end of the summer as well by the time we were done there were tons of people and I love to look at everything and talk to everyone so I did miss those chances with some of the interpreters.

If you want to go see everything it can be a bit pricey at $35 per adult but that's everything both villages, and the Mayflower II.  Going to just Plimouth Plantation (Not including the Mayflower) was $25.95.  Since we decided last minute I didn't look before hand to see if there were any deals to be had but I'm sure that if you do keep an eye out on sites like Groupon or check into reciprocity you might be able to find a good deal!  No matter what the price I definitely think that Plimouth Plantation is a must see!!