Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
Traveling America's backroads, road trip experts - Noah and Noodles - explore fascinating locations overlooked while traveling.
Living out of a van, they unravel the - often shocking - story behind each neglected story or location.
If you love travel, exploration and unique locations - join us on the road!
Backroad Odyssey : Travel, Van Life & Lost Locations
Secrets of Plymouth Rock - The Real Story
What’s the real story and legacy of Plymouth Rock?
Did the so-called “Pilgrims” REALLY step upon that particular rock that fateful Autumn of 1620?
Why and how did Plymouth Rock become the defining “Founding of America" Myth?
My dog Noodles and I visit the rock in Plymouth Massachusetts to find out!
Works Cited:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv1wxsdq.7?searchText=plymouth+rock&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoBasicSearch%3FQuery%3Dplymouth%2Brock%26so%3Drel&ab_segments=0%2Fbasic_search_gsv2%2Fcontrol&refreqid=fastly-default%3A613af71a7850d2e61fbd659b9b9eb5f9&seq=6
https://www.jstor.org/stable/41779364?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
They Knew They Were Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty by John G Turner
https://www.history.com/articles/the-real-story-behind-plymouth-rock
https://www.studentsofhistory.com/comparing-jamestown-plymouth-colonies
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Plymouth-Rock-United-States-history
https://www.history.com/articles/william-bradford
https://www.history.com/articles/king-james-bible-most-popular
https://www.history.com/articles/mayflower-compact
https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/lawes-divine-morall-and-martiall/
https://plimoth.org/for-students/homework-help/mayflower-and-mayflower-compact
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/sites/default/files/inline-pdfs/The%20Mayflower%20Compact.pdf
https://www.potawatomi.org/blog/2020/11/25/the-true-dark-history-of-thanksgiving/
Noah and Noodles here!
We want to extend a heartfelt thanks to every listener of Backroad Odyssey.
Your support fuels our passion and inspires us to keep sharing stories and discover overlooked locations.
Follow each adventure visually at:
https://www.instagram.com/backroadsodyssey/
Cruising down the street. I wonder where this road would lead so many possibilities. Care to share what you think. Oh Noondolls, what do you see? Back road odyssey.
Speaker 1:A solitary rock digs into the Atlantic shoreline the number's 1620, etched upon its weathered surface. More than one million make the pilgrimage to its quasi-sacred resting place in eastern Massachusetts. Why, what really is Plymouth Rock? According to tradition, plymouth Rock is the first parcel of land stepped upon by those aboard the Mayflower. These daring immigrants seek religious freedom, boldly weather unknown horizons and quickly establish a semi-egalitarian system of governance, distilling in a way the essence of the American story into one simple narrative. This, at least, is what we tell ourselves. But what's the real story and the real legacy of Plymouth Rock and the real legacy of Plymouth Rock? Did the so-called pilgrims really step upon that particular rock that fateful autumn of 1620? Why and how did Plymouth Rock become the defining founding of America? Myth Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement, was established more than a decade before. Why Plymouth Rock? We are in Plymouth, massachusetts, parked along the Atlantic. Before we go, have a look at the rock I've been hearing about and most people have been hearing about since first grade. Let's get on the same page, so it's easy to get overwhelmed with dates, with figures, with events that lead to the establishment of Plymouth Colony. I've read enough books researching this to know that. So we're going to focus instead on three simple, compact questions why really did pilgrims board the Mayflower, what did they actually do when they arrived and why do over a million people still make the pilgrimage to this small worn rock at the edge of the Atlantic?
Speaker 1:We start at the beginning with a small group of Anglican separatists, a bold idea and untested horizons to the West, the great hope and for the propagating advancing of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world. William Bradford, separatist aboard the Mayflower, long-serving governor of Plymouth Colony and the authoritative contemporary source for us today, early 16th century England is a land of uniformity and it's especially unkind to religious. Thank you for watching itself. This is the world William Bradford is born into. Bradford is a religious Yorkshire farm boy who in time finds himself increasingly at odds with the rituals and the traditions of his home country. His opposing religious views push him towards a semi-secretive Puritan sect known as the Separatists. Really quick, puritans wanted to purify or change the Anglican English church and Separatists wanted to separate from the English church, but at their core, these Separatists seek to recreate a simpler, more pious way of life. Recreate a simpler, more pious way of life, a life that emulates the simplicity and the community of the earliest Christian communities. This sounds great but, not surprisingly, it was never going to happen in 16th century England, particularly after the ascension of King James to the English throne in 1603, whose toleration for religious diversity is even less than his predecessor, queen Elizabeth I. These policies, these King James policies, prompt Bradford, along with a small community of separatists, to emigrate to the Netherlands, where they can freely practice what they see as the correct religion. It's windy today. I hope you can hear me Walking along the shore now to the rock. But let's talk religion.
Speaker 1:The idea that these separatists, the pilgrims, came to America for religious liberty, specifically to establish a land where everybody could just practice as they see fit, is not true. It just is not. They came to America with the explicit purpose of creating a community that aligned with their separatist views. They didn't want people from the outside to come in. I've got my phone out and here is a quote from American historian John Turner, author of they Knew they Were Pilgrims, plymouth Colony and the Contest for American Liberty, quote. There was rather too much religious toleration in the Dutch Republic. They preferred to establish their own godly society on the other side of the Atlantic and hoped that their success would attract more English Puritans to embrace separatism. End quote. So they're not interested at all really in welcoming different ideologies into this quote. Godly society Something to think about.
Speaker 1:Anywho on to the rock by 1619, many separatists, who at this point humbly call themselves saints, embrace the idea of emigrating once again, but this time to the sparsely explored, very dangerous, risky America. The Netherlands, where they had lived for 10 years after leaving England, allowed them to practice their religion freely. But Bradford and the separatists had difficulty fitting in, getting jobs. They didn't speak Dutch and they start to realize that they are at their core English. They begin to yearn for a community where they can practice freely and raise children and live in accordance with the English crown and English customs. So after much effort, after much time, the group receives permission to form a settlement in the northern parts of the Virginia Colony, which at the time extended all the way to the Hudson River. The die then was cast was cast In September. The group of 102 people, including 35 children and the now adult William Bradford and his new wife Dorothy, along with an unexpected group of tradesmen, some orphans, people that did not align with the separatist viewpoint. They were called the strangers by the separatists. All these people board a small, cramped commercial vessel.
Speaker 1:The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, england, on September 6th 1620. Sixty-six ruling days pass at sea. When they finally do seal in, they're battered, they're broken, but they're here. Some say when they arrive a storm pushes them north. Others say it was intentional to further distance themselves from Virginia and consequently the English crown and influence. Regardless, they arrive north of the stated location when they left and they drop anchor in what's now Provincetown Harbor, off of Cape Cod. Once the anchor is dropped, the land the Separatists on board referred to as their promised land is now in sight Sparse, windswept and, by all appearances, uninhabited land. But they made their choice. Here it is Plymouth Rock. Let's quickly describe what I see. It's a small rock. It's rough, cracked, faded. It's embedded into the dense Massachusetts sand, with the date 1620 etched on the very top of it. So tradition says that this is the spot first stepped upon by those zealous separatists centuries ago, and we'll get to, if there's any truth in that assertion at all. But for now, a quick story Before anyone sets foot off of the Mayflower.
Speaker 1:Bradford and 41 others sign the Mayflower Compact in the hopes of establishing an agreed-upon order, an agreed-upon structure, a government for the new settlement. This hastily written agreement becomes the first European example of self-governance in the new world. It's an early example of rough and tumble democracy, a collective of self-determination, and now is often viewed as the seed that would later become the American experiment. But what does the document actually say? I've moved a bit away from the rock. I've moved a bit away from the rock.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I don't like recording next to people. Right now I've got an excerpt from the Mayflower Compact on my phone. Listen to the words In the name of God, amen. We whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord, king James, by the grace of God and Great Britain, france and Ireland, king, defender of the Faith. It keeps going, having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith and honor of our King and country. I'll stop there for a second.
Speaker 1:What's lost sometimes when people talk about the Mayflower Compact, this binding agreement between people, is that the pilgrims were still very much loyal and legally bound to king and country, to England. What made these pilgrims establish self-governance on the Mayflower Is necessity, it's desperation. It's not out of want necessarily to do so. Right, they had no time to write back to England before winter. They built houses in December. They needed some form of laws to abide by and this was their solution, this was their tool for survival, both with the separatists and with the strangers aboard.
Speaker 1:Still, I have to say, this is an important document that influenced what would later go on to become traditional American ideals. Here's a bit later in the document, which is only 200 words, by the way, just crazy, okay. Quote 200 words, by the way, just crazy, okay, quote. Do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic For the better ordering and preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid, and by the virtue hereof, do enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions and offices from time to time, and shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due submissions and obedience. End of quote. It's a rushed proto-democracy right, you've consent, of the governed, different religions coexisting, the separatists and the strangers. Everybody's working towards the general good.
Speaker 1:All of this, remember, born out of necessity, not necessarily choice. It's kind of the seed towards what would become traditional American ideals. But this is the most important thing, it was born out of necessity. They had to survive what was coming. But it pleased God To visit us then with death daily and with so general a disease that the living were scarce able to bury the dead. William Bradford Life is hard. Bradford Life is hard, long, unforgiving.
Speaker 1:In Plymouth Colony that first winter it's late December before they actually start building rudimentary houses. As many as two people of the already small group die every day from cold, from starvation or from despair. William Bradford's wife falls out of the Mayflower into the cold, frigid Atlantic, or many argue, she throws herself. The Mayflower, still floating along the desolate shore, is converted into a hospital for the sick and the dying. Some promised land this is, mr Bradford, must have been beaten. Come here, bud, come on. Okay. So it's sometimes more convenient to simplify things. But hearing the full story, understanding the larger picture, that sometimes should be our obligation, and the story of how Plymouth Colony survived that first just awful winter, might not be as straightforward as you remember.
Speaker 1:Six years before the arrival of the Mayflower, slave traders capture members of the Wampanoag tribe in modern Massachusetts and throw them aboard a ship bound for Spain. On this ship is Tisquantum, a young Wampanoag man who later escapes imprisonment in Spain and makes his way for England. There he learns English and eventually secures passage back to his beloved tribe. What he finds upon arrival back in America in 1619 is desolation. His village, once thriving, is gone, bones unceremoniously scattered throughout his former home. Well kidnapped, well gone. A plague had wiped out his entire village. It's upon this site of Tisquantum's old village, littered with bones, stained with laws, where Bradford and the pilgrims establish Plymouth Plantation. Only 25% of the Wampanoag tribe remains by Plymouth's first winter after the plague. Meanwhile, a nearby enemy tribe, the Narragessent, remains strong. The sickness never spread to them, and so, in a bid for safety against this stronger tribe, tisquantum, having learned English, initiates a treaty between the remaining Wampanoag and the pilgrims who are struggling. They were both weak and they both agreed to defend each other against what they saw as larger threats. Desquantum, from then on, becomes a key resource for the naive settlers, teaching them how to survive the harsh and the foreign terrain right above the remains of his old village. How did Plymouth colony survive To squantum?
Speaker 1:So Plymouth Rock behind me now is intimately tied with what we call the first Thanksgiving, where the pilgrims celebrate a successful harvest by shooting guns into the air in 1621. The Wampanoag hear these gunshots and arrive in a frantic mood because they think that the pilgrims are getting attacked. But they're celebrating and the Wampanoag join them because they signed that treaty. That's the story. That's the first Thanksgiving. But here we get to an important point. I think the more you look into it the ideal American story as represented through Plymouth Rock the more it becomes a series of snapshots rather than the whole picture. You know what I mean the kind of false idea of religious tolerance, the wanted establishment of a totally independent proto-democracy, peace and friendship with surrounding tribes. All of this is connecting the dots to tell a story of who we'd like to be as people, not the reality of who we were and sometimes are. Look to this day.
Speaker 1:Tribes come to Plymouth Rock to bring attention to the 400-plus years of deep mistreatment after the landing to Plymouth Rock. To bring attention to the 400 plus years of deep mistreatment after the landing at Plymouth. They and all the visitors to this site behind me now aren't going to see a small, underwhelming rock. They're attracted to everything that it represents the stories, the history, the ideals. So, with that said, what's the story of Plymouth Rock itself? There's no historical evidence to confirm Plymouth Rock as Bradford and the Pilgrims' stepping stone into the new world Zero.
Speaker 1:Plymouth Rock's story begins 121 years after the arrival of the Mayflower. In 1741, 94-year-old Thomas Foss identifies a 10-ton boulder as the precise spot where pilgrims first landed. Thomas's father, who arrived in Plymouth in 1623, years after the first landing, along with other original Mayflower passengers, assured Thomas of the authenticity of the rock as being the definitive landing spot. Regardless of the authenticity of this claim, regardless of the authenticity of this claim, by 1770, the rock becomes an American icon, a tangible monument to a distinctly American identity. As a revolutionary fever sweeps through Plymouth, 20 teams of oxen attempt to move the now iconic boulder to the town meeting house, but they split the rock in two on accident. In 1834, the rock is moved again to the front lawn of the Pilgrim Hall Museum and the boulder once again is dropped and breaks into two again. Souvenir seekers wielding hammers and chisels take portions of the rock. Through the years, chunks are taken off to fit monuments placed around it. It's not until 1880, when the date 1620 is carved into what's left of the stone and it's returned to the harbor where its base it was torn from over a century ago was waiting. One third of Plymouth Rock's original mass lies intact, and yet another one third is visible above the dense sand. The rock now rests on a sandy bed five feet below street level, inspiring underwhelming, upsetting and intriguing visitors who look down upon it. As one candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindles hearth shown unto many.
Speaker 1:William Bradford, we're back in the van. A lot to think about. Here's the question I'll ask now. Why did the story of Plymouth Colony win out over other early English settlements like Jamestown and become the defining American myth? Jamestown was established over a decade before Plymouth. Both settlements had similar risks, similar populations. They both have ties to England. I think the overtly simple answer is the Plymouth Colony story has more ingredients to make a compelling American founding myth. A group who seeks religious freedom, establishes self-governance, makes peace with Native populations sounds much more compelling than a group whose interests lie primarily in economics and monetary gain. Right, and that was Jamestown. Jamestown is a less appealing narrative of what we want American history to be? I don't know. I've always found the whole truth. Sometimes life is more complicated, sometimes stories are more complicated, but that's what makes them important and compelling.
Speaker 1:Plymouth Colony, along with William Bradford, survived that first terrible winter. William Bradford survive that first terrible winter. Bradford's later writing and reflections on his time in Plymouth, from arrival to his time as governor and eventually to his death, remain a primary contemporary source for that period. He dies, never fully realizing his dream of a cohesive, separatist promised land. Colonies grow, settlements merge and the march of progress quickens. But Plymouth Rock and everything it's come to represent remains weathered, but intact along the Massachusetts shore, intact along the Massachusetts shore. A solitary rock digs into the Atlantic shoreline. The numbers 1620 etched upon its weathered surface. More than one million make the pilgrimage to its quasi-sacred resting place in eastern Massachusetts.
Speaker 1:Why, what really is Plymouth Rock? You tell me it's Noah here and noodles Say hi, bud, nope, all right, so thank you for listening. I hope you enjoyed the episode. One quick reflection before we sign off.
Speaker 1:The biggest opinion I've seen on Plymouth Rock is that it's underwhelming. Right, you go there and it's a rock, and it's a small rock. It's far away, but I think in a way that's what makes it interesting. You know, this rock has come to represent so many things, so many stories, so many ideals and hopefully, if you do go and visit the Rock, which I think you should it's a bucket list thing. I think you should.
Speaker 1:Looking into the entire story, the full narrative behind the Rock, behind really the American story, is what makes it so interesting. So I challenge you, if you do go to the Rock, look into the history a little bit. I think you'll find you appreciate going there a little more. I did. With that said, thank you again for listening. One thing genuinely you can do to help is to rate and review wherever you're listening. Now it really helps Noodles and I continue to put the work we'd like to put the research we'd like to into each episode and to make this show as great as we'd like it to be. So thank you again. Thanks for traveling with us. Be good to each other. Where to next?
