It is Thanksgiving this week here in the US where we take time to intentionally be grateful for what we’ve been given and count our blessings, but it is also the one time of year where the whole nation remembers an event that began during the life of William Shakespeare: the journey of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower. Not many people realize the story of William Shakespeare overlaps with that of the Pilgrims, due mostly to the fact that the Pilgrims wouldn’t actually set sail from Plymouth until 1620, which is 4 years after the death of William Shakespeare. However, The Puritans were a major part of Shakespeare’s life in England prior to that fateful day in 1620, including Puritans who lived within walking distance of the known residences Shakespeare took up in London. The story of the Mayflower, Pilgrims, and so-called “Strangers” that travelled with them including Miles Standish, William Brewster, and William Bradford, informs our understanding of Shakespeare’s culture and the strong religious tensions that were building up in early 17th century England.. 

 

As many countries were flocking to the New World and trying to establish colonies there, England, too was placing a mark on the new land with settlements like Jamestown being established under Captain John Smith in 1607. At the same time, the Pilgrims were seeking to go to this New World, but for a decidedly different reason. As a group of religious separatists, as they were known then, they were seeking the right to freedom of religion. The group capitalized on the popular wave of exploration under James I to secure a land patent that allowed them to travel to England and set up a new colony where they could worship, and live, in freedom. Accompanied by the Merchant Adventurers and sanctioned by the Plymouth Colony, the Pilgrims set sail on September 6, 1620. 

 

Here today to tell us about the history behind the Pilgrim’s journey from England to Plymouth and the realities of that First Thanksgiving are our guests and historians behind the 1620 Experience, David and Aaron Bradford.

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