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Mayflower II

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Mayflower II - All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (2024)

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Mayflower II Photo Tour

Enjoy This Look at the Historic Ship While Mayflower II Undergoes Restoration

 Kim Knox Beckius

The Mayflower II , a carefully crafted replica of the four-masted cargo ship that carried 102 religious dissidents to New England's shores in 1620, first arrived in Plymouth Harbor in 1957. It is one of Plymouth's must-see attractions—a unique opportunity to leap into American history and truly understand the times in which the Pilgrims lived and the risks they took to reach this new world.

Since 2017, however, this remarkable ship has been missing from Plymouth's waterfront. Where is Mayflower II ? And when will it return to Massachusetts?

If you want to see the iconic ship, plan a visit to Mystic, Connecticut , where Mayflower II is undergoing extensive renovation at the Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard at Mystic Seaport . The multi-year project , which will replace about half of the ship's wood, is scheduled for completion in 2019, which will allow Mayflower II to return home in time for 2020's commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth Rock .

While the ship is in the shop, these photos, taken during Mayflower II 's 50th anniversary year, provide a glimpse of what visitors will experience aboard Mayflower II when it returns to home port.

A Faithful Replica

Kim Knox Beckius

Visitors to Plymouth, Massachusetts, can board the  Mayflower II , a replica of the Pilgrims' famous ship, to see how they journeyed to a new home in New England. In 1620, the 102 Pilgrims and crew spent 66 days crossing the Atlantic aboard the original Mayflower , a cargo ship commissioned for one of the most celebrated trips in history.

Like its sister attraction,  Plimoth Plantation ,  Mayflower II  immerses visitors in the Pilgrim experience. On board, you can venture below deck to see how the Pilgrims traveled during their 66 seasick days on the stormy Atlantic, speak with crew members of this still seaworthy vessel and chat with Pilgrim role players, who answere questions and offer insight into their motivations for undertaking this perilous journey.

The Pilgrim story resonates with travelers from around the world, and for more than 50 years, the  Mayflower II  has provided a glimpse of the hardships endured by these freedom seekers. Skilled English shipwrights completed the Mayflower II in 1957, and this full-scale replica sailed under wind power across the Atlantic to her new home in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Native Vessel

This traditional Wampanoag mashoon, a canoe made by burning a log and scraping out the charred wood, contrasts starkly with the Pilgrims' ship. It is one of the exhibits visitors see as they prepare to climb aboard Mayflower II .

Pilgrim Insight

You can gain insight into what the Pilgrims' long voyage must have been like by chatting with the role players aboard the Mayflower II . Just as they do at Plimoth Plantation, these Pilgrim characters speak a 17th-century dialect that takes getting used to.

What Lies Ahead?

Standing aboard the upper deck of the Mayflower II , visitors can contemplate the thoughts that occupied the Pilgrims' minds as they sailed into the unknown. It was a stormy crossing, and we know from accounts how many were feeling: Seasick.

Exploring the Ship

Visitors to the Mayflower II can spend as much time as they would like exploring the ship and talking to both costumed role players and the ship's current crew. Be sure to peek at the captain's quarters before going below to see how the Pilgrims traveled.

A Comfortable Berth

This bed may not look terribly comfortable by modern-day standards, but the officers of the Mayflower had more comfortable on-board accommodations than their human cargo. The Pilgrims, including three pregnant women, crowded together on the lower deck.

The Kitchen

On the Mayflower II , the kitchen or cook room is located in the forecastle, just as it likely was on the Pilgrims' original ship.

Pilgrim Provisions

On board the original Mayflower , the Pilgrims carried food provisions to last them through their first harvest in the new world. But it is easy to imagine that a diet of dried peas and salt cod got old after a while.

A Symbol of Strength

The Mayflower II , a gift made possible by donors in England, remains a lasting tribute to the Pilgrims' strength and faith more than 50 years after the replica was launched and nearly four centuries after the Pilgrims arrived on Plymouth's rocky shore.

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Home » Things to Do » History, Museums & Monuments » Museums & Historic Houses » Mayflower II – Plimoth Patuxet Museums

Mayflower II – Plimoth Patuxet Museums

Mayflower II , Plimoth’s full-scale reproduction of the tall ship that brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620 has finally returned to her berth at State Pier in Pilgrim Memorial State Park to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims’ arrival on New England’s shores! We are excited to welcome you aboard this newly restored vessel.

Mayflower II will be open for the season April 13, daily 9am-5pm.

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Plymouth county:, pilgrims, mayflower ii & whaling history tour.

Plymouth to Wareham to Mattapoisett to New Bedford

Total distance one way is 45 miles. Plan to spend two days on this route to allow time for detailed visits to attractions. Learn more at See Plymouth .

Pilgrim Memorial State Park and Plymouth Rock . Thousands of people come every year to visit the town where, in 1620, English colonists first made a home in New England, and to see Plymouth Rock, where history claims the passengers of the Mayflower first set foot on North America. A waterfront park provides scenic views of Plymouth Harbor. Mayflower II , a replica of the ship that brought the Pilgrims, is anchored at the park. Pilgrim Hall Museum . This 100-year-old museum, at 75 Court Street, displays actual Pilgrim possessions, including William Bradford’s Bible and Myles Standish’s sword. Enjoy a film telling the dramatic story of the Mayflower Pilgrims, their voyage across the Atlantic, and their courageous early years in Plymouth. Paddlewheel boat cruise . Cruise Plymouth Harbor in comfort aboard the Pilgrim Belle, an authentic paddle-wheeler. You will hear a narrated account of this historic town and seaport and get a mariner's-eye view of Plymouth Rock, Mayflower II , Plymouth Beach, and local lighthouses. Docked in Plymouth Harbor, Mayflower II is replica of the ship that carried the Pilgrims to the New World. Visitors will meet guides who speak from a present-day perspective and also role players in period costume who will share their personal accounts of shipboard life, as they play the part of sailors or Mayflower passengers. Open daily in July and August. Plimoth Plantation . Plimoth Plantation at 137 Warren Avenue is a hands-on, living history experience dedicated to the native Wampanoag and Pilgrim colonists of 17th-century Plymouth. History comes alive at this immersive museum featuring costumed interpreters and modern day artisans in four major exhibits, including the recreated Wampanoag Homesite, the 17th Century English Village, and the Crafts Center. Whale watch cruises . Captain John Whale Watching and Fishing Tours at the Town Wharf in Plymouth guarantees whale sightings as you cruise Cape Cod Bay in comfort. Climate-controlled main cabin and full galley service. Operate April 6 through fall. Plymouth Grist Mill . Located next to Town Brook in downtown Plymouth, this is a functional mill built in 1636 by the Pilgrim John Jenney. Today, visitors can watch how a grist mill operates and delve into the work and life of a 17th-century New England miller. Also, Leo the Miller describes the challenges the Pilgrims faced in their journey to America. Discover little known facts and hear interesting stories of American history as you walk the same paths the Pilgrims traveled hundreds of years ago. -- Take Route 3A to Sagamore and change to the Scenic Highway (Route 6) North of the Cape Cod Canal. Continue on Scenic Hwy (Route 6) to Cranberry Highway (Route 28) about 31 miles to ….

The A.D. Makepeace Company . The world’s largest cranberry grower offers cranberry bog tours from its headquarters at 158 Tihonet Road. While the most popular time of year to see the bogs is during the cranberry harvest in September and October, your group may visit at any time of the year. During the tour, your guide will show the group examples of bogs, in production. Tours are available of groups of six or more. Individuals can sign up for tours during the harvest season in 2012 on September 29, October 13, 17, 20, and 27. -- Take Route 6 about 9 miles to …

Mattapoisett

Nasketucket Bay State Reservation in Mattapoisett. Acquired by the state in 1999, Nasketucket Bay State Reservation in Mattapoisett offers 209 acres of wooded trails, open field and rocky shoreline for the public to enjoy. Lots to wonderful walking trails if you need a break from the car to stretch your legs. 508-992-4524. -- Take Route 6 about 7 miles to …

New Bedford

New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park . In Herman Melville's epic novel Moby-Dick, Melville describes New Bedford as "perhaps the dearest place to live in, in all New England." He would recognize many of the 19th century buildings in the park today. Start your visit at the national park visitor center to get a brief orientation from the file, "The City That Lit the World." Other parts of the park include a historic house and garden museum, the Seamen's Bethel, Waterfront Visitor Center, the Schooner Ernestina, and the New Bedford Whaling Museum. New Bedford Whaling Museum . New Bedford was the mid-19th century’s preeminent whaling port and for a time the richest city in the world. At the New Bedford Whaling Park and Museum, 18 Johnny Cake Hill, visitors can explore the world of whaling in the 18th and 19th centuries and the profound effect the industry had on New England and the world. The museum is part of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, a neighborhood filled with actual buildings and artifacts from that era. Zeiterion Theatre . For lively, dynamic, creative entertainment of all stripes, stay tuned to the Zeiterion Theatre on Purchase Street in New Bedford. This historic performing arts center is located in a restored 1923 vaudeville house, and its programs include summer musicals, comedy, great American music, dance, special events, and family fun.

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Mayflower Historic Sites

Cole’s Hill: the Sarcophagus and Statue of Massasoit

Cole’s Hill is a National Historic Landmark used by the Mayflower Pilgrims to bury their dead. A number of memorials and monuments are on the hill including a statue of the Wampanoag sachem Massasoit and a granite sarcophagus erected by The Mayflower Society in 1920 which contains the skeletal remains believed to be those of the original Mayflower settlers. Cole’s Hill is located along Carver Street near the foot of Leyden Street and across the street from Plymouth Rock.

The Harlow Old Fort House

The Harlow Old Fort House is an historic First Period house in downtown Plymouth. Sergeant William Harlow built the house in 1677 using timbers from the Pilgrims’ original 1620-21 fort on Burial Hill. His house projects the Pilgrim home and way of life. The Harlow Old Fort House is located at 119 Sandwich St., Plymouth, MA 02360.

John Howland’s Homestead Site and Plaque

The Pilgrim John Howland Society owns both the site of John Howland’s homestead where he and his wife Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland lived from 1638-1672/3, and the site of Joseph Howland’s homestead across the road from his father’s house and farm. Both sites are marked with monuments, and have been the sites of multiple excavations. John Howland’s homestead is located at 67 Howlands Lane, Kingston, MA 02364

The Jabez Howland House

The Jabez Howland House is an historic house museum that has been restored and decorated with 17th-century period furnishings. The oldest portion of this two-story wood frame house was built by Jacob Mitchell in 1667, and purchased by Jabez Howland, son of Mayflower Pilgrims John Howland and Elizabeth (Tilley) Howland. John and Elizabeth lived in the home with Jabez for a short time making it the only existing house in Plymouth where Pilgrims have actually lived. The Jabez Howland House is located at 33 Sandwich Street, Plymouth, MA 02360.

The Jenney Interpretive Center

The Jenney is dedicated to conveying the impact 51 Pilgrims have had on the founding and ongoing development of the United States and to the importance of passing the history of our country from generation to generation. The museum offers walking tours of the Plymouth historic district and tours of the National Monument to the Forefathers. Educational programs cover topics such as the economics of the Pilgrims and the Pilgrim family. The house, built in 1749, houses a gift shop and three exhibits in the Interpretive Centre. The Jenney is located at 48 Summer St, Plymouth, MA 02360.

Leyden Street, Plymouth

Originally named First Street, Leyden Street is a street in Plymouth that was created in 1620 by the Pilgrims, and claims to be the oldest continuously habited street in the Thirteen Colonies of British North America. Governor William Bradford, Samuel Fuller, Peter Browne and other settlers owned lots on the road and assorted plaques are affixed on each residence to tell of their history. Leyden Street, Plymouth, MA 02360

Mayflower II

The Mayflower II , built in Devon England, is a replica of the 17th-century ship  Mayflower  that transported the Pilgrims to the New World.

The  Mayflower II , is located at Pilgrim Memorial State Park Pier, MA-3A, Plymouth, MA. 02360.

Mayflower Meetinghouse

Since the Mayflower  Pilgrims’ first Meetinghouse was built at the top of Leyden Street in Plymouth in 1621, a place of spiritual ministry has continued to this day.

The Mayflower Meetinghouse (formerly the National Pilgrim Memorial Meetinghouse) is the fifth spiritual structure built on this location and, in 2014, was added to both the National Register of Historic Places and the List of Massachusetts’ Most Endangered Resources.

Since the General Society of Mayflower Descendants was founded in 1897, the same year the present structure was built at the top of Leyden Street, families of descendants – our families – have made regular pilgrimages to this spot. In fact, our Member Societies have helped to furnish this structure with Tiffany stained-glass windows from the New York and New Jersey Societies, objects in the sanctuary from Rhode Island, as well as many other contributions through the years.

To save the building they love, the First Parish Church congregation, former owners of the Mayflower Meetinghouse, agreed to donate it to The Mayflower Society upon the condition that funds be put in place to permanently maintain it, and that they be allowed to continue scheduling their services there.

The Mayflower Meetinghouse is located at 19 Town Square, Plymouth, MA 02360.

Mayflower Society House and Colonial Revival Gardens

The Mayflower Society House is located at 4 Winslow Street, Plymouth, MA 02360.

National Monument to the Forefathers

The National monument to the Forefathers, formerly known as the Pilgrim Monument, commemorates the Mayflower Pilgrims. The monument is free to visit and open to the public year-round. Bring a picnic and enjoy the monuments expansive lawn. The National monument to the Forefathers is located on Allerton Street, Plymouth, MA 02360.

Pilgrim Hall Museum

Pilgrim Hall Museum is the oldest continuously operating public museum in the Unites States, having opened in 1824. The museum contains artifact collections, artwork, a library and archives. Prominent pieces include original Pilgrim-era artifacts, such as the original Brewster Chair, a 1651 portrait of Edward Winslow (the only known contemporaneous Pilgrim portrait) and a portion of Plymouth Rock visitors are permitted to touch. Pilgrim Hall Museum is located at 75 Court St., Plymouth, MA 02360.

Plimoth Grist Mill

Formerly known as the Jenney Grist Mill, the Plimoth Grist Mill is a working grist mill in downtown Plymouth. It is a reconstruction of the original 1636 mill, and was completed in 1970. The Plimoth Grist Mill is located at 6 Spring Lane, Plymouth, MA 02360.

Plimoth Patuxet

Plimoth Patuxet, founded in 1947, is a living history museum that exhibits, through topography and reenactors, the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the Mayflower Pilgrims. The museum started with two English cottages and a fort on Plymouth’s historic waterfront. Since then, the Museum has grown to include Mayflower II, the English Village, the Wampanoag Homesite, the Hornblower Visitor Center, the Craft Center, the Maxwell and Nye Barns, and the Plimoth Grist Mill.

Plimoth Patuxet is locted at 137 Warren Ave, Plymouth, MA 02360.

Plymouth Rock and Plymouth Rock Canopy

Located in Pilgrim Memorial State Park on the shore of Plymouth Harbor, Plymouth Rock is the world-famous symbol of the courage and faith of the Pilgrims who founded the first New England colony in 1620.  Located at 79 Water Street, Plymouth, MA 02360. 

Sacrifice Rock

Sacrifice Rock is a historic Native American site in the Pine Hills region of Plymouth. Centuries before the arrival of English settlers in the area, generations of Wampanoag and other native people en route between Plymouth and points south and west placed offerings, perhaps a gesture of sacrifice, or to receive the blessing of safe passage, on Sacrifice Rock. It is owned by the Antiquarian Society.

Sacrifice Rock is located at 394 Old Sandwich Road, Plymouth, MA 02360.

Soule Homestead Education Center

Legs of myles standish statue.

These 12 ft. tall, 9-ton granite legs belong to the original Myles Standish statue funded in 1876 by a group of local, cranberry-growing citizens. The original statue was 18-feet tall and had Standish holding a sword in one hand and the charter of the Colony in the other. In 1922, the statue was struck by lightning, destroying the top half. These legs were found in Quincy Quarry in the 1990s. A replica of this statue currently stands in Duxbury, built five years after the original was damaged.

This attraction is located at 20 Dwight St, Halifax, MA 02338.

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The Mayflower

By: History.com Editors

Updated: June 27, 2023 | Original: March 4, 2010

In September 1620, a merchant ship called the Mayflower set sail from Plymouth, a port on the southern coast of England. Normally, the Mayflower’s cargo was wine and dry goods, but on this trip the ship carried passengers: 102 of them, all hoping to start a new life on the other side of the Atlantic. Nearly 40 of these passengers were Protestant Separatists—they called themselves “Saints”—who hoped to establish a new church in the so-called New World. Today, we often refer to the colonists who crossed the Atlantic on the Mayflower as “Pilgrims.”

Pilgrims Before the Mayflower

In 1608, a congregation of disgruntled English Protestants from the village of Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, left England and moved to Leyden, a town in Holland. These “Separatists” did not want to pledge allegiance to the Church of England , which they believed was nearly as corrupt and idolatrous as the Catholic Church it had replaced, any longer. (They were not the same as the Puritans, who had many of the same objections to the English church but wanted to reform it from within.) The Separatists hoped that in Holland, they would be free to worship as they liked

Did you know? The Separatists who founded the Plymouth Colony referred to themselves as “Saints,” not “Pilgrims.” The use of the word “Pilgrim” to describe this group did not become common until the colony’s bicentennial.

In fact, the Separatists, or “Saints,” as they called themselves, did find religious freedom in Holland, but they also found a secular life that was more difficult to navigate than they’d anticipated. For one thing, Dutch craft guilds excluded the migrants, so they were relegated to menial, low-paying jobs. 

Even worse was Holland’s easygoing, cosmopolitan atmosphere, which proved alarmingly seductive to some of the Saints’ children. (These young people were “drawn away,” Separatist leader William Bradford wrote, “by evill [sic] example into extravagance and dangerous courses.”) For the strict, devout Separatists, this was the last straw. They decided to move again, this time to a place without government interference or worldly distraction: the “New World” across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Mayflower Journey

First, the Separatists returned to London to get organized. A prominent merchant agreed to advance the money for their journey. The Virginia Company gave them permission to establish a settlement, or “plantation,” on the East Coast between 38 and 41 degrees north latitude (roughly between the Chesapeake Bay and the mouth of the Hudson River). And the King of England gave them permission to leave the Church of England, “provided they carried themselves peaceably.”

In August 1620, a group of about 40 Saints joined a much larger group of (comparatively) secular colonists—“Strangers,” to the Saints—and set sail from Southampton, England on two merchant ships: the Mayflower and the Speedwell. The Speedwell began to leak almost immediately, however, and the ships headed back to port in Plymouth. The travelers squeezed themselves and their belongings onto the Mayflower, a cargo ship about 80 feet long and 24 feet wide and capable of carrying 180 tons of cargo. The Mayflower set sail once again under the direction of Captain Christopher Jones.

Because of the delay caused by the leaky Speedwell, the Mayflower had to cross the Atlantic at the height of storm season. As a result, the journey was horribly unpleasant. Many of the passengers were so seasick they could scarcely get up, and the waves were so rough that one “Stranger” was swept overboard. (It was “the just hand of God upon him,” Bradford wrote later, for the young sailor had been “a proud and very profane yonge man.”)

The Mayflower Compact

After sixty-six days, or roughly two miserable months at sea, the ship finally reached the New World. There, the Mayflower’s passengers found an abandoned Indian village and not much else. They also found that they were in the wrong place: Cape Cod was located at 42 degrees north latitude, well north of the Virginia Company’s territory. Technically, the Mayflower colonists had no right to be there at all. 

In order to establish themselves as a legitimate colony (“Plymouth,” named after the English port from which they had departed) under these dubious circumstances, 41 of the Saints and Strangers drafted and signed a document they called the Mayflower Compact . This Compact promised to create a “civil Body Politick” governed by elected officials and “just and equal laws.” It also swore allegiance to the English king. It was the first document to establish self-government in the New World and this early attempt at democracy set the stage for future colonists seeking independence from the British .

The First Thanksgiving

The colonists spent the first winter living onboard the Mayflower. Only 53 passengers and half the crew survived. Women were particularly hard hit; of the 19 women who had boarded the Mayflower, only five survived the cold New England winter, confined to the ship where disease and cold were rampant. The Mayflower sailed back to England in April 1621, and once the group moved ashore, the colonists faced even more challenges.

During their first winter in America, more than half of the Plymouth colonists died from malnutrition, disease and exposure to the harsh New England weather. In fact, without the help of the area’s native people, it is likely that none of the colonists would have survived. An English-speaking Abenaki named Samoset helped the colonists form an alliance with the local Wampanoags, who taught them how to hunt local animals, gather shellfish and grow corn, beans and squash. 

At the end of the next summer, the Plymouth colonists celebrated their first successful harvest with a three-day festival of thanksgiving. We still commemorate this feast and remember it as the first Thanksgiving , though it did not occur on the fourth Thursday in November like it does today, but sometime between late September and mid November 1621. The colonists were outnumbered two to one by their guests . Attendee Edward Winslow noted there were “many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men.”

Plymouth Colony

Eventually, the Plymouth colonists were absorbed into the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony. Still, the Mayflower Saints and their descendants remained convinced that they alone had been specially chosen by God to act as a beacon for Christians around the world. “As one small candle may light a thousand,” Bradford wrote, “so the light here kindled hath shone to many, yea in some sort to our whole nation.”

Today, visitors wishing to see Plymouth Colony as it appeared during the time of the Mayflower can witness reenactments of the first Thanksgiving and more at Plymouth Plantation.

Mayflower Descendants

There are an estimated 10 million living Americans and 35 million people around the world who are descended from the original passengers on the Mayflower like Myles Standish, John Alden and William Bradford. include Humphrey Bogart, Julia Child, Norman Rockwell, and presidents John Adams , James Garfield and Zachary Taylor .

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Pilgrim Story and Mayflower II Tour

Plimoth Patuxet deputy executive director Richard Pickering told the story of the Pilgrims' Atlantic crossing in 1620 from Plymouth, England… read more

Plimoth Patuxet deputy executive director Richard Pickering told the story of the Pilgrims' Atlantic crossing in 1620 from Plymouth, England to Plymouth, Massachusetts and the origins of the Mayflower Compact. On Mayflower II, a reproduction of the original ship, Mr. Pickering and Plimoth Patuxet ’s maritime preservation director Whit Perry described the living conditions on the Mayflower for the Pilgrims and crew. close

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• Nov 22, 2020 | 5:34pm EST | C-SPAN 3
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MAYFLOWER II Homecoming Voyage Set to Begin July 20, 2020

Plimoth plantation’s fully restored Mayflower II to begin homecoming voyage to Plymouth, Massachusetts from mystic, Connecticut on July 20, 2020.

Historic square-rigger will depart Mystic Seaport Museum for two weeks of sail training and sea trials in New London before making journey to her home port

Plimoth Plantation, the living history museum of 17th century Massachusetts, is delighted to announce that MAYFLOWER II, its 64-year-old historic reproduction of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to the shores of historic Patuxet in 1620, will begin the voyage home to Massachusetts on July 20, 2020.

The ship will depart Mystic Seaport Museum’s Henry B. duPont Preservation Shipyard at 9:00 a.m. under tow by the tugboat JAGUAR, operated by Mitchell Towing in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The public will not be able to view the departure from the museum; however, there are several vantage points along the ship’s route down the Mystic River. Spectators are asked to be mindful of local regulations and to practice physical distancing and mask-wearing for the safety of others. Those wishing to track MAYFLOWER can use the MarineTraffic app or website: www.marinetraffic.com. Search for MAYFLOWER and choose the US sailing vessel result.

Once in New London, MAYFLOWER will be docked at the City Pier for just over two weeks. Whit Perry, Plimoth’s Director of Maritime Preservation & Operations and MAYFLOWER’s captain, will oversee a crew of 27. During their time in New London, the crew will conduct sea trials to test the ship’s performance and perform sail training to ensure safe operation underway. For the health and safety of the crew, the ship will not be available for public visitation until she is back home in Plymouth harbor.

“In a year marred by loss and great uncertainty in the world, we are hopeful that once again sailing MAYFLOWER may offer a symbol of courage and perseverance to millions of people,” said Ellie Donovan, Plimoth’s Executive Director. “We will be forever grateful to Mystic Seaport Museum for their partnership on this remarkable restoration, and we are thrilled to bring MAYFLOWER home to Plymouth in this 400thcommemoration year.”

Further details regarding the remainder of MAYFLOWER’s voyage will be forthcoming. At this time, the ship is expected to arrive in Plymouth on or about August 10. All dates and times are subject to change based on tide and weather conditions as well as other factors that may affect the safety of the ship and crew.

For b-roll, images, and interview requests, please contact Kate Sheehan, Plimoth’s Associate Director of Marketing, at [email protected] . Note that due to pandemic-related safety restrictions, media access to the ship and crew will be limited and must be coordinated through Plimoth’s Media Relations department.

About MAYFLOWER’s Restoration

Designed by MIT-trained naval architect William Avery Baker for Plimoth Plantation, MAYFLOWER II was built in Brixham, England, beginning in July 1955. Intended as a gift to the people of America from the people of England to honor the bonds of friendship formed during World War II, she arrived to Plymouth under sail on June 13, 1957 to great fanfare and 25,000 spectators, and since that time has been a major exhibit of Plimoth Plantation. Millions of visitors have crossed her decks to learn about the Pilgrims’ historic journey and 17th-century maritime life.

Despite excellent routine maintenance by Plimoth, MAYFLOWER succumbed to the deterioration process expected of any organic material exposed to natural elements over the course of sixty years. The Museum’s leadership decided to preserve the vessel, which is historic in her own right, through a fundraising campaign which continues today. To support the restoration of MAYFLOWER and her shallop, please visit https://inspire.plimoth.org/mayflower-ii-restoration/ .

From 2014 to 2016, Plimoth collaborated with Mystic Seaport Museum, the nation’s leading maritime museum, on off-season stabilization efforts and planning for the three years of continuous work that would take place beginning November 2016. Skilled shipwrights from Mystic Seaport Museum worked alongside Plimoth’s maritime artisans to fully restore the ship according to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Vessel Preservation Projects. Nearly 70% of the ship’s timbers, planking, structural frames, knees, and beams have been replaced, using six types of wood from eight states and as far away as Denmark. Seaworthy once again, the ship was launched into the Mystic River and re-christened on September 7, 2019.

About Plimoth Patuxet

Plimoth Patuxet is one of the Nation’s foremost living history museums. Founded in 1947, the Museum creates engaging experiences of history built on thorough research about the Indigenous and European people who met along Massachusetts' historic shores of change in the 1600s. Immersive and educational encounters underscore the collaborations as well as the cultural clash and conflicts of the 17th-century people of this region. Major exhibits include the Historic Patuxet Homesite, the 17th-Century English Village, Mayflower II , and Plimoth Grist Mill. A private, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit educational institution, Plimoth Patuxet is supported by admission fees, donations, memberships, and revenue from a variety of educational programming, dining and gift shops. Plimoth Patuxet receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, private foundations, corporations, and local businesses. Located less than an hour’s drive south of Boston, and 15 minutes north of Cape Cod, the Museum is open daily from early spring through the Sunday after Thanksgiving. For more information, visit plimoth.org . Follow the Museum on Facebook , Instagram , and Twitter .

Walk through a 1667 Plymouth home where Mayflower pilgrims lived

P lymouth native Peter Arenstam worked on a replica of the Mayflower ship in Plymouth Harbor for years before learning he was a descendant of a pilgrim who arrived on the real ship more than 400 years ago.

Eat clam chowder in George Washington’s old hangout at this Charlestown tavern

Now he spends his time keeping up the 1667 Jabez Howland House , an historic home once lived in by his famous ancestors that will reopen for tours in June . It is on the National Register of Historic Places and billed as the only existing house in Plymouth where pilgrims actually spent time.

The house is named after the son of John and Elizabeth Howland, who both arrived on the Mayflower in 1620. Jabez, their eighth child, bought the property in 1669 and lived there with his wife Bethiah and their family until 1680.

“It’s a literal connection to our history,” said Arenstam, executive director of the Pilgrim John Howland Society , a lineage society founded in 1897 that bought the house and turned it into a museum in 1912 and thoroughly renovated it in the 1940s.

John Howland famously fell overboard during the grueling 66-day trip across the Atlantic on the Mayflower and was almost lost at sea. But he grabbed a rope and was rescued by the crew and would go on to work for John Carver, Plymouth Colony’s first governor, and sign the Mayflower Compact. He would also have 10 children and 88 grandchildren, Arenstam said.

An estimated 2 million people in the U.S. can trace their ancestry back to John and Elizabeth Howland, Arenstam said. Famous Howland descendants include presidents Franklin Roosevelt, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush as well as poets Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and actors Humphrey Bogart, Christopher Lloyd, and Alec Baldwin.

Arenstam discovered he was a descendent in 2010 after a historian looked into his genealogy while he was working for Plimoth Patuxet Museums in Plymouth, a living history museum that has recreated Plymouth Colony and the famous ship.

“I was one of the people who took care of the replica ship, Mayflower II,” Arenstam said. “I helped sail it many times in the course of my time there. That whole time, I didn’t know I was a descendent of John Howland.”

On a recent April morning, he walked the floors of the Jabez Howland House where his ancestors once cooked, cleaned, dined, and made a home.

Visitors at the home really get a sense of what family life was like in the 17th century, he said. The house is filled with period furniture, spinning wheels, artifacts, documents, and even framed letters written by Jabez.

A large wide hearth was discovered and restored during a renovation in the early 20th century, he said. The hearth was a very important part of a home in those days, he said.

“The idea is that you have multiple fires in there for doing multiple things,” he said. “You might be heating water to do laundry in the corner, you might be cooking a meal that requires heat of different intensities and they can all take place in that wide hearth.”

Cooking tools on display in the hearth include a spider skillet with legs for cooking food over a fire, he said, a gridiron, and a toaster made out of cast iron that props up the bread and swivels.

The original part of the home (the right side when facing it) was constructed by carpenter Jacob Mitchell and included one downstairs room and one upstairs room, Arenstam said.

“John dies in 1672. Elizabeth likely lived in this house until 1680 when Jabez and Bethiah moved down to Bristol,” Arenstam said. “She signs on the deed when they sell the house.”

The newer parts of the home were built in the 18th century: four rooms were added in 1720 and and another four were added in 1750, he said.

“As you tour the house, you get to see the evolution of the house, starting in 1667,” he said.

There are two bedrooms on display upstairs and the beds have curtains around them.

“That’s very typical English style and the idea is they’re keeping you warm,” Arenstam said.

A case of preserved artifacts on the second floor features a pewter spoon, armor, and other items. Thousands of other artifacts are stored at Plimoth Patuxet Museums, he said. Many items were unearthed in an archeological dig in the early 20th century at Rocky Nook in Kingston, about four miles away, where John and Elizabeth once lived on 100 acres. The society has sponsored other archeological digs at the site as recent as last year, Arenstam said, and items are still being discovered.

“Everything is intriguing when you think that this object, whether it’s a needle, a sewing pin, or a pipe stem from a clay pipe that was broken off because it was clogged with tar and discarded in the yard, all of those things were touched by people who lived in the 17th century who came on the Mayflower. It’s pretty neat,” Arenstam said.

Howland descendants have also donated items such as bibles, samplers, and a finger bowl once used to wash one’s hands during meal time.

Even the grounds transport visitors back in time.

“We have herb gardens outside and a vegetable garden representing the kind of herb and vegetable garden they would have had in the 17th century,” said Arenstam, who currently cares for the gardens.

The Jabez Howland House reopens June 14 for tours . The tours, which run through Nov. 1, take place Thursday through Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Reservations are not required and guides take visitors through the house.

Travelers looking for more ways to learn about pilgrims while visiting Plymouth can check out Pilgrim Hall , full of Pilgrim artifacts and billed as the oldest continuously operating public museum in the country, Arenstam said, and Plimoth Patuxet Museums, recently named the best open-air museum in America by USA Today readers.

Editor’s note:  In the coming months, Boston.com will be featuring historical sites around Greater Boston as chosen by staff and suggested by readers. Enter your suggestion in the form below.

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The post Walk through a 1667 Plymouth home where Mayflower pilgrims lived appeared first on Boston.com .

Mayflower400 partner destinations:

Virtual Voyages

• Stories of the Mayflower

Mayflower 400 UK has been presenting three series of digital programmes in the build-up to the 400-year anniversary of the ship's historic voyage.

One of those is  Virtual Voyages  which showcases the places woven into the Mayflower story.

Watch our episodes below to discover hidden secrets and fascinating insights , told through the eyes of the people who live and breath the stories of the colonists.

Virtual Voyages: Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy

Enjoy an exclusive guided tour of the Mayflower 400: Legend and Legacy exhibition at The Box in Plymouth.

You’ll also get a glimpse the exhibition’s remarkable wall of descendants, covered in dozens of faces of those who are descended from the ship’s original passengers.

Virtual Voyages: The Homes of Brewster and Bradford

Discover the homes, places and roots of two of the leading figures in the Mayflower story, William Brewster and William Bradford, as we explore the historic villages clustered together in north Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire.

Virtual Voyages: Boston

Discover how the Mayflower Pilgrims made a daring escape despite being betrayed, locked up and hauled before the courts in our Virtual Voyage of Boston, UK.

Virtual Voyages: Dorking

Join us on our Virtual Voyage as we explore 17th century Dorking, the picturesque Surrey town once home to the shoemaker William Mullins and his family.

Virtual Voyages: Leiden

A city walk through the historic city centre of Leiden with our friends at Mayflower 400 NL, while explaining the fascinating story of Leiden in the Golden Age and the role of the Pilgrims during this period.

Virtual Voyages: Plymouth

Discover a Virtual Voyage of Plymouth with a tour of this famous seafaring city, the Mayflower’s final stop before it crossed the Atlantic in 1620.

Virtual Voyages: Southampton

Take a tour of the beautiful walled city of Southampton - a key location in the Mayflower story. The Mayflower arrived in Southampton in late July 1620 and several days later was joined by the Speedwell, carrying the Pilgrims from Leiden.

Presented by Blue Badge guide Julia Brewer and historian Dr Cheryl Butler, our Virtual Voyage looks at some of the fascinating stories of the people who came from the city and played a crucial role in the Mayflower voyage and beyond.

Virtual Voyages: The City of London

Discover the stories behind how the Mayflower’s journey across the Atlantic was funded, the commercial reasons for why the ship sailed and the people involved in financing its crossing in the heart of what we now know as the Square Mile.

Virtual Voyages: Conrad Humphreys and the journey of the Mayflower

In this Virtual Voyage, we speak to triple round-the-world yachtsman Conrad Humphreys about what the journey would have been like for the crew and the Mayflower's passengers.

Conrad, who is based in the city of Plymouth, takes us into Plymouth Sound - the waters the colonists would have sailed before the perilous journey, to give us an insight into the conditions, the tools the skipper would have used and what the boat itself would have been like.

Virtual Voyages: Life after the Journey

This Virtual Voyage looks at the life of the Pilgrims as it was in January 1621.

It explores the Mayflower passengers' first winter in America and how they survived to create their settlement.

Virtual Voyages: Children of the Mayflower

Many of the children who had sailed on the ship died, became orphans or for those who had travelled as wards to other families – they were living in a land in which they did not know how to survive.

In this Virtual Voyage, we look at who these children were, what we know about them and what became of them.

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• Preplanned tours
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Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro Tour is included in most guided tours’ itineraries. Opened in 1935, under Stalin’s regime, the metro was not only meant to solve transport problems, but also was hailed as “a people’s palace”. Every station you will see during your Moscow metro tour looks like a palace room. There are bright paintings, mosaics, stained glass, bronze statues… Our Moscow metro tour includes the most impressive stations best architects and designers worked at - Ploshchad Revolutsii, Mayakovskaya, Komsomolskaya, Kievskaya, Novoslobodskaya and some others.

What is the kremlin in russia?

The guide will not only help you navigate the metro, but will also provide you with fascinating background tales for the images you see and a history of each station.

And there some stories to be told during the Moscow metro tour! The deepest station - Park Pobedy - is 84 metres under the ground with the world longest escalator of 140 meters. Parts of the so-called Metro-2, a secret strategic system of underground tunnels, was used for its construction.

During the Second World War the metro itself became a strategic asset: it was turned into the city's biggest bomb-shelter and one of the stations even became a library. 217 children were born here in 1941-1942! The metro is the most effective means of transport in the capital.

There are almost 200 stations 196 at the moment and trains run every 90 seconds! The guide of your Moscow metro tour can explain to you how to buy tickets and find your way if you plan to get around by yourself.