On This Day in 1621

…the Pilgrims…
…posed for this picture.

After a 65-day journey, the Pilgrims sighted Cape Cod on November 19. Unable to reach the land they had contracted for, they anchored (November 21) at the site of Provincetown. Because they had no legal right to settle in the region, they drew up the Mayflower Compact, creating their own government. The settlers soon discovered Plymouth Harbor, on the western side of Cape Cod Bay and made their historic landing on December 21; the main body of settlers followed on December 26. The term Pilgrim was first used by William Bradford to describe the Leiden Separatists who were leaving Holland.

8 Responses to “On This Day in 1621”

  1. Mr. Bingley says:

    They posed for a red ‘x’? Those wacky pilgrims…

  2. Well, YEAH!
    “‘X’ marks the spot! Land here, Smith!”
    What kind of dope are you anyway, duh?

  3. Nightfly says:

    I didn’t remember that from my history books. They got there ONE MONTH before they finally got off the boat? Holy smokes. Just because they didn’t have the right to land where they wound up at first. It makes me respect the Pilgrims even more that they had discipline to go with conviction and daring.

  4. Mr. Bingley says:

    So the neo-cons didn’t issue their visas, eh? Illegal immigrants!!!!!

  5. ONE MONTH before
    That would suck in the best of circumstances, so I can’t imagine how horrible it was to be in sight of land and denied it. Plus, it meant they lost that much more time getting adequate shelters up for the winter. And then they had to wait a whole year for the turkey dinner?
    to go with conviction and daring
    Actually, the Dares were a different boatload.

  6. Mike Rentner says:

    If anyone deserves the epithet “religious whacko” these guys did. Even as a young kid I was never impressed by them. I was much more interested in the first ones here, the ones with the bigger, or at least more positive cultural and economic impact, the Virginians. Those guys at Plymouth Rock were just plain kooks.

  7. True Mike, true. They obviously had problems getting along with others, since they got kicked out of about 15 countries before they wound up over here. But at least they weren’t CONvicts!!

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