Pilgrim fathers: harsh truths amid the Mayflower myths of nationhood
As Plymouth marks 400 years since the colonists set sail, the high price paid by Native American tribes is now revealed in an exhibition
For a ship that would sail into the pages of history, the Mayflower was not important enough to be registered in the port book of Plymouth in 1620. Pages from September of that year bear no trace of the vessel, because it was only only 102 passengers and not cargo, making it of no official interest.
The port book is one of the many surprising objects at Mayflower 400: Legend & Legacy, the inaugural exhibition of the Box in Plymouth, Devon, which will open to the public later this month, and which is part of the city’s efforts to mark the 400th anniversary of the ship’s Atlantic crossing.
They came for religious freedom but did not have the same tolerance for the people they met
