Day 3 Boarding Day June 24, 2021

   Well we don’t have covid. Had to show our shot  record and then a quick test, wait fifteen minutes and we are good to go. That would have been a real bummer if tested positive, so all good.

    Yesterday we also visited the Mayflower. Yes it is hard to believe that 102 people lived on that crossing the ocean for 66 days and then lived on it for another two months while the men who were able built the first houses.  They kept their belonging below and only had blankets and pillows on the middle deck where they lived. The only light was by candle light, other than that, it was pitch black. I can’t imagine! One thing that most people don’t  know is cargo ships of the day where painted in all variety of colors. After all, most people could not read, but could find a particular ship by how it was painted.

    After that I decided I wanted to visit the Howland House, owned by Jabez Howland, the eighth child of John and Elizabeth. They only lived a few houses away so most likely they were in that house. Pretty cool to know they were there. The house has amazing artifacts donated by Howland descendants over the years. All of the Howland s could read and write which was unusual for that day. They had actual copies of letters they had written. They also had the Howland bible. What a treasure that was. Unfortunately, it was in a glass case, but still amazing to see. Also had portraits of famous descendants, among them were Theodore Roosevelt and Churchill. On one wall they had a list of all of the different jobs John Howland had held. Like I said, he was no slacker.  The man giving the tour was a passionate Howland descendant. Looking at the many spinning wheels in the house, he mentioned spinning flax. When I told him I had just read how many steps were involved in the process, he told me he had written that article. He then asked if I was a member of the Howland Society and we bonded immediately.  Flax was so important to the Pilgrims that every person had to grow flax.

   He then said we should see Howland’s grave. It was on my to visit list so off we went with a map of the cemetery he gave us. The cemetery is called Burial Hill. It should be named Burial mountain, but we finally found his grave. It now has the third stone but it is looking pretty weather beaten.  People place coins on the top of it. I am still researching why.  All in all we walked over 10, 500 steps yesterday.

 More to follow,

Tom & Holly