Provincetown and the Pilgrims – A bit of Trivia !

Provincetown Massachusetts

How much do you know about the Mayflower, Pilgrims,  Wampanoag Indians and Provincetown?  Here are some interesting facts about them.  Before the Pilgrims hired her, the Mayflower was in the wine trade with France; before that, she was in the fish trade with Norway.  It took the Mayflower 66 days to reach Massachusetts and while traveling to the new world there was one baby born on board the ship.

The Pilgrims landed at Provincetown, MA, at the tip of Cape Cod, on November 11, 1620. Since the land was not good for farming, they moved to Plymouth. To eat, the Pilgrims used a knife, spoon, a large napkin, and fingers…no forks. They also shared plates and drinking vessels.  In the Pilgrim household, the adults sat down to dinner and the children waited on them.

Lobsters, clams, and mussels were considered “hard rations” when the food supply was low. Many Pilgrims thought that lobsters were fit only for pigs!  Now when you come to Provincetown to vacation  or just visit for the great restaurants, those delicious items are considered a must.   Now the turkey was familiar poultry in England since it was brought to Europe 100 years earlier by the Spanish. There were only four married women who survived the first harsh winter from 1620-1621. They supervised the food preparations for the three-day harvest feast for the 50 colonists, Chief Massasoit and the 90 Indians who attended. That event became known as “the first Thanksgiving.”

Pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce were not eaten at the first Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims did eat roast wild fowl such as duck, goose, and turkey; corn meal; cod; sea bass; and venison brought by the Indians.  Now while in Provincetown you can find some of these prepared in a delicious way particularly at the Mews Restaurant or one of my favorites the Red Inn at the end of Commerical Street.

Now to know a bit about the first people that first inhabited Cape Cod, it was the  Wampanoag Indians of southeast Massachusetts who befriended the Pilgrims. Their name means “People of the Dawn” and they continue to live on Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and inland.  Now Provincetown is settled by a very diverse and interesting crowd.  By the 1970s, the town’s long tradition of tolerance and progressive attitude coupled with its beautiful environs and exciting town scene led to the adoption of “P-town” by the gay community.

Today, Provincetown retains many elements of its past, rich heritage while remaining a haven for the arts and alternative communities. The diversity of its population lends itself to an extraordinary blend of small town charm and big city sophistication. This is a town where everyone will feel at home and stay in one of those charming all American Bed and Breakfast such as the well known Revere Guest House.