Photo of the Mayflower replica in Boston, MA.
Only about half the folks that came over to the U.S. from Leiden on the Mayflower were actually puritans. the other half were composed of "others" who were not. The puritans had fled to Amsterdam from England due to their interpretation of the bible. Essentially the puritans felt that the only sanctioned religious practices were those that were spoken of in the bible. If it wasn't in the bible, then it wasn't "religious". such ideas meant that the puritans rejected King James, Bishops, Cardinals, church rituals, the Pope, communion, confession, etc, etc, etc. Pretty radical from a modern "traditional" perspective. Yet, beautiful and simple. it's easy to see how the ideas of the puritans was in it's own, quaint way, compelling, and on another level, spiritually necessary, for if one were truly desirous of living in the ways of God, rejecting the modern post-biblical ceremonies and rites, could possibly endanger one's salvation.
The puritans also believed in a type of spiritual determinism, meaning, that those who would be accepted onto heaven had already been determined in line with God's all knowing will. Yet, for individuals, they could not know if they were to be accepted, yet, through their actions demonstrations of faith, and lack of divergence from that which is holy, it could be divined, who was or was not living within Gods will.
The escape to Amsterdam from England was good preparation for the puritans, in that it taught them how to rely on themselves, and live within a new and different culture... albeit miles away and completely dissimilar from what they would come to experience in Plymouth.
The trip to the U.S. was laborious and took about 4-5 weeks longer than expected, and roughly a third of the passengers and crew perished on the voyage. heading against the current and prevailing winds, the Mayflower averaged roughly 2 miles an hour for the voyage across. (the return voyage by contrast took less than half as long). Seeing as the voyage took place prior to any reliable way of determining longitude, journeys of this sort were largely based on faith. In short, no one ever really knew how long a voyage would take.
What was known about the Americas was that there was a colony in Virginia. Indeed the "pilgrims" were granted a "patent" to establish a community in the area known as Virginia. yet, when they made their way to the curling arm of outer Massachusetts, their supplies were dangerously low, it was near winter and the crew and passengers were in such a state that it was thought best to not continue on a largely uncharted coast to Virginia.
Of curious note, John Smith of Pocahontas fame, had actively bid to be the main military officer and guide for the pilgrims, but the Pilgrims thought better of it. Their thinking was that if they chose Smith over Miles Standish, then they would be at a disadvantage, seeing as Smith would wield the power of knowledge over them and thus, they would be robbed somewhat of their ability to make decisions that were best for them. Knowledge is power, as the adage goes, so they did not want to give that power to Smith.
Once the pilgrims landed, they had to quickly go about foraging for food, building some settlements and figuring out how they were going to survive the winter. They sent a few parties out to check out the surrounding area. They saw a few natives and took off after a group of natives and followed them for several miles until they found a settlement with fresh mounds of earth. They dug into the mounds and found several bushels of corn which would serve as their primary seed for the next spring (if they survived). they headed back to the Mayflower with the corn and observed evidence of large uninhabited settlements. Unknown to the pilgrims, from 1616 until their arrival, native populations on the coast had been decimated by disease, most likely brought to them by English and French traders and fishermen. By some counts, some native tribes had been reduced by 90% or more.
Somehow, the pilgrims survived the winter, which to their benefit was an unusually mild New England winter. They soon made acquaintance with a native American named "Squanto" who had been abducted several years prior and had traveled to England, Spain and Italy before returning. Squanto served as the interpreter for Massasoit, who was the chief Sachem (leader) for the area. Soon a "treaty" was signed and the Pilgrims found themselves as a key political entity among the tribes, and the next fall, there was the famous, "First Thanksgiving".
Other interesting notes:
1. The corn found by the pilgrims, although buried, was perfectly usable. In fact, properly dried corn remains viable for thousands of years.
2. The natives showed the pilgrims how to plant corn and peas. Most of their seed didn't work in the soil seeing as it had been overworked for hundreds, if not thousands of generations. True to popular legend, the natives would place their seed in a rounded mound along with a herring to fertilize it. then on the lower part of the mound they would plant beans. as the corn stalk grew, the beans would attach to the stalk, thus protecting the roots from the sun and dehydration.
3. On one exploration from Plymouth, the pilgrims found what would become Boston. The site sat on a convergence of three rivers, on an easily defended hill. The rivers provided easy access to the Massachusetts interior and the rich fur trade. After having struggled to make their home in Plymouth, the pilgrims decided not to relocate to the "Boston" area
4. There were many native "roads" in existence at the time. at intervals along the road, there were circular pits to the side of the road about a foot deep. Each pit had a story of something that had occurred their in the past. In this way, the native traditions, culture and history was passed on. The importance of these story pits grew even more significant in the years immediately prior to the arrival of the pilgrims, in that up to 90% of the native population was decimated.
5. The shape of the Mayflower was remarkably sound on the seas! in the 20th century, a replica of the Mayflower was built and sailed along the same route as the original. in the midst of the journey, a violent storm kicked up, such that the sails had to be brought down and the Mayflower was allowed to "lean to" through the storm. This is a maneuver whereby the ship is essentially left to the mercy of the sea. Although the modern day "Mayflower" was nervous about the move, he found that the shape of the ship allowed it to easily ride the tumultuous waves like a duck in a windswept lake. In fact, the Captain and crew reported that besides the waves, the ship seemed to be even more stable during the storm.
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