house under construction at Plimoth Plantation Travel back in time to the 1620’s at one of the country’s most popular living history museums: Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, MA!

We’ve all heard the legends of the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock and the first Thanksgiving. Now you can learn the real stories – and so much more – behind one of America’s first settlements. Plimoth Plantation offers an immersive recreation of a 17th-century English Village.

The living history museum recreates 7 and a half months of 1627 every year. The exhibit includes actors portraying historical residents in a painstakingly researched and reconstructed environment. Even the livestock are heritage breeds.

The museum has been in operation since 1947 and includes a colonial village with a fort, water-powered mill, and barns. You can also visit a Wampanoag village and a replica of the Mayflower! Best of all, it’s all just a little over a half-hour’s drive from our Falmouth bed and breakfast, The Captain’s Manor Inn!

Exploring Plimoth

When you visit the 17th-Century English Village at Plimoth Plantation, you’ll feel as if you’ve tumbled through a hole in time. The careful attention to detail and character is completely immersive and truly stunning. You have to experience it to believe it!

The village is filled with modest timber-framed houses and costumed, accented role-players. The homes and many characters you meet represent historical residents of Plymouth Colony. The homes have thatched roofs and include typical furnishings of the time, gardens, and functioning kitchens. Don’t be surprised to discover a pot bubbling away on the fire.

Costumed interpreters act as your intermediary, explaining daily village life and answering any questions you might have. The two story fort guarding the entrance to the village provides an excellent view of the surrounding area and is a great place for a photo.

Barns at the plantation are home to historic breeds of cows, goats, sheep, chickens, and turkeys. In fact, Plimoth Plantation is part of a global effort to save these old and endangered breeds.

Wampanoag Homesite

a Wampanoag wetu at Plimoth PlantationThe plantation is also home to a recreation of a Wampanoag Homesite that was in the area at the time.

The homesite includes traditional “wetu” huts made of wattle and daub. Staff at the Homesite wear traditional Wampanoag dress. They also demonstrate time honored crafts and activities, such as baking cornmeal cakes wrapped in grape leaves in the embers of a fire.

Unlike the actors at the English Village, however, the staff here are are not role-players. Instead, these real indigenous people speak from a modern perspective about their tribe’s history and culture.

The Mayflower II

Mayflower II in Plymouth HarborWhile in the area, you can also visit the Mayflower II, a full-scale reproduction of the ship the Pilgrims sailed to Plymouth in 1620. The Mayflower II was built in Devon, England in the 1950’s. The faithful replica includes solid oak timbers, tarred hemp rigging, and hand-colored maps.

The ship is just a short drive away in Plymouth Harbor, near Pilgrim Memorial State Park. You’ll marvel at how over 100 people managed to live in this tiny space at sea for more than 10 weeks!

The Mayflower II has been away for restoration but will return to Plymouth Harbor in time for the 400th anniversary during Memorial Day Weekend, 2020. Want to attend the return and be one of the first to step aboard the Mayflower’s newly restored decks? Get your tickets now!

Plimoth Plantation

137 Warren Avenue, Plymouth, MA 02360

Open 9am to 5pm seasonally, from mid-March through the end of November. Learn more at the museum website. You can also visit the museum on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.