The World of Plymouth Plantation

244 Pages·2020·2.862 MB·English

by  Carla Gardina Pestana

The World of Plymouth Plantation

THE WORLD OF
PLYMOUTH PLANTATION
Carla Gardina Pestana

THE BELKNAP PRESS OF

HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS

CAMBRIDGE, MASS A CHUS ETTS
LONDON, ENGLAND

2020
Copyright © 2020 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of Amer i ca
First printing
Cover design: Sam Potts
9780674250802 (EPUB)
9780674250819 (MOBI)
9780674250826 (PDF)
Maps copyright © 2020 by Carla Gardina Pestana
The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Names: Pestana, Carla Gardina, author.
Title: The world of Plymouth Plantation / Carla Gardina Pestana.
Description: Cambridge, Mas sa chu setts : The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020003452 | ISBN 9780674238510 (cloth)
Subjects: LCSH: Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony) | Mas sa chu setts—
History— New Plymouth, 1620–1691. | Mas sa chu setts— Social life and customs—
To 1775. | Mas sa chu setts— Relations.
Classification: LCC F68 .P395 2020 | DDC 974.4/02— dc23
LC rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2020003452
To my history teachers, beginning with Ruby Marquis
at Ranchito Elementary and culminating in Gary Nash
and Joyce Appleby at UCLA.

CONTENTS
AUTHOR’S Note ix
Introduction 1
1. looking ahead 13
Wives 15
Plantation 28
Guns 37
2. bringing along 45
Transients 47
Refuge 59

Animals 68

3. meeting and exchanging 75
Traders 77
God 86

Tobacco 95
CONTENTS
4. settling in 103
Escapees 105
A New England 114
Stockings 124
5. creating a community 133
Servants 135
Separatism 147
Furs 157
6. connecting to the wider world 165
Privateers 167
Kingship 175
Books 183
Conclusion 193
abbreviations 205

notes 209

acknowl edgments 221
illustration credits 223

index 225

viii
AUTHOR’S NOTE
Quotations from original sources have been silently modernized.
Names of p eople and places generally reflect usage in the original
sources. Dates have been treated as if the new year began on 1 January
instead of 25 March, the date the En glish considered the start of the
new year in the 1600s.