JohnDB
Platinum Member
- Jun 16, 2021
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The pilgrims...AKA missionaries came to prostlytize the indigenous people of America...
Between the guerrilla warfare existing between the various denominations in Europe over a "holier than thou" contests and the relative freedoms that would exist here they were all for it....
Until it came time to face the reality of hard hard work and the hardships they would face. Some people never actually left the ship the whole time it was docked here.
Many were unaccustomed to the hard life farming really is...they also barely got a few communal shelters built. Most died from starvation and sickness. They also discovered caches of peas and other foodstuffs the natives would store in various places.
Pilgrim's were also unaccustomed to drinking water...and only did so as a last resort. In Europe fecal contamination from latrines had contaminated all the Wells and so for hundreds of years nobody really drank pure water. They drank beer or wine...wine was really expensive so most people just drank beer/ale...or milk if they could get it.
One of the first things they did was set up the brewery so they could have something to drink.
When finally desperate they learned to watch how the natives farmed and instead of communal farms each person was allotted their own parcel of land to ",live or die" by. They not only built their own homes but they also brought in a bumper crop of food. They all had so much surplus they invited the natives to share a feast lasting a week...they had hunting parties and brought the game to the feast as well. They hunted venison and wild turkeys and likely any rabbits as well. Probably a few fish as well.
They had lots of beer and didn't understand that they were giving these people measles and chicken pox. They wanted to be missionaries. Of course alcoholic Beverages for native American and the diseases was sure to kill them. Natives at that time were nomadic...or more like "snowbirds" that move between Florida and New Jersey depending on the season.
Nothing went as planned. The communal lifestyle they invisioned didn't work out. Plymouth Rock wasn't even the first group of settlers...they were the second. Plymouth Rock just was the one that survived.
Between the guerrilla warfare existing between the various denominations in Europe over a "holier than thou" contests and the relative freedoms that would exist here they were all for it....
Until it came time to face the reality of hard hard work and the hardships they would face. Some people never actually left the ship the whole time it was docked here.
Many were unaccustomed to the hard life farming really is...they also barely got a few communal shelters built. Most died from starvation and sickness. They also discovered caches of peas and other foodstuffs the natives would store in various places.
Pilgrim's were also unaccustomed to drinking water...and only did so as a last resort. In Europe fecal contamination from latrines had contaminated all the Wells and so for hundreds of years nobody really drank pure water. They drank beer or wine...wine was really expensive so most people just drank beer/ale...or milk if they could get it.
One of the first things they did was set up the brewery so they could have something to drink.
When finally desperate they learned to watch how the natives farmed and instead of communal farms each person was allotted their own parcel of land to ",live or die" by. They not only built their own homes but they also brought in a bumper crop of food. They all had so much surplus they invited the natives to share a feast lasting a week...they had hunting parties and brought the game to the feast as well. They hunted venison and wild turkeys and likely any rabbits as well. Probably a few fish as well.
They had lots of beer and didn't understand that they were giving these people measles and chicken pox. They wanted to be missionaries. Of course alcoholic Beverages for native American and the diseases was sure to kill them. Natives at that time were nomadic...or more like "snowbirds" that move between Florida and New Jersey depending on the season.
Nothing went as planned. The communal lifestyle they invisioned didn't work out. Plymouth Rock wasn't even the first group of settlers...they were the second. Plymouth Rock just was the one that survived.