Happy Mayflower Voyage Anniversary! This Sunday, September 6, 2020, marks the 400th anniversary of the third and final attempt by Master Christopher Jones to sail the Mayflower from England to New England. I suspect if Master Jones had known what was in store for him, his crew, and the 102 passengers, he’d have declined the honor. Jones and his crew sailed the wooden cargo ship Mayflower from London to Southampton in July. He’d probably navigated that […]
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Leiden and the Future Pilgrims
Today Leiden in the Netherlands is a delightful city of about 125,000. The center city is much as it was hundreds of years ago, but easily reached today by modern bus service. In 1609 the Scrooby Separatists religious refugees relocated there from Amsterdam. At that time Leiden was a significant industrial community of around 15,000 and growing. By 1650 the town had grown to a city 55,000. Though I grew up knowing our family tree […]
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Amsterdam Refugees
When the Scrooby Pilgrims’ 1607 first attempt to immigrate to the Lowlands failed, they returned to Scrooby and organized for another attempt. Their 1608 efforts resulted in successfully becoming the Amsterdam refugees. It was a mixed blessing. No longer must they worry about searchers and enforces rounding them up and handing them over to authorities. Instead they had to worry about where they would live and how they could support themselves in a bustling city, […]
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Twelve Generations After the Mayflower
I met Beth Splaine last summer at the writer’s retreat where I was working on Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures. Each evening we read portions of our work, so she was aware of my efforts to retell this famous story as a historical novel, with special emphasis on the perspective of the Natives and women. As a result of that event, I signed a contract with Green Writers Press to publish the book. […]
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Mayflower Chronicles – The Tale of Two Cultures
This month I signed a contract with Green Writers Press in Vermont to publish a book that has taken seven years, three trips to Europe, and multiple trips to New England to write. Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures is a historical fiction account of the very real men, women, children, crew, and two dogs that sailed from Plymouth, England to what became Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620. It is also the story of the Natives […]
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