Stories from the Mayflower at the Library
Submitted by Peter Nicolas
What a marvelous presentation by Patricia Wells, on Monday, November 13, to a packed house at the Florham Park Library! If we had lowered the ceiling to 5 feet it would have given an impression of how just how crowded the Pilgrims felt in sailing over, as they basically sat in place for 66 days!
Ms. Wells is the vice president of the Chatham Township Historical Society, and an amateur historian, researcher and speaker. She is also a descendant of two of the Pilgrims who came over on the Mayflower. Indeed, the evening audience included two others who had ancestors on the ship.
Pat’s interactive style of presentation of having the audience rate the various situations the Pilgrims face helped keep everyone involved during the presentation in addition to the facts she shared that students may not have heard while attending elementary school.
She shared, for example, that the second half of the voyage was very rough and thus it took 66 days to make the trip and landing at “Plymouth Rock” was not their original destination. That the Mayflower was actually a merchant ship meant to deliver cargo, not people. So just imagine the arrangements for the 102 passengers, including three pregnant women jammed together. She shared a variety of reasons why the Pilgrims were not prepared for the first winter when more than half died from the bitter cold, late departure and a longer than planned trip being just two reasons.
For the younger readers of this article, it may be interesting to note that actress Tamera Mowry-Housley. (Tia & Tamera, The Real, and Home & Family) is a Mayflower descendant. Coincidentally, a PBS Special – “Finding Your Roots” was broadcast on Sunday and I saw that she was completely surprised to learn that, per Peter Nicolas, vice president of the Historical Society of Florham Park.
For anyone interested in learning more about the Mayflower, here are a few recommendations from Patricia Wells: Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, Nathaniel Philbrick; Of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford (archive.org); Caleb Johnson’s MayflowerHistory.com; American Ancestors by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, americanancestors.org
The Historical Society of Florham Park was founded in the 1930s to save and preserve the Little Red Schoolhouse. Located on the corner of Columbia Turnpike and Ridgedale Avenue the former schoolhouse was converted into a museum and is the symbol of Florham Park. Virtually all the artifacts in the museum were donated to and are the responsibility of the Historical Society. The Historical Society looks forward to once again opening the museum up again in 2024 on the first Sunday of each month to offer tours of the museum.
