Footsteps

[fbhjr]

I’ve been thinking about the trip my wife and I took last Saturday all
week.  I’ve been trying to write something about it, but it hasn’t come out
right.  This version is the closest of my many rough drafts to what I was
thinking:


One of the things that I both liked and thought was weird about the trip my
wife and I took out to the end of the cape last weekend was it was to
places where my family had been hundreds of years before.
It is interesting, to me anyhow, to stand where my family stood and imagine
what it would have been like back then.
It was funny at the Pilgrim museum when someone asked “why did they leave
here and go to Plymouth”.
“This is a sand dune,” the woman working there said.  “Crops don’t grow
well.  There’s almost no fresh water.  Few animals lived here so they
couldn’t hunt, and they weren’t good at fishing.”
I found it funny because that was almost exactly what I had been thinking
looking at the place.

It was also interesting boating into Boston harbor.  I’ve sailed around the
harbor many times, but this is the first time coming in from somewhere
else.  It is interesting to me picturing the differences from 382 years ago.

This is certainly not ancestor worship on my part.  If anything I find what
they did and how they acted terribly disappointing and embarrassing.  In
college my humanities requirements were done on early colonial history of
Massachusetts, so I’ve read some stuff they did that isn’t in the popular
versions of the stories.
It was a dozen or more generations ago.  So, I’m not saying I feel guilty
about it.  That’s not the right word for how I feel about it.
But, I wish they had acted in a way that I could feel proud about, and I
don’t.

To some extent it is like when I go to the town in Vermont where my father
grew up.  His family had been there a while before him.
Or, going to where his mother grew up in Troy NY.
Or where my mother’s mother’s family came from in Ireland.

It is interesting, to me, to stand in the places my ancestors stood and
look around.
But, exactly why I don’t seem to be able to explain.

Comments

Mayflower

[evrgreen.livejournal.com]

If you haven't already read Nathaniel Philbrick's book, "Mayflower", it has very good coverage of the Pilgrim's journey, arrival, and events which eventually led up to the revolutionary war. I'd certainly recommend it, especially for a history buff. If you haven't read it and prefer a "real" book, I can loan you my copy next time we meet.

I sort of know how you feel about historical/ancestral places. For many years I have wanted to visit France and visit the places from where my family came. There are also several castles in various parts (generally all northern) of France that carry our family surname, before it was adulterated in Canada (originally, Fougeres) and even a town/villages with our family name. someday, I hope to go for an in-depth trip.