Hello everyone, I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving from Plymouth, Massachusetts. Althought it is not an inquiry, I wanted to fill you in on a genealogy and history vacation I am taking, because it is a good experience and I encourage others to experience leaving the internet at times and experiencing the history and location of your ancestors. I have researched various Plymouth, Mass lines including Mayflower lines for years, and have for years wanted to spend Thanksgiving in Plymouth, and this year I decided to do it. We arrived Saturday in Plymouth. The weekend before Thanksgiving there was a parade on Saturday, but the high point was that on Saturday and Sunday four old homes from the 1600's, one lived in by a Pilgrim, were open for tours The homes are small and very spartan, and people inside dressed like Pilgrims andtalked about the daily life of the Pilgrims, and cooked food like the Pilgrims ate, and played old musical instruments and sang old songs from the 1600's. There is also a full size replica of the Mayflower, there is Plymouth Rock, and a wax museum describing the story of the Pilgrims, the Pilgrim Museum, a lantern tour at night of Plymouth and several monuments that tell the story of the various events. A highlight is Plimoth Plantation. It is a history theme park in which the original 1620 Plymouth Village is recreated and people dress as Pilgrims. Each has taken on the name of a Pilgrim, or wife or child, and they talk like the Pilgrims did and tell you about the life, beliefs,chores etc. They talk like they lived in 1620 and if you try to talk about anything modern they can not understand you. They are farming, cooking, making shoes, sawing wood, cleaning their guns, washing clothes, doing all the chores and jobs the Pilgrims did. The houses are small houses with thatched roofs like they were the first years. You ask questions about anything, and they have researched the person and the times and tell you about things, and it is really great. Tomorrow there is a Pilgrim parade in town to many of the historic spots, and the old homes are open again. We plan to go back to Plimoth Plantation in the afternoon. We have also done genealogy research at Plymouth Library, and at other town halls and libraries. Today (Wednesday) we took a side trip to a small country cemetary ten miles from Plymouth and located the graves of my great-great grandfather and great-great grandmother who died in 1881 and 1884 , and in another cemetary found the tombstones of my 4g grandfather who died in 1823 and 5 g grandfather who died in 1794. (Incidentally, let me say that if you do visit cemetaries I would recommend that if possible you attempt to contact the person in charge of the records before you arrive to get a map of the cemetary. Many of the very old tombstones are so eroded they are barely legible or totally illegible.) In any event, Thanksgiving in Plymouth has been a great experience. It would be fun to come here any time of year, but at Thanksgiving it is especially meaningful. Of course it is traditional to spendThanksgiving with family, but if you ever do decide to travel over Thanksgiving, I fully recommend a trip to Plymouth, or to any spot your ancestors lived, to get a real feel of their life and times and history. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone from Plymouth! Rich