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Published on 11/16/1998 All articles from this issue

A Los Altos pilgrim at Plimoth Plantation

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By Jessica Files

Special to the Town Crier

No Thanksgiving feast there in 1627

"California? Oh, yes, I've heard of that island!"

When I'm working at Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts, I cannot tell the museum's visitors that I grew up in Los Altos, or that my name is Jessica Files. I am playing the part of Patience Prence, a colonist in 1627 New Plymouth.

Within the Plimoth Plantation museum's reconstruction of the village of early Plymouth, I wear 17th-century-style clothing, speak with an old-fashioned English regional dialect, and feign ignorance about events past the year 1627.

Every day from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., I and my fellow "pilgrims" go about replicating the tasks of 17th-century life. We tell visitors that the Mayflower landed here seven years ago, that this land belongs to King Charles, that we bathe only occasionally in the town brook, and that California is an island discovered some time ago by Sir Francis Drake.

You could say that I've become a professional liar, but I call myself a history educator. This past April, I went through a week of intensive training so that I would be prepared to play the role of Patience Prence. My supervisor drilled me in an appropriate English dialect, I memorized the known details of the Prence family history, and I read extensively about 17th-century religion, customs, and social structure.

Once I started performing in the 1627 village, I got more instruction in psalm-singing, gardening and open-hearth cooking; in the process I discovered that boiled codfish heads can be tasty and that plucking the feathers off a duck is fun.

I have also learned that there are many misconceptions about the Pilgrims. For example, Thanksgiving was not celebrated annually by most Americans until the late 19th century, more than 200 years after 1621, the year that the English colonists feasted in celebration of their first successful maize crop in New Plymouth.

If you visit Plimoth Plantation on Thanksgiving Day this year, you will find the village bustling with activity. Every "pilgrim" is required to work 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on that holiday. The colonists will not be celebrating, however, because there is no record that any harvest feast occurred in Plymouth in 1627, the year that the village represents.

Ask the "pilgrims" why they aren't partying, and some might act shocked, telling you that regular yearly feasting is an "idolatrous and popish" custom that they had left behind in England.

Don't get too close, though. You might smell pumpkin pie on that "pilgrim's" breath. The Plantation staff aims to represent history accurately, but they do not wish to deprive themselves of a traditional Thanksgiving feast. That day the "pilgrims" leave the village for extended lunch breaks in the staff lounge, where they indulge in a grand potluck including roasted turkey and all the trimmings.

This job is demanding. For one thing, it isn't always comfortable to be covered head to toe, wearing a corset and several layers of wool clothing. In the oppressive humidity of New England this August, I was wishing that I could carry out my occupation in temperate Santa Clara County. But for the moment I'm willing to deal with a less than ideal climate and to be far from my family back on "that isle of California," for the chance to make a "pilgrimage" to New England.

Plimoth Plantation is open every day April through November, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call (508) 746-1622.

Jessica Files grew up in Los Altos, where she attended Los Altos High School and enjoyed performing with the Los Altos Youth Theatre.

She credits two Los Altos history teachers - Linda Lyons at Egan Intermediate School and David Squellati at Los Altos High School - for teaching her that history "can be exciting and engaging."

She graduated with honors in history from Williams College, Mass., in June 1997.

After Plimoth Plantation closes next Sunday for the season, Files will be returning to Los Altos to spend the holidays with her family.