HARWICH claim the Mayflower.
Essex is launching an attempt to re-claim the history of the Mayflower and attract American tourists by opening the captain's house to the public.
The Mayflower landed in the New World in 1620 having left Plymouth Devon, with the Pilgrim Fathers on board, but the ship was registered in Harwich. Essex. where Christopher Jones, the man who led the journey, was born. The voyage is commonly associated with Plymouth after its landing site in the US was named Plymouth Rock, and later developed into the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
But David Whittle, the vice-chairman of the Harwich Society history group, said "people in America don't know about Harwich" and that visitors were "absolutely astounded" when told. The ship had only stopped in Plymouth by chance after an accompanying vessel sprang a leak, he said.
Now, Tendring district council, which administers Harwich, wants to "re-cement" its links with the Mayflower to mark the 400th anniversary.
The authority has restored the house where Jones lived before his death in 1622, and it will open next year. Mike Carran, the council's head of sport and leisure, said " If Harwich has been lost out of the story to some degree in the US, this is the opportunity to re-cement those links."
The Mayflower arrived in the US in November 1620. The first person ashore was John Alden, a cooper from Harwich whose descendants are said to include Marilyn Monroe and Dick Van Dyke.
A new visitors centre is being created in Harwich and images were projected on to Captain Jones's house yesterday as part of a Mayflower 400 event called Illuminate, Involving locations connected to the voyage.
More than 30 million people can trace their ancestry to the 102 passengers and about 30 crew of the ship, according to the Mayflower 400 website.
Earlier this year, Plymouth faced another rival claim after John Chapman, a retired poliseman, suggested the journey began from Newlyn in Cornwall.
Daily Telegraph...Saturday...30-11-2019.
ALSO......
Posters for ferries used to proclaim, "Harwich for the Continent", But Harwich has a claim on a whole new continent, for a ship registered here took the Pilgrim Fathers to their colony at Plymouth on the New England coast. Harwich-folk proudly show off the house of Christopher Jones, Mayflowers captain, and declare that Plymouth (Massachusetts) should have been called Harwich. After all, most of the Puritan separatists came from the East of England and went to Holland for a bit. like the travellers in the LNER ferries displayed on the poster. Mayflower only put in on the Devon coast because her sister ship Speedwell (a veteran of Armada days) sprang a leak. Mayflower's captain returned and is buried in Rotherhithe. where the Mayflower pub shows off the ship's mooring place. For pilgrims from America, Harwich has a rival.
Daily Telegraph..Editorial Comment...Saturday...30-11-2019.
Oh dear.....do we need to re-names the Mayflower Grandstand.....and call ourselves something other than Pilgrims ?