Pilgrim Questions and Answers
Q1. Why did the Pilgrims leave England?
Q2. Where did they go first?
Q3. How many ships did the Pilgrims buy for their trip? What were their names?
Q4. How long did the trip last?
Q5. What was the trip like?
Q6. What happened when they got to Plimouth?
Q7. Why didn't the Native Americans help the Pilgrims their first winter?
Q8. Who was Squanto? What did he do?
Q9. What was the name of the feast that the Native Americans and Pilgrims celebrated together?
A1. The Pilgrims left England because they wanted to pray in their own way, but they didn't come to America first.
A2. First they went to Holland. They were a little upset though because they wanted their children to speak English. So they decided to go to America. Since they didn't have money for a ship, they decided to trade with a group of people that did. They decided that they would work for seven years in America and give all of the things they produced to the people that paid for their trip.
A3. They got enough money for two ships. The first ship was called the Speedwell. They took this ship from Holland to England. The second ship they were to pick up in England. This ship was the Mayflower. Unfortunately, the Speedwell was a very old ship and would not be able to hold up to a long trip across the Atlantic, so the Mayflower was the only ship to make the trip to America.
A4. The trip lasted 66 days.
A5. It was not a fun trip. The Mayflower was built to hold cargo. People had to sleep on the hard floor. There wasn't heat and air conditioning like we have. They slept in a very dark area that was either too hot or too cold. Food couldn't be refrigerated and they didn't have supermarkets to get fresh food. They had to eat dry biscuits and meat that was salted. They drank water, but when that went bad they had to drink beer. Even the children drank beer. There weren't any washers and dryers on the ship, so they wore the same clothes over and over. They also didn't have many clothes with them since everything that they were to bring with them had to fit in a small chest. Tools, pots and pans were the most common things to brought.
A6. When they finally sighted land, there was no Holiday Inn to greet them. There was no Home Depot for lumber and Waldbaums for food. They had to get their own lumber from the trees. They had to hunt animals and they would have to grow their own fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, it was fall and too cold to start planting. Many of the Pilgrims got sick. There weren't huge hospitals and lots of doctors and medicines to help a person get better. Many of the Pilgrims died the first winter.
A7. The Native Americans saw the Pilgrims when they arrived. At first they were a little fearful of them. Other people from England had come before this group of Pilgrims and they had spread a disease called Small Pox. Many Native Americans died from it. One Native American named, Squanto had his whole tribe die from Small Pox. Squanto spoke English. He learned it from the English when he was taken as a slave. Later he was allowed to come back to America only to find out that his whole tribe had died from Small Pox. Another Native American tribe let him live with them. So the Native Americans decided to watch from a distance at first.
A8. Then in the Spring, Squanto met with the Pilgrims. He taught them how to plant corn and grow things. He helped them hunt and fish. The Pilgrims had a lot to be thankful for.
A9. In the fall at harvest time the Pilgrims told Squanto to invite the Native Americans to a feast of Thanksgiving. The feast would last for three days. Turkeys, clams, geese, ducks, corn and many more foods were to be shared amongst the Native Americans and Pilgrims.