When the Pilgrims stepped onto the windswept shores of Cape Cod Bay in the cold and forbidding December of 1620, they encountered a landscape that bore the traces of 12,000 years of native settlement. They traveled across the outer Cape on well-worn paths that were etched indelibly into the sandy landscape. At clearings in the thick woodland, they discovered fields and gardens, covered with the stubble of the recent harvest. Near one of these fields, they dug into storage pits and took away the corn that they found there. This was the homeland of the Wampanoag people. Later that Spring, after settling at Patuxet (Plymouth), Squanto approached the Pilgrims and began to share with them knowledge of both the plants and the planting practices that had provided successful gardens for hundreds of years. How did the English incorporate Wampanoag practices into their own farming tradition, and in the end, what was the result? And, in turn, what English tools, technologies, and seeds were sought by the Wampanoag and how did that affect their traditional farming practices?

Plimoth Patuxet will hold an online Cocktails & Conversations session on July 9 at 7 pm on this topic, and you may sign up (members $5, nonmembers $10) at www.plimoth.org. For more information email ccoleman@plimoth.org