”Survival: Boston 1630” Illustrated Lecture

“When you are once parted with England you shall meet neither with taverns, nor alehouse, nor butchers, nor grocers, nor ….”

In the summer of 1630, a thousand Puritans with dwindling supplies of food and medicine stepped off their boats into an uncertain future. During that first year in Massachusetts, "home sweet home” might be a burrow dug into the side of a hill – or if you were lucky, a tent or ramshackle lean-to.  There was no time to plant crops and no supply ships for seven months; food was a meager diet of acorns, nuts, and whatever seafood could be found.  Their welcome to the infamous New England climate was highlighted by the Boston Harbor being frozen solid for two straight months.

Learn about that first, dangerous year of 1630, where half of the original Puritans either died or fled back to England, leaving few survivors to build up the Town of Boston.  This illustrated lecture will immerse you in the world of Boston 1630: the water from one clean spring, the makeshift shelters, the struggle to find food, and the English settlers starting from scratch to gain a foothold in a new land.

Our lecturer, Rose Doherty, is president of The Partnership of the Historic Bostons, Inc., and is the author of Katharine Gibbs: Beyond White Gloves.  This event is an accompaniment to Boston Charter Day 2015.