KG around the cape summer 2021 - Flipbook - Page 134
A ROUND THE SOUTH SHOR E
Arts
Plymouth Center for the Arts is located on North Street in the historic Russell Library. In addition
to its annual art show, it offers classes and workshops throughout the year. Greater Plymouth
Performing Arts Center is a nonprofit aimed at fueling the local creative economy, especially for
performing arts. The organization owns the Spire, which is in a restored church and hosts small
concerts (225 seats) throughout the year.
Culture
Plimoth Plantation is a living museum of seventeenth century villages. In the English village,
live actors play the roles of the pilgrims and explain the day-to-day lives of the first settlers and
what it took to survive the first few years. In the Wampanoag Homesite, visitors learn from native
people—some Wampanoag or other native nations—who talk to visitors about life on the coast
during growing season in the 1600s. In addition to the plantation, there are a variety of historic
homes around Plymouth, including Richard Sparrow House, which was built in 1640 and is now a
museum. Jabez Howland House was also built in the 1600s and was occupied by passengers of
the Mayflower.
Education
Plymouth has eight elementary schools including Cold Spring, Federal Furnace, Hedge, Indian
Brook, Manomet, Nathaniel Morton, South, and West. From there, depending on which district
they live in, students go to one of two public middle schools—Plymouth South Middle or Plymouth
Community Intermediate—and one of two public high schools—Plymouth North High and Plymouth
South High. Plymouth Harbor Academy offers alternative education through a high school diploma
program. The town also has a preschool that enrolls up to 200 children each year.
History
Before the Pilgrims came ashore, Plymouth was the site of a Wampanoag village called Patuxet.
In 1614 and 1617, two deadly plagues swept through the area killing 90-95 percent of the
Wampanoags. When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they found a number of cleared areas as well
as cornfields to occupy. Plymouth is the site of the First Thanksgiving, which occurred between
members of the Wampanoag and the first settlers to celebrate their first year of harvest in 1621.
At White Horse Beach, a rock juts out of the
water with an American flag painted on it. The
flag was painted by a few young men who
eventually joined the armed forces to fight in
World War I. Today, the annual repainting of the
flag has become a local tradition.
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