Home / September

A little reason to celebrate

Mayflower Day

History · September 16

Mayflower Day recalls the ship that carried English passengers across the Atlantic to Plymouth, and the voyage that became part of American history.

Mayflower Day falls on Thursday, September 16, 2027. That is 324 days away.

The Mayflower was a wooden sailing ship that carried a group of English passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to the coast of what is now Massachusetts. Some of them, later called the Pilgrims, were religious separatists looking for a place to live by their own beliefs. Others came for work, land or a new start.

Before that voyage, the Mayflower was an ordinary merchant ship that hauled cargo. It was not built for families, and the crossing showed it. Passengers spent weeks in cramped, damp quarters below deck, with rough seas and little privacy. Anyone who has complained about a middle airplane seat might reconsider.

While the ship was still anchored, many of the men aboard signed an agreement now known as the Mayflower Compact. It set out that they would form a civil body and follow laws made for the good of the colony. The settlement they founded became Plymouth Colony.

People mark the day in quiet, curious ways. Some read first-hand accounts of the voyage, such as the writings of William Bradford. Others trace family trees, since many Americans have looked for a Mayflower passenger among their ancestors. Teachers and libraries often use the ship as a way into early colonial life, including the Wampanoag people who already lived on that coast and whose land the settlers arrived on.

In Plymouth, Massachusetts, a full-size reproduction called Mayflower II lets visitors walk the decks and see how small the ship really was.

Ways to celebrate

• Read a passage from William Bradford's account of Plymouth Colony.
• Look up the text of the Mayflower Compact and read it aloud.
• Learn about the Wampanoag people and their history on the Massachusetts coast.
• Check your family tree for links to early colonial settlers.
• Sketch or build a simple model of a seventeenth-style sailing ship.

Dates

All national days on September 16

Also on September 16

• National Guacamole Day
• National Play-Doh Day
• National Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Day
• Collect Rocks Day

Categories: History days