Plymouth Rock Isn't What You'd Expect

If you are an American over the age of 6, chances are you have a mental image of that moment, in December of 1620, when the Pilgrims stepped ashore in Plymouth: a gray sky, a craggy coast and bone-chilling waters holding the Mayflower in the distance as a huddle of God-fearing voyagers, all with solemn expressions and oversize cockel hats, lasso their sloop to a rock. You can picture it because, every November, the story of the Pilgrims gets puréed with yams and spoon-fed to just about every kindergartner in the country. This is, like most Americans, how I first learned about Plymouth Rock.