Mayflower documentary
Mayflower semi-documentary
“Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower”
Real TV buffs/Plymouth historians are no doubt ahead of me on this, but the History Channel is presenting a very worthwhile program on the Pilgrims and their passage to New England in 1620. I watched the first hour or so a few days ago, and the program will be repeated Thursday, Nov. 23 at 8:00 PM, Friday, Nov. 24 at 12:00 AM, and Sunday, Nov. 26 at 4:00 PM. (Check your local listings for times in your area.) I will be taping the entire show with the aim of boring my grandchildren in a few years.
The first hour or so deals mostly with the origins of the conflicts between the “Pilgrims” and the Church of England under James I, the sojourn in Leiden, etc. The film is a mixture of re-enactments by actors and “talking head” interviews with historians, rather well done. I look forward to watching and re-watching the remaining hours of the program. As TV history for New Englanders I think it ranks up there with the show of some years ago on either the Learning Channel or the History Channel which covered Bradford’s “Of Plymouth Plantation,” possibly even Spencer Tracy in “Northwest Passage.”
As a descendant of William Collier and Constant Southworth of early Duxbury, Mary (Chilton) Winslow, and a step-descendant of Gov. William Bradford – his 2d wife being Alice (Carpenter) Southworth – I may well be prejudiced, but I highly recommend “Desperate Crossing. . . “ during this holiday.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Wade Collier
“Colliers of Massachusetts” genealogy project