
FRESH STUFF DAILY
Seacoast New Hampshire
& South Coast Maine
Subscribe To Our Newsletter
|
|
| |
|
|
|
c45
lexapro levitra online cialis 5 mg viagra onlinge viagra usa vicodine viagra for sale levitra online viagara online canada Levitra 10 mg online-cialis cost of cialis viagra sale viagra sale male enhancement pharmac y support group viagra viagra without prescription viagra online canadian pharmacy gnc increase testosterone propecia 5mg canadian viagra cialis 5 mg viagra canada buy viagra canada viagra online no prescription buy clomid
0
|
No Thanks Given to NH Founders
|
|
|
|
Written by J. Dennis Robinson
|
|

MORE TURKEYGATE
The first New Hampshire settler sold fish to the first Pilgrims at Plymouth. It’s a story we’ve been plugging for decades – but is anyone listening? Either way, we’re going to tell it one more time. Here comes the classic Turkeygate satire with 21st century updates. (Continued)
David Thomson Still Gets No Respect
Beyond the misleading myths of Plymouth Rock and Thanksgiving, most Americans know precious little about the Mayflower passengers who settled at Massachusetts in 1620. The Pilgrims left a detailed paper trail, but we still prefer the 19th century vision of pious figures in tall hats and buckled shoes gathered around a long linen-covered table eating pumpkin pie and cranberry sauce. That never happened, but it makes us feel good. Picture instead a more secular celebration early in October with dancing and beer, with twice as many Indians as settlers in a fragile truce, dining without silverware on venison, seafood, and migrating birds. Those who can handle the truth should read the superb book Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick.
New Hampshire residents know even less about our founders. We have no symbolic rock, no holiday, no historical paintings or reconstructed tourist village. We are largely clueless about David and Amais Thomson, who settled at what is now Odiorne State Park in Rye three years later in 1623. We know they came to fish with up to 10 other men. We know they brought their son John and left their daughter behind, never to see her again. We know the Thomsons lived in a fortified house at what they called Pannaway and that they were promised a large parcel of land at what is now Thomson Island in Boston Harbor. Within a very few years, David mysteriously disappeared and Amais moved to Massachusetts and remarried. Then a much larger group arrived at Strawbery Banke in 1630 and started over.
I always think about the Thomsons at Thanksgiving. I have been doing that for 30 years now, since I stumbled upon David Thomson’s connection to the Pilgrims of Plymouth while killing time in the library stacks. Back then I wrote an energetic satire about Thomson. Nixon had recently been driven from office, so I entitled the essay "Turkeygate: A 400-Year Scandal." It was a satire, but I half-hoped it would rile local citizens to action when it appeared in the now-defunct NH Profiles magazine. But alas, Thomson still languishes in obscurity, little more than a footnote to fourth-grade history with only a battered stone memorial in Rye to his name.
Reprinted here, for those of you who missed it, is the ranting of a young and hopeful historian from three decades ago. Perhaps the message still has merit. So rise up, ye jaded Granite Staters! Rise up and take back Thanksgiving!
GO TO TURKEYGATE SCANDAL NOW
|
Please visit these SeacoastNH.com ad partners.
Portsmouth Herald
|
Portsmouth Herald Latest Headlines
|
| Portsmouth Herald News from SeacoastOnline.com |
-
Memorial Bridge re-opens
PORTSMOUTH — The Memorial Bridge reopened ahead of schedule on Friday following a month of repairs that forced drivers to seek alternative routes between the city and Kittery, Maine.
-
Driver inattention caused 3-car crash, say police
PORTSMOUTH - A three-car chain-reaction crash snarled lunch hour traffic on Woodbury Avenue Friday and sent a Maine man to Portsmouth Regional Hospital.
-
City police 'did all the right things' with man on bridge
PORTSMOUTH — When two city police officers talked a suicidal man off the High Level Bridge Wednesday morning by promising him a burger, a warm place to go and undivided...
-
and#8216;Lost' to premiere on Groundhog Day! Coincidence?
Now we know when the sixth and final season of “Lost” will begin. According to the ABC press release, the show will debut on Tuesday, February 2. The...
-
Portsmouth police log
8:50 a.m. Report taken about a suspicious male who approached a child in Hannafords.
-
Owner: Cigarettes stolen during Seacoast Variety break-in
PORTSMOUTH — Police were called to the Seacoast Variety store early Friday morning when a witness reported the front door was smashed, and according to store owner Joseph Goulis, $200...
-
Go and Do: Festival of Trees in Portsmouth
-
Say hello to Josie
Josie is a domestic long haired, 2½ year old, spayed and microchipped female. She has been good with children and other cats, but the staff members at the N.H. Society...
-
Movie review: 'Twilight' gets 3 stars
"The Twilight Saga: New Moon," also known as "Twilight: The Squeakquel," is actually pretty good — a tick better than the first "Twilight," which wasn't bad either. These are hardly...
-
The Truth about Dating: Do you have a dating addiction?
Everywhere I turn on television these days I see Dr. Drew Pinsky popping up discussing one type of addiction or another.
-
FairPoint says it's on rebound
PORTSMOUTH — FairPoint Communications remains an aggressive competitor in the telecommunications industry, despite filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, a company official told members of the Portsmouth Rotary...
-
Eliot mother wants to be 'Biggest Loser'
ELIOT, Maine — Angela Boyle is pretty and vivacious with a self-deprecating sense of humor, a mother of four, a wife, an income tax preparer, a six-year resident of Eliot...
-
City paying 1 percent for art
PORTSMOUTH — Less than a month after unveiling the "Vigilance" sculpture at Fire Station One, the city will move forward with plans for a new piece of public art at...
-
School officials, police lock down York High
YORK, Maine — School officials and police instituted a lockdown at York High School for less than 30 minutes Thursday morning after a student was allegedly seen armed with a...
-
'Twilight' fans stay up all night for 'New Moon'
NEWINGTON — Kellie Bradley, 17, saw the first "Twilight" film 18 times.
-
'Heart of Portsmouth' auction begins
PORTSMOUTH — The online auction to raise money to help Amy DeStefano as she awaits a heart transplant begins at 8 a.m. today.
-
'Tramp' and killing comment lands man in court
PORTSMOUTH — It was New Year's Eve 2008 when "Bernie" Molloy called the manager of his apartment complex "a tramp of the highest order," leading to his arrest on a...
-
Check progress of Winnicut River work online
GREENLAND — Residents can follow the progress of the Winnicut River restoration with an on-site Web cam that has recorded the work in time lapse photography.
-
Service Credit Union donates 50 turkeys to Portsmouth Salvation Army
PORTSMOUTH — Michele Saccoccia, Aimee Sundstrom and Carolyn Richard leaned over a gray tarp in their bright red Service Credit Union fleece pullovers as they placed on the floor a...
-
Fifth man linked to Mont Vernon burglary killing is charged
NASHUA — A Hollis man was arraigned Thursday on a charge that he helped dispose of evidence from the killing of a Mont Vernon woman last month and an attack...
|
|
|
|
|
| Friday, November 20, 2009 |
|
|
|