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Welcome
On a New England road trip a few summers ago, I visited Plymouth Rock. The boulder’s surface was only five feet square, with a badly mended cleft in the middle. It looked like a fossilized potato. A park ranger told me that tourists often heaped scorn on the sacred stone. They also asked odd questions. Was it true the Mayflower crashed into the Rock? Did the Pilgrims serve Thanksgiving on top of it?
 “Or they ask, ‘Is this where the three ships landed?’” the ranger said. “They mean the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. People think Columbus dropped off the Pilgrims and sailed home.”
She had to patiently explain that Columbus’s landing and the Pilgrims’ arrival occurred a thousand miles and 128 years apart. “Americans learn about 1492 and 1620 as kids, and that’s all they remember as adults,” she said. “The rest of the story is blank.” read more
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