The Meaning of Thanksgiving

From my report on my recent visits to Plymouth, Massachusetts, in search of the meaning of Thanksgiving:

If you're looking for meaning in the overly sanitized myth that is our national Thanksgiving celebration, a good place to start is southeastern Massachusetts, where nearly 400 years ago that band of hungry, ill-prepared religious zealots tried to colonize the middle of nowhere at the start of winter. I commenced my own journey there, in Plymouth, at the top of an 80-foot waterslide, which would take me from the deck of a replica Mayflower into the cool waters of a shimmering blue pool.

The John Carver Inn, which is just a five-minute walk up from the Plymouth waterfront, is much like other ordinary motels, except that its swimming facility boasts a mural of Plymouth Harbor, that replica of the Mayflower jutting out from a wall, and, in the showcase center of the pool, a hot tub set in a replica of Plymouth Rock. What could be more American than that?

Read the rest here.

My adventure included (pictured from top to bottom) Pilgrim Cove Indoor Theme Pool at the John Carver Inn; the Mayflower II; Plymouth Rock; the waterslide at Pilgrim Cove Indoor Theme Pool; (five photos of) the recreation of 1627 “New Plimoth” at Plimoth Plantation; (three photos of) the “Wampanoag Homesite” at Plimoth Plantation; and (two photos of) the National Monument to the Forefathers. Photos by The New England Journal of Aesthetic Research.