Wicked Local
On a cold day in February 400 years ago, the men of Plymouth assembled with their arms to prepare for the defense of the colony. Known now as Establishment Day, this important anniversary commemorates the forming of the first militia in New England.
On Saturday, the New Plimmoth Gard brandished its weapons in front of Pilgrim Hall Museum to mark this important moment in history – much the same way it happened four centuries ago. Except for the car alarms, speeding traffic and gawking pedestrians staring at grown men dressed in 17th-century armor, firing muskets and presenting 10-foot pikes.
“The pikes were the weapons that armies of the day used on the plains of Europe,” said Stan Wolman, who portrayed Pilgrim Stephen Hopkins in the recreation of the original military unit. “They were fairly useless in the pine forests of Plymouth.”