{"id":93673,"date":"2023-08-08T11:04:43","date_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:04:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=93673"},"modified":"2025-09-26T09:36:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T13:36:00","slug":"300th-anniversary-celebration-of-new-englands-winthrop-fleet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/300th-anniversary-celebration-of-new-englands-winthrop-fleet.html","title":{"rendered":"300th Anniversary Celebration of New England\u2019s \u2018Winthrop Fleet\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about Salem\u2019s 300th<\/sup> anniversary celebration of the arrival of the Winthrop Fleet in 1630, in the early stages of the Puritan\u2019s Great Migration to New England. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives<\/a>, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

In 1930 Salem, Massachusetts, celebrated the 300th<\/sup> anniversary of the coming of the Great Migration of Puritans to New England.<\/p>\n

The \u201cWinthrop Fleet,\u201d a group of 11 ships sailing under the leadership of John Winthrop and funded by the Massachusetts Bay Colony, sailed from England\u2019s Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, to Massachusetts Bay, departing in April 1630 and arriving in Salem Harbor June 12. The Arbella<\/em> was the flagship of the Winthrop Fleet.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: the replica \u201cArbella.\u201d Credit: from the Yankee Publishing Collection. Courtesy of Historic New England and Digital Commonwealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Boston Herald<\/em> covered the events of the tercentenary celebration, which extended into the whole week offering bright pageantry.<\/p>\n

A reproduction of the Winthrop Fleet\u2019s flagship Arbella<\/em> (aka Arabella<\/em>) \u2013 named for passenger Lady Arbella Johnson, one of the first to arrive in 1630 \u2013 would once again sail into Salem Harbor with a triumphal reenactment.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: reenactors onboard the \u201cArbella\u201d point to their destination, Salem Harbor, on 12 June 1930. Credit: from the Yankee Publishing Collection. Courtesy of Historic New England and Digital Commonwealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Boston Herald<\/em> covered the Salem tercentenary celebration.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 9 June 1930, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This photo caption read:<\/p>\n

First view of completed reproduction of the Arbella, ready to sail into Salem and Boston harbors. The vessel is the old Maine schooner Lavolta, transformed for the Salem celebration, June 12.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Arbella<\/em> was crewed by a group of descendants, all from the original passengers, to represent their ancestors \u2013 with their leader, Governor John Winthrop, played by his lineal descendant Frederic Bayard Winthrop<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Besides Gov. Winthrop, other notables represented onboard (with family members) were: Captain John Underhill, Sir Richard Saltonstall, William Vassal, Rev. George Philips, William Pynchon, Simon Bradstreet, Thomas Dudley, and his daughter the poetess Anne Dudley Bradstreet<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The article accompanying the above newspaper photo of the Arbella<\/em> detailed some of the events in the week-long Salem celebration.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 9 June 1930, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

To summarize the Herald\u2019s<\/em> report:<\/p>\n

The start of the events opened with Judge Alden Perley White<\/a>, who delivered an address at the Second Church. His topic was \u201cthe life of one of the notable early leaders of Salem,\u201d the acclaimed Rev. Dr. William Bentley, born to Joshua Bentley and Elizabeth Paine.<\/p>\n

Rev. Bentley was one of Salem\u2019s prominent ministers whose diary<\/a> is a treasure trove of information including births, marriages, and deaths.<\/p>\n

Salem Mayor George Joseph Bates announced that banks and town offices would close early, and some establishments would not open at all, on Thursday, June 12 \u2013 \u201cthe gala day of the celebration.\u201d Two U.S. Navy destroyers, the Kane<\/em> and the Brooks<\/em>, were in Salem from Wednesday through early Friday.<\/p>\n

The featured locale of the ceremonies was at Forest River Park, where a colonial site \u201cPioneer Village<\/a>\u201d was erected earlier that year in conjunction with the replica of the Arbella<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: Pioneer Village, Salem, Massachusetts, June 1930. Credit: from the Yankee Publishing Collection. Courtesy of Historic New England and Digital Commonwealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pioneer Village had it all and was considered the first living museum: wigwams, a sawmill, a blacksmith mill, dugouts, a well, and all the necessary shaming contraptions (stocks, a pillory, and a ducking stool) to keep the Puritan flock in step with the \u201cpure\u201d ideals of their \u201cCity on the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Salem Cadet Band performed, and a finale of fireworks was featured at the Salem Willows Thursday night.<\/p>\n

The gala day was a huge success attended by 50,000 people, as reported in the Boston Herald<\/em> the next day.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 13 June 1930, page 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And a story is not solid without the scandal! In one instance, a woman was placed in the pillory as punishment for sporting too bright a scarlet dress, a gesture found criminal and unseemly for such a display of brilliance. Several fashion laws were enacted early on by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Read more: Our Puritan Ancestors: Mass Bay Residents Waged a Fashion War in the Colony.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Herald<\/em> reported:<\/p>\n

One woman in the pageant, it is true, who chose too bright a scarlet [dress], was put in the stocks [pillory] and jeered at by the populace. Extremes of brilliance were unseemly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Photo:<\/a>
Photo: reenactment of a woman placed in the pillory for wearing a scarlet dress at Salem\u2019s Pioneer Village, June 1930. Credit: from the Yankee Publishing Collection. Courtesy of Historic New England and Digital Commonwealth.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A common scold, much to the delight of small boys in the audience, is punished on the ducking stool. Brave actress; several times, she was actually dipped into the muddy pond.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Herald (Boston, Massachusetts), 13 June 1930, page 32<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Along with the Herald<\/em>, the Boston Globe<\/em> also covered the Salem celebration and the activities in the Pioneer Village, and published this photo to document another scandal that sometimes disturbed the Massachusetts Bay Colony: drunkenness. At Pioneer Village, a drunkard Puritan man played by W. Russell Burns stands in the pillory for his loutish transgression as Thomas Cobbett, minister of the colony (played by George W. Hooper) offers hm consolation. Courtesy of the Research Services Department, Boston Public Library Archives.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), 13 June 1930, page 44<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The 13 June 1930 edition of the Boston Herald<\/em> included a list of the actors who played some of the passengers onboard the Arbella<\/em> during the reenactment of its arrival in Salem Harbor. Here are a few listed:<\/p>\n