Climbing My Family Tree: Part 27

First Encounter Beach

Immigrants Richard Warren and Elizabeth Walker

Pilgrim Richard Warren

While visiting Cape Cod last fall, I made a point of finding my way to First Encounter Beach in the town of Eastham. This was the beach where some of the passengers and crew of the Mayflower first interacted with the indigenous people of the Cape. The encounter wasn’t pretty and it wasn’t peaceful.

My 10x Great Grandfather, Richard Warren, was part of that initial encounter.

First Encounter Beach, Eastham, Massachusetts

Most of us remember the story of the Plymouth Pilgrims from elementary school. After almost ten brutal weeks at sea, the Mayflower, with her 102 passengers and a crew of around 30, arrived in America, dropping anchor near the tip of what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts, on Thursday, November 9, 1620. They had crossed the Atlantic at an average speed of just two miles per hour.