As we enter the year 2020, we begin the commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower voyage and founding of the Plymouth colony. Our January presentation will focus on the perspective of the Native Americans who had occupied the land for centuries before the arrival of the Mayflower. Beginning with encounters between Native Americans and the Europeans during the period 1602 – 1619, our speaker will discuss how actions and behaviors might have influenced the Native American perception of the arrival of ships they were seeing with increasing frequency. He will then consider the development of relations between the Wampanoags and the Plymouth Pilgrims in the early years of the colony, with a particular focus on events that occurred on Cape Cod.

 Ron Peterson has been a year-round resident of Orleans since 2012, when he and his wife, Val, retired to Cape Cod, relocating from Connecticut. After a long career in corporate compliance and global security, Ron has been able to immerse himself in his intense interest in local history. He is the chair of the Orleans Historical Commission and has served on the Commission for more than six years. He has also been a member and officer of a number of town committees in Orleans, and the Orleans Historical Society. Currently, he is working with the Cape Cod 2020 Symposium, scheduled in May, which will recognize the Cape Cod role in the Plymouth 400 Commemoration. He also writes a monthly column in the Cape Codder newspaper on local historical topics.                                                    

Our meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, January 21, 2020, at the  Brewster Ladies Library, Rte 6A, Brewster, MA, in the auditorium, which can be accessed from the side entrance of the building. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 10 AM; but you are invited to come early, at 9:30, for coffee, donuts, and socializing.