Patuxet

Patuxet was a Wampanoag village located on the western coast of Cape Cod Bay in present-day Massachusetts. It is significant in American history as the location where the Pilgrims established Plymouth Colony in 1620.

Prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims, Patuxet was inhabited by the Patuxet band of the Wampanoag people. The village, like many others along the New England coast, was devastated by a series of epidemics, likely caused by diseases brought by European traders and explorers. These epidemics, occurring between 1616 and 1619, decimated the native population. By the time the Pilgrims arrived, the village was largely deserted.

One of the survivors of the Patuxet epidemic was Squanto (Tisquantum), who had been kidnapped and taken to Europe. He returned to find his village destroyed and its people gone. Squanto played a crucial role in the survival of the Pilgrims, teaching them how to cultivate the land, fish, and navigate the local environment. He also served as an interpreter and mediator between the Pilgrims and other Wampanoag tribes.

The site of Patuxet is now part of the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Plimoth Patuxet Museums, formerly Plimoth Plantation, is a living history museum that recreates the 17th-century world of the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag people, including a re-creation of a Wampanoag homesite which portrays the culture and history of the Wampanoag, who are still a thriving people today.