Lunch & Learn: “A Tale of Two Colonies: Plimoth and Massachusetts Bay in the Seventeenth Century” (Speaker: Stephen Kenney, Ph.D.)

Most visitors to Massachusetts know that the “Pilgrims” arrived in Plymouth aboard the Mayflower in 1620. Less well known is the landing of a “Puritan” fleet of seventeen ships ten years later. On the flagship Arbella John Winthrop carried a royal charter establishing the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Learn about similarities between the colonies (like banning the celebration of Christmas) and differences that shaped Massachusetts to the present day.

Stephen Kenney has been director of the Commonwealth Museum at the Massachusetts Archives since 2002. He has a Ph.D. from Boston University and has been an administrator or faculty member at several area colleges including service as Interim President at Quincy College.