Shown are members of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, from left, first row: Lexie Kelly, Marleta Shadduck, Bonnie Yusavage, Sarah Davis, Susanna White Winslow, Lois Lang. Second row: Craig Dowd, Daniel Keisling, Cynthia Brenner, Sharyn Davis, Jyl Reeves, Laura Tyndall, Nan Ball, Suzanne Gorman.
Submitted Photo
Museum educator portrays Susanna White Winslow
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Each year The Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (SMDPA) sponsors a re-enactor from Plimoth-Patuxet Museum to share the Pilgrim experience with school children in the commonwealth. This year, Susanna White Winslow visited Scranton in Lackawanna County where she performed several school programs, including an after-school program and two evening community programs.
She was portrayed by Hallyann Gifford, a museum educator with Plimoth-Patuxet Museums and former teacher in Massachusetts.
Plimoth-Patuxet Museums is a complex of living history museums replicating the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony. Founded in 1947, it presents an immersive experience allowing guests to explore life in the 17th century and meet and talk with Pilgrims and Native Americans.
Imagine bumping into Myles Standish and asking him about arriving in the “new world” and his first encounter with Massasoit or, asking Squanto his opinion of the colonists.
Members of SMDPA gathered Wednesday, October 30 at Stirna’s Restaurant in Scranton for a pre-performance meal before proceeding to the Tripp House for a program presented by the Lackawanna Historical Society, the Society for the Preservation of the Tripp Family Homestead and SMDPA.
Mistress Winslow told stories of the Mayflower crossing; the first winter inPlymouth when so many died; the arrival of the Fortune with more men to house and feed in an already hungry community; as well as personal anecdotes about the joys and sorrows experienced by the colonists.