#ThrowBackThursday: What did the Pilgrims look like?
Many of the older “storybook” depictions of the Mayflower Pilgrims are laughably incorrect, showing the Pilgrims wearing gold buckles on their hats and clothes in only black and white. According to Plimoth Plantation, “this is because in the 1620s, best clothes were often black, and people usually had their portraits painted while wearing their best clothes.”
While we do know what the Pilgrims’ clothing looked like, do we know what any of the actual Pilgrims looked like?
The only 1620 Mayflower passenger of whom there is a known portrait (which is currently in Pilgrim Hall Museum) is Edward Winslow, who served three terms as Governor of Plymouth Colony in his lifetime. Winslow’s portrait was painted by an unknown English artist in 1651 when the 57-year-old Winslow was celebrating his son Josiah’s wedding in London.
The portrait depicts Winslow holding a letter in his hands, which reads “From yr loving wife Susanna.” Susanna White Winslow, Edward’s wife, did not accompany her husband to their son’s wedding, but remained at home at the family’s estate, called “Careswell,” in the Plymouth Colony town of Marshfield.
Some believe that a portrait of Myles Standish, another Mayflower Pilgrim, was painted in the 1630s but such a portrait has never been found.
