Next year will mark the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Mayflower at Plymouth Rock, in what would become Massachusetts. To mark the occasion, a wide range of activities are planned.
Go to the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s website, americanancestors.org, to check out the events, as well as the database of descendants. The General Society of Mayflower Descendants (themayflowersociety.org) also has many activities underway.
Jamestown and the founding of the Virginia Colony in 1607 was celebrated in 1957 and 2007 with Queen Elizabeth II taking part. We often forget, that after 1620, other colonies started up fairly quickly: 1626, New Amsterdam (later New York); 1630, Massachusetts Bay (the other part of Massachusetts); 1633, Maryland; 1636, Rhode Island and Connecticut; 1638, New Hampshire and Delaware. Then there was a long gap until the Carolinas were created in 1663 as one colony and divided in 1710. New Jersey was created in 1664, and Pennsylvania in 1682. It was 50 years later, in 1732, that Georgia’s charter was signed, and the colony’s settlement began in 1733.
Cabbagetown focus of DeKalb Lunch and Learn
Cabbagetown, its history and the mission behind the Patch Works Art and History Center will be the subject of the DeKalb History Center’s Lunch and Learn Lecture on May 21. The free event is at noon, but bring your own lunch. It will be held at the Old Courthouse on the Square in Decatur. Cabbagetown was one of the last 19th century mill town communities and was associated with the Fulton Bag and Cotton Mill, now redeveloped as housing. For more information on the lecture, see dekalbhistory.org, or call 404-373-1088, ext. 20. The DeKalb History Center’s archives is open for research by appointment, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Check with Jennifer Blomqvist, archivist, extension 28.
Georgia Archives, a visit is necessary for some items
The Georgia Archives is digitized and has many items from its collections online in the Virtual Vault. But you have to visit to use some things. The archives acquired a subscription to the Atlanta Constitution (1868-1984) from Pro Quest Historic Newspapers with the support of the R.J. Taylor Jr. Foundation. This can be used only in-house.
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