19. Budleigh Salterton's link to the 'Mayflower'!

Continued from 
https://conant400.blogspot.com/2019/12/new-years-day-in-new-world.html

Above: 'Embarkation of the Pilgrims' 1857 by Robert W. Weir (photograph courtesy Architect of the Capitol, Wikipedia).  Protestant pilgrims are shown on the deck of the ship 'Speedwell' before their departure for the New World from Delft Haven, Holland, on July 22, 1620. William Brewster is holding the Bible 

When I first settled in retirement in the East Devon coastal town of Budleigh Salterton I was struck by the fact that it was allegedly twinned with an American town on Cape Cod, where the 1620 Pilgrims had first landed.

The town is called Brewster, named after the prominent Pilgrim leader William Brewster (c.1568-1644). He is depicted holding the Bible in the famous painting above.  

Image of William Brewster and memorial stone. As with Roger Conant, we have no contemporary portrait of William Brewster. Above is an Imaginary likeness of William Brewster by Alfred Stevens "A.S." Burbank , which was published in A. C. Addison’s ‘The Romantic Story of the Mayflower Pilgrims: And its place in the life of to-day’ (1911). Nor do we know where he was buried.  The memorial stone inscription reads: ‘ELDER WILLIAM BREWSTER.  PATRIARCH OF THE PILGRIMS AND THEIR RULING ELDER 1609-1644  OUTSTANDING LEADER OF PILGRIM MOVEMENT. THE FOUNDING OF PLIMOTH PLANTATION AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE NEW WORLD.  B. AT SCROOBY, ENGLAND, CA 1566-7 D. AT PLYMOUTH. N.E. CA. APRIL 10, 1644.  A RESIDENT OF PLYMOUTH AND DUXBURY  M. CA 1589 MARY WENTWORTH OF SCROOBY, B. CA. 1568-9. D. AT PLYMOUTH CA. APRIL 17, 1627  BOTH MAYFLOWER PASSENGERS REST IN UNKNOWN GRAVES IN PLYMOUTH, POSSIBLY IN OR NEAR BURIAL HILL. ERECTED 1967 BY THE ELDER WILLIAM BREWSTER SOCIETY. There is an Elder William Brewster Society at http://www.brewsterfamily.org/  But sadly I can find no trace of survival for the Roger Conant Family Association, founded in the early 20th century.   

Brewster MA: an aerial view

The ‘twinning’ seemed to make sense. Both Budleigh Salterton and Brewster are coastal towns, located on or near salt marshes and working flour mills, are noted for popular golf courses, boast some fine architecturally distinguished houses which were homes to retired service people – or in the case of Brewster – sea captains. 

Brewster's population (approx 10,000)  is a bit bigger than Budleigh Salterton's (approx. 7,000) and increases massively in the holiday season. 

I found the ‘twinning’ mentioned on Wikipedia.  And with some detective work I found newspaper reports of the progress of the ‘twinning’ process, in both 'The Cape Codder' and the 'Budleigh Journal' of 2000.

And a Brewster resident kindly sent me a photo of his town’s road sign.

Yet in Budleigh Salterton there was no equivalent, and certainly no Eisenhower Road, Kennedy Court or Washington Square.

Sadly, the whole affair fell by the wayside for various reasons. But I was so taken by the idea that I staged the above photo and even named a blog after the ‘twinning’.  If you’re really interested you can browse at http://budleighbrewsterunited.blogspot.com/   I call it and other blogs my 'museums in cyberspace'. 

You can access other posts on this blog by going to the Blog Archive (under the ‘About Me’ section), and clicking on the appropriate heading.