The Leiden American Pilgrim Museum is a small museum in the Dutch city of Leiden dedicated to the Pilgrim Fathers (or simply Pilgrims). These Separatists or English Dissenters were religious refugees who had fled England and lived in Leiden for about 12 years. In 1620, they left Leiden for the New World on board the Mayflower. Their first harvest festival after their arrival at Plymouth Colony was the origin of the annual Thanksgiving celebration in the U.S.
The Leiden American Pilgrim Museum is housed in a building dating to about 1365-1370. The house is located at Beschuitsteeg 9, next to the bell tower of the Hooglandse Kerk church. The museum is operated by the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum Foundation and is open to the public Monday through Friday (1 to 5 p.m.) and Saturdays (10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) [1]
The museum aims to present "the reality behind the Pilgrim myth". In the museum, the interior of a home in the time of the Pilgrims has been recreated. The museum also displays a collection of 16th- and 17th-Century maps and engravings by Gerard Mercator, Adriaen Pietersz. van de Venne, and others. [1]
In 2009, the 400-year anniversary of the Pilgrims' arrival in Leiden will be marked with an exhibition and the publication of several books, among others. The museum is to be extended with a restored room where 17th-Century engravings will be put in display. The room also has a medieval fireplace that will be used to illustrate the Pilgrims' cooking and eating habits. [2]
Separately, the regional archives of Leiden (Regionaal Archief Leiden) maintains a special section on the Pilgrims under the name Pilgrim Archives Leiden [3]. In Plymouth, Massachusetts, there is another museum dedicated to the Pilgrims, the Pilgrim Hall Museum. [4]