400th Mayflower Anniversary

I assume you mean in Europe!? 🙂 I am from Plymouth, Mass. looking forward to next year!!

My children are direct descendants of Mary Chilton through their father, so that means 75% of this household claims Mayflower ancestry.

Read an article that said 25% of Americans claimed Mayflower ancestry in a survey when the actual number with ancestry is closer to 10%. Still a lot of people from a few dozen ancestors.

Actually 25% may not be a bad number, unless those direct descendants are extremely insular in their relationships. Ones ancestors are a bit exponential in possibilities. figure there have been about 12 generations since the Pilgrims landed, if you claim to be a direct descendant, that person is one of just over 4000 ancestors of that generation, for your children one of ~8000, your grandchildren, one of 16,000....and if you were to go back, you would find instances of nearly everyone related to everyone and your family tree crossing roots quite often...an ancestor that appears in a number of lines.

Indicating your ancestors came over on the Mayflower may have been something unique and held sway in the early 1700's, less so in the 2000's, and by 2500, it would be more rare that you are not.

I suppose the obvious destination might be Plymouth. I should note that Plymouth is not an attractive city (in its defence it was badly damaged in the War and a lot of the rebuilding was modern, done cheaply and, to me, looks ugly), and it doesn't have a lot of major tourist sights. More positively, it will be putting on various events during the anniversary year and as well as the Mayflower connection has the even more important Drake connection. There are a few museums and galleries, including a Mayflower Museum, and the famous Resurgam door; and the Hoe and Barbican area of the city is fairly pleasant.

All-in-all, whilst it wouldn't usually be a top destination in England for many, given your interest it would be worth a visit. And Plymouth is well-connected by rail to London. Plus its location in Devon, and just across the Tamar from Cornwall, means there are lots of nearby places to visit outside the city. For example, attractive villages in both counties, it's bordered by two designated areas of outstanding natural beauty and is very close to Dartmoor national park.

While Southern England (London, Southampton, Plymouth, Colchester, Harwich) may be the obvious spots (In addition to Plymouth, MA), There is also a museum in Leiden, Netherlands where the Pilgrims lived prior to the voyage. I think that would make a nice detour.

Leiden NL would be a very good choice as the Pilgrims lived there the ten years prior to sailing.

I loved themed vacations. Genealogy is fun for some of us. We stumbled upon this quiet garden and Church on our first visit to Amsterdam. But this is not in the UK...

Of course, these would be the most obvious places to visit first: Hopkins was baptized 30 April 1581 at Upper Clatford, Hampshire, England, the son of John Hopkins and Elizabeth Williams. Not much is known about his early life in Hampshire, but his family appears to have removed to Winchester, Hampshire, by 1586. His father died there in 1593, and by 1604 he had moved to Hursley, Hampshire.[a]

Sorry, I don't usually cut and paste but I'm not terribly familiar with John Hopkins, but I find genealogy interesting, particularly the female lines though.

Interesting.

Mary, you're in MA. What is planned at Plymouth or Plymouth Rock?

I'm surprised nobody here has mentioned Scrooby yet.

"The Separatist church congregation that the Mayflower pilgrims were members of was originally centered around the town of Scrooby, England. Scrooby is a small village in Nottinghamshire that borders South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire."

https://historyofmassachusetts.org/mayflower-pilgrims/

Visit this site for the Pilgrim Roots trail, which "includes Scrooby, Babworth and other nearby destinations including Gainsborough, Austerfield, Retford and Boston."

https://www.mayflower400uk.org/visit/scrooby-babworth/

The question of who is a Mayflower descendant can get cloudy in a hurry. Lots of claims with min proof. Had a family member by marriage who family's claimed Mayflower descendant. No question about being a Plymouth colony descendant but spent most of her life (in the 50s, 60s before Ancestry.com) trying to prove the Mayflower connection. Finally determined that her people were on the Speedwell and came the following year. Also to further complicate the question, there was a second ship called the Mayflower that carried passengers to Plymouth. For my aunt it was a crushing blow to her family history but to mine as a 2nd generation German immigrant it didn't mean much. History is fun if you don't take it too seriously.

Just for fun, there is the slightly touristy* but very lovely, hopping pub in the Rotherhithe section of London, renamed the Mayflower Pub.
*I don't know if it is "touristy" – I say that just because the pub has a bunch of memorabilia about the Pilgrims (i.e.,obviously playing up its connection to the ship), including a poster showing all the passengers on the ship and who didn't survive the first winter (greyed out). And the pub is right on the Thames. It is off the beaten path, so it won't be crowded with non-Brits.
I had fun looking at all the items, but when we were there it was too crowded and hot, so we went elsewhere to actually eat.

edit: poking around the pub's website, I see they are the only pub that sells both UK and US postage stamps (!). Interesting. I'll have to go back :-)

You might go further east, to Rotterdam, where Dutch pilgrims boarded the Mayflower. The Pilgrim church is one of the few structures that survived WW2 bombing. Adjacent is a pleasant brewpub called the Pelgrim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilgrim_Fathers_Church

One of my 10th Great Grandfathers is Edward Fuller, one of the signers of the Mayflower Covenant. Edward and his wife (Ann?) arrived in Plymouth in 1620 and died within the yearend 1620/21. Their 12 year old Son Samuel came with them, and inherited 3 acres that were allotted to Covenant members. My 9th Great Grand Father was Samuel's older brother Capt. Matthew Fuller who came over later. His son Lt. Samuel Fuller died in King Philips War. The Lt.'s daughter Abigail married Isreal Stowell in my Father's direct line. Most of this Fuller family came from the villages in Norfolk County on the East Coast of England. There is a lot of Maritime history in that locale probably because of the trade with Continental Europe. Amsterdam and Leiden are directly across the English Channel from this area.

If anyone is in New England in the near future , a visit to Mystic Seaport , in Stonington , Connecticut , would be time well spent - https://www.mysticseaport.org/locations/mayflowerii/

The Mayflower memorial in Southampton (where the Mayflower stopped to wait for the Speedwell to bring the puritans from Holland) is fairly underwhelming - but it is not too far from Andover/Upper Clatford or Winchester/Hursley - all associated with Hopkins

Continental, There are a lot of plans in Massachusetts, and some in UK and Netherlands.

Here's a link: https://www.boston.com/culture/events/2019/03/16/400th-anniversary-mayflower-events