What was life like in Charlestown in in the early 1600’s? Just 10 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth; a group of settlers from the Old World crossed the Atlantic on the ship Arabella and landed in Charlestown, just 2 years after it was founded. The passengers included Anne Bradstreet who was 18 years old and newly married to Simon Bradstreet. Anne had to quickly transform from an educated gentlewoman to a frontier wife and mother. Woman in the early 17th century were considered intellectually weak and unable to understand law, science sand most challenging-poetry. In addition in the early days in Charlestown, most faced the hardships of near starvation, illness, isolation, death of family and friends and Indian attacks.
Learn about the history of life in Charlestown and especially the challenges facing woman from Mistress Bradstreet, who quietly rebelled against the status quo and her Puritan community. Through her poetry, she recorded her experiences, political views, and religious turmoil. Bradstreet’s poetry was published in 1650 as “The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America.” Hear the story of Mistress Bradstreet told by Charlotte Gordon, author of “Mistress Bradstreet, The Untold Life of America’s First Poet.” Learn the difficulties of life in the New World for all the new settlers and especially for woman on Tuesday March 25, 2014, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Educational Room of the Battle of Bunker Hill Museum. There will be light refreshments. The event is sponsored by the Charlestown Historical Society and is open to the public at no charge.