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Orgies, drinking songs, and - perhaps most damagingly of all - Paganism were rumoured tools of the colonist Thomas Morton when he established\xa0Merrymount, New England. It wasn't long before he was deported back to Britain by the Puritans on 9th June, 1628.\nIt was his sympathy for the locals which had really done for him. But the headline-grabbing moment was his erection of a Westcountry-stye maypole, around which locals and settlers had danced and drank, and generally cavorted in ways that colonists aren\u2019t usually disposed to do.\nIn this episode Rebecca, Arion and Olly consider why Morton\u2019s story is so rarely taught in schools; interrogate Encyclopedia Britannica\u2019s description of him as \u2018picturesque\u2019; and ask just how different Massachusetts really was from 17th century Devon...\nFurther Reading:\n\u2022 Bob Neufeld reads Nathaniel Hawthorne\u2019s \u2018The May-Pole of Merry Mount\u2019 (1836):\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZzS5xIZ4rI\n\u2022 \u2018The Maypole That Infuriated the Puritans\u2019, from The New England Historical Society: https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/maypole-infuriated-puritans/\n\u2022 \u2018The two men who almost derailed New England\u2019s first colonies\u2019 at The Conversation (2016): https://theconversation.com/the-two-men-who-almost-derailed-new-englands-first-colonies-68213\nFor bonus material and to support the show, visit Patreon.com/Retrospectors\nWe'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors\n\xa0\nThe Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.\nTheme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham.\nCopyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2021.\n#1600s #Person #Religion #White #US #UK\n\xa0\n Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.\nLearn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices