Nye Barn

I almost missed the Nye Barn. I had seen the signs for it but they always seemed to take me back to the Visitor Center. It wasn’t until I decided to head back to the car and into Plymouth for the Mayflower II that I saw a barn out by the bus parking lot.

I decided to wander over there first to check it. Sure enough, it was the Nye Barn.
Nye barn is a typical barn with hay and animals and doors opening onto pastures. What makes the Nye Barn special is the type of animals in it. Plimouth Plantation is part of a world wide effort to preserve rare farm animals.

Based on drawings of livestock from the 1600’s and writings from colonial governor William Bradford, Plimouth Plantation chose to represent the types of animals that would have been likely to be raised by the Pilgrims. In the 1600’s animals were not identified by breed. In accordance with the Rare Breeds Livestock Program some of the animals being bred at the Nye Barn are Wiltshire Horn rams, Tamworth Swine, Red Dorking Chickens, Milking Devon cattle and two rare breeds of goat, the San Clemente Island Goat and the Arapawa Island (New Zealand) goat.

I was surprised to see some babies as I think of newborns as being born in the spring, not the late fall. There wasn’t any staff around the barn so I wasn’t able to question anyone about the untimely arrival of the babies but there they were, cute as a button.

The only animals specifically mentioned as being passengers on the Mayflower were two dogs (a spaniel & a Mastiff) but historians generally agree that there must have been other livestock such as goats, pigs, and chickens. They also think that a few cats must have traveled over as cats were common on ships of the era to keep the rats and vermin under control.

Now it was time to head into downtown Plymouth for a stop at The Mayflower II and of course, Plymouth Rock.