The slightest breeze rustled through the open doors of All Saints' Church, a 600-year-old structure in Babworth, England.
I shivered. It wasn't really cold and I don't believe in ghosts, but I could certainly feel the spirit of history in this well worn house of worship. I am, after all, an American.
"This is really where America began," argued Peter Swinscoe, the warden and tour guide. "This is where William Bradford and William Brewster met, where their journey began."
This month, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, our thoughts may turn to stories of Plymouth Rock, the Mayflower and the Native Americans who helped the Pilgrims survive their first winter. But I had never given a lot of thought to the Pilgrims before they arrived in the New World. So, always sprinkling a dose of history into our travels, my husband and I set sail (metaphorically) for the Old World to better understand how the Thanksgiving holiday came about.
If you recall your world history, King Henry VIII left the Roman Catholic Church and formed the Church of England so that he could divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. That was in 1534 and it shook England to its core. British citizens were now required to worship in the Church of England.
By the late 1500s, the minister at All Saints' began preaching about the separation of church and state, a radical concept at the time. Brewster and Bradford were drawn to the idea, as were many others who would eventually board the Mayflower.
Today, visitors are welcome to attend services at All Saints' Church on the first, second and third Sundays of each month. In nearby Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, you may attend a service, tour the church where Brewster was baptized or visit the Gainsborough Old Hall in Lincolnshire, where worship services were held in secret for years.
Southampton to Plymouth
The Separatists, whom we now call Pilgrims, wanted to worship as they pleased without government interference. After escaping to the Netherlands for 12 years, they decided America was the answer to their prayers.