Streamed on: Nov 22, 3:30 pm EST

Pilgrims Arrive!
November 22, 2025, 3:30 PM
Presented by G. Thomas Ryan
Performing Arts Center, Brewster

About the Lecture
Before they arrived at Plymouth, the Pilgrims arrived in the midst of the Nauset Tribe and spent a month exploring the Outer Cape. These pioneers were happy to leave the Church of England, just as their descendants, the American Patriots, were happy to leave the King of England six generations later. Four moments will describe how these Reformation “saints” experienced God’s Providence:
* Straight from a “first encounter” with the Nauset tribe, the Pilgrims were driven by a storm and “much trouble & danger unto them” to harbor by Patuxet.
* Months later, teen John Billington “lost himself in the woods & wandered up & down”, to be found by the Manomet, who conveyed him to the Nauset tribe.
* In 1626, the same leaders of Plymouth “put into a creek called Namskaket” and again saw divine rescue—of all aboard an English shipwrecked on Nauset Beach.
Pilgrims Arrive, again! God’s Providence allowed the next Pilgrim generation to start fresh in the very midst of those same Nauset peoples

History can describe trends over centuries. As in this series, sharing the story through actual events allows all to appreciate the past through named men and women, and even their inner-soul struggles. On November 22, the events are truly local. Consider meanings for today as you come upon beaches and creeks, named streets and schools, and families who are descended from the Mayflower or Nauset.

The talk will include original artwork created by local Cape Codders to tell these stories of events and peoples during the first arrival of the Pilgrims on Cape Cod.

About G. Thomas Ryan
Before, during, and since 2020, for the Town of Eastham and the entire region, Tom has been the vice-chair of “Eastham 400” and coordinator of annual “First Encounter” observances. He produced dozens of videos, books, lectures, orders of worship, and websites on the local arrival of Pilgrims in 1620 on Outer Cape Cod. These studies have led to fresh appreciation of their subsequent activities, with the Nauset Tribe, and on Outer Cape Cod. (See www.eastham400.org and videos at https://easthamthefirstencounter.org/videos/ )
For decades, Tom has coordinated architectural, artistic, liturgical, and educational planning for large churches in the area – The Church of the Transfiguration (Orleans), Corpus Christi Parish (Sandwich), St. Bonaventure Parish (Plymouth), and St. Mary’s Parish (Nantucket).
For the faithful life of those churches and of all area faith communities, he has been a leader in the Cape Cod Council of Churches, Nantucket Interfaith Council, Nauset Interfaith Association, and the Barnstable County Human Rights Commission.
For the Vatican, in its Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem for 28 turbulent years, Sir Thomas continues to assist Christians of the Holy Land.