Meg Mackintosh Solves Seven American History Mysteries by Lucinda Landon Page B

illustrations to refresh your memory.

    â€œI was thinking about this leather pouch. It looks like it could be Native American,” Meg said, examining it carefully.
    â€œI’m not sure, but maybe the first history mystery is about the first Americans, a Native American child.”
    â€œMaybe,” said Peter, “but the artifact could be the compass. A compass might be helpful if you’re lost in a storm.”

    Meg was carefully holding the leather pouch. “Look, there’s something inside,” she said excitedly. She took out a folded-up piece of deerskin, which was fragile with age. Something was wrapped inside.
    â€œWhat is it?” Peter said eagerly.
    His sister unwrapped the deerskin to discover two small stones.
    Do you notice anything about the stones?

    Meg took out her magnifying glass. “Hey, it looks like there’s a picture carved on the stone!”
    â€œIt looks like the symbol in the clue. The pouch must be the artifact for the Plimoth mystery,” Peter concluded.
    â€œIt sounds like you’re on to something,” said Gramps. “Here’s another clue from Professor Brown,” he said.
    â€œIt’s a map showing where different Indians lived,” said Peter, opening up the map.
    Which Native Americas lived near Plimoth?
    â€œNow we know it has to do with the Wampanoag,” said Meg, “since they lived near Plimoth.”

    â€œBut a stone with a star drawn on it inside a leather pouch? I’m still stumped,” said Peter. “How could a stone save someone from a storm?”

    â€œWhat’s so important about two stones?” Meg said, scratching her head.
    How might stones have been important in early America?

    Meg began writing in her notebook. “Here are some possible uses for stones,” she said, showing Peter her list. “Since the stone belonged to a child, they might have been used for playing some simple game like marbles.”
    â€œMmm, maybe. They’re certainly not shaped like an arrowhead.”
    â€œMaybe it’s a piece of Plimoth Rock,” Meg joked.

    â€œSpeaking of Plimoth Rock, here it is,” Gramps called from the front seat.

    They got out of the minivan and walked over to view the fenced-in piece of history.
    â€œWell, the two pieces don’t look like Plimoth Rock at all,” said Peter. “It’s not as big as I imagined,” Peter commented as he pulled his camera out of his knap sack.
    â€œApparently Plimoth Rock has been moved and broken a few times,” Meg read from guidebook.
    â€œHistory isn’t always what you think,” said Gramps. “Come on, Plimoth Plantation is right down the road. They have lots of historic information there.”

    â€œBut how will we be able to figure out a mystery that happened over three hundred years ago?” wondered Peter as he snapped a photo.
    How would you search for clues?

    A few minutes later they arrived at Plimoth Plantation, a re-creation of the original Pilgrim settlement.
    â€œThis is a living museum of Plimoth in the 1600s,” Gramps explained to them. “The people you see dressed in Pilgrim clothes re-enact life in the village. There is a re-creation of a Wampanoag village nearby. Every detail of daily life is portrayed accurately.”

    â€œI really feel like I’ve stepped back in time,” Meg said as they walked through the rustic village and its buildings.

    Look at the picture above. If you were a child living in Plimoth in the 1620s, how might your life be different from the way it is today?

    â€œThe winter months were particularly hard on the Pilgrims,” Gramps told them as they stepped into one of the small wooden houses. The ceilings were low and the small rooms dark, lit by only one window. “Many of the Pilgrims didn’t survive the first year. They probably weren’t prepared for the harsh winters.”

    â€œWere the winters very