Mayflower Dreams

Deep inside the common house, William Bradford coughed and wheezed. His face was as gray as the smoke from the fire. His right hand tried to roll a large barrel of gunpowder toward the door while his left hand pressed against the wall for support. Pieces of smoldering straw fell down from the roof, landing on him and the barrel.

“Thou art too sick to move that barrel. Let us help thee.”

Before, during, and after the 1620 voyage on the Mayflower, the Pilgrims experienced a common house fire, o...