Town promotes historical connection with middle school video project
Dartmouth officials are seeking both educational and tourism opportunities as the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing approaches. Even though the state-wide celebration is five years out, the town is already collaborating to revamp interest in colonial history.
Dartmouth Community Television partnered with Dartmouth Middle School to create a 15-minute illuminate video, which connects gratitude and the holiday spirit with the first Thanksgiving and other Mayflower 400 objectives.
DCTV's Cyndi Marland explained that projects such as the Illuminate Thanksgiving video, a Wampanoag exhibit, and cultural festivals encourage residents to reflect on the history and heritage of Dartmouth.
The town decided to take the idea of an Illuminate event — which stems from the Plymouth 400 campaign and celebrates Thanksgiving on a mass scale, with crowds, candles, and guest speakers — and localize it. The DCTV video includes monologues from seven middle school students, all explaining who illuminates their life and how. The video was released on DCTV's Facebook page on November 23, just in time for the holiday.
"Dartmouth Illumination 2016 is all about giving thanks and giving back. It is a time to reflect on those who have illuminated the lives of these middle school students and thank them for that priceless gift," said Marland via email.
The Plymouth 400 campaign — also referred to as the "Mayflower 400" — will celebrate the settlers' landing as well as the founding of Plymouth, with the aim of drawing tourists to Plymouth. However, other Massachusetts towns hope to benefit from this by celebrating their own historical ties.
"We have such a rich history, as seen in the Dartmouth 350," said Marland about the town's 350th birthday celebration. The town plans to open a Wampanoag exhibit at the Southworth Library in March 2017, she said.
The exhibit will be a multimedia exhibit, put together in part by third grade students currently researching Dartmouth's history, said Marland. The Wampanoags are an Indian tribe from Dartmouth, she said.
