Pieterskerk

The sign outside the building shows the names of the people who died here during the eleven years the group was granted asylum in this community. I was surprised to find out that the Speedwell set sails at a Dutch port to meet with the Mayflower in Southampton before departing for the New World. In fact, this group of the Pilgrim Fathers had spent eleven years in Leiden. I try to imagine the discussions they had before making this move. I am sure some would have preferred to stay. They might not have had an easy existence in the Netherlands, but at least they were welcome here, and the culture surely was not that much different from what they knew. The New World, on the other hand, was the wilderness, which meant uncertainty and isolation from everything their daily lives consisted of.