My header image for the past few weeks has been the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the tip of Cape Cod, which would seem an odd choice for a website focused on roads and Iowa. There’s a reason.
The Mayflower Compact, the first document for self-government in the New World, was signed 400 years ago this month, on Nov. 11 (Julian calendar) or Nov. 21 (Gregorian calendar). By the next presidential election, its signing will be closer to the Magna Carta than the present day.
A direct ancestor of mine, a 10th great-grandfather, was on the Mayflower. It’s not just American history I’m commemorating. It’s my own.