Did Pilgrims Really Wear Buckled Hats?
When the Pilgrims began their 66-day journey aboard the Mayflower in 1620, they weren’t wearing the buckled hats and black suits and dresses they’re known for today. Sailing from Plymouth, England, to their settlement near Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the Saints, as they called themselves (the term “Pilgrim” didn’t originate until the early 1800s), actually wore clothing more tailored to their arduous voyage.
Common men’s garments included wool stockings, billowy knee-length pants known as breeches, and close-fitting jackets known as doublets. Women, meanwhile, wore waistcoats, long skirts known as petticoats, and a linen hair covering called a coif. Clothing was mostly made from durable wool and linen and was often layered to protect against the cold New England winter climate.
Both men and women wore leather latchet shoes, and both, though primarily the men, also wore tall, wide-brimmed hats with a flat top — a particularly identifiable piece of the Pilgrim wardrobe that has become practically synonymous with colonial America. The truth is, however, that neither the shoes nor hats featured the overstated buckles we associate with Pilgrim attire. Shoes were fastened with a leather strap or laces, and hats were generally unadorned.
As for the dark-colored clothing, Pilgrims did wear black occasionally, especially on Sundays, but it was not part of the daily uniform. In fact, black dye was expensive and difficult to obtain and use, so dark clothing was primarily reserved for upper classes or very special occasions, such as portrait sittings. The 1651 painting of Plymouth Colony Governor Edward Winslow is believed to be the only portrait of a Pilgrim made from life; in it, he wears a black doublet and white collar and cuffs, feeding into the misconception that this is how Pilgrims usually dressed. In reality, it was a formal outfit for a rare event. Pilgrims actually wore quite colorful clothing in their daily lives. According to documents such as personal wills and cargo inventories from the Mayflower, everyday clothing was made in colors such as red, blue, purple, and green, all derived from plant-based dyes that were much more attainable to many families.
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Buckles on hats or shoes were also uncommon at the time the Pilgrims migrated from England. The accessories did become a fixture of English style later on, when they were adopted from royal court dress in the late 17th century, but even then, they were a luxury that would not have been afforded by the Pilgrims. Ultimately, the image of the Pilgrim we know so well — adorned in black clothing, stark white collars and cuffs, and buckled hats and shoes — emerged much later, for a couple of different reasons.
During the Victorian era, some visual art, such as the 1847 painting “Departure of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven,” began to introduce some of the now-familiar images, such as monochromatic clothing, that were not actually part of everyday 17th-century Pilgrim attire. (Other works of art, such as the 1857 painting “Embarkation of the Pilgrims,” showed some darker clothing but still depicted settlers more accurately in diverse colorful clothing.)
The familiar Pilgrim image was also likely a result of conflating the Pilgrims and the Puritans. Both were English religious groups that sought a new life in America in the 1600s, but their motivations and identities were distinct. The Pilgrims, or Separatists, sought complete independence from the Church of England; the Puritans, on the other hand, did wish for church reform, but sailed to America looking for land investment opportunities as opposed to the religious freedom sought by the Pilgrims. Puritans arrived in Massachusetts a decade after the Pilgrims and were wealthier; as a result, they indeed often wore black clothing and hats. Over time, the early colonies merged, and the groups melded together in the American imagination.
The 20th century saw Americans forming a romanticized view of their colonial history; stories and depictions of this era were often shaped by nostalgic reinterpretations rather than historical accuracy. By the mid-20th century, the default Pilgrim characterization included dark-colored clothing and a tall, buckled hat; even Norman Rockwell, one of the most well-known American artists of the 20th century, depicted the colonial figure as such in his 1921 painting “A Pilgrim’s Progress.” Not much has changed since: Despite evolved historical insights, this iconic image of the American Pilgrim remains etched in the country’s memory.
