# One, two, buckle my... hat? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 21, 2002, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977 "2002-11-21T17:39:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977/1 "2002-11-21T17:39:01Z")
Thanksgiving Day is next week and I’m sure all of us in the U.S. have seen the depictions of Pilgrims in their buckled hats. Did the Pilgrims really wear hats with buckles on them? If so, what was the function of the buckle? ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977/2 "2002-11-21T17:50:14Z")
Damn you for your diabolical questions Johnny L.A.! Now I can’t rest until the buckle question is answered. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977/3 "2002-11-21T18:10:52Z")
[This site](http://www.pipcom.com/~tempus/sewing/hats.html), which seems to know a lot about hats, implies that it was only for decoration. > [@](#): > > In northern Europe, the Puritan cut his hair short and wore it straight and his hat was high-crowned, of black hard felt and trimmed only by a ribbon and buckle. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977/4 "2002-11-21T18:23:49Z")
Thanks, **tanstaafl**! Now **astro** can rest! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977/5 "2002-11-21T18:38:29Z")
One thing to recall is that the Pilgrims (who were not called pilgrims until about 150 - 200 years after the landing at Plymouth Rock) were separatists, but not Puritans. (Bradford worked very hard throughout his life to keep the Puritans at Boston from absorbing the Plymouth colony.) The tall black hats with the prominent buckle were actually a later fashion that was retroactively applied to the Pilgrims by later painters, based on the fashions of the _Puritans_ a decade or two _after_ the Plymouth landing. The Plimouth Plantation folks in Massachusetts have a web site that includes [PILGRIM CLOTHING: DRESS IN EARLY NEW ENGLAND](http://www.plimoth.org/Library/costume.htm), [17TH CENTURY ENGLISH MEN’S CLOTHING](http://www.plimoth.org/Library/mens.htm), and [an illustration](http://www.plimoth.org/Library/pilcloth1.htm#mens). ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977/6 "2002-11-21T18:42:35Z")
Why, naturally. A pop culture representation that doesn’t actually represent what was reality. Why am I not surprised? I am enlightened, though, so thanks, **tomndebb**! ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-two-buckle-my-hat/137977/7 "2002-11-21T19:31:33Z")
The Plymouth party actually wore little sweaters with the arms tied around their hats.