In The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare, Katherine Tyler, known as Kit, leaves Barbados in 1687 to live with her aunt in Puritan Connecticut. When her boat, the Dolphin, docks first in Saybrook, Connecticut, in the first chapter of the book, Kit is incredibly disappointed. "She didn't want to admit how disappointing she found this first glimpse of America. The bleak line of shore surrounding the gray harbor was a disheartening contrast to the shimmering green and white that fringed the turquoise bay of Barbados that was her home." Kit is used to the beautiful tropical waters of Barbados, and she finds Saybrook cold, gray, and sparse.
When Mistress Eaton, Kit's fellow passenger, goes ashore, Kit wonders why Mistress Eaton is so excited to disembark at Saybrook. "Kit glanced at the forbidding shore. She could see nothing about it to put such a twinkle of anticipation in anyone's eye." Kit notices when a young girl who is on board a rowboat coming to the Dolphin drops her doll into the water. In response, Kit dives into the water to rescue the doll, and the girl's mother brands Kit a witch because only witches were believed to know how to swim, according to Puritan beliefs.
In Chapter Two, the Dolphin reaches Kit's new home in Wethersfield, which Kit also finds deeply disappointing. "Her heart sank. This was Wethersfield! Just a narrow sandy stretch of shoreline, a few piles sunk in the river with rough planking for a platform." She finds the town uninspiring and simple, and it is clear that Kit's new home is very different than her former home in Barbados and that she will have difficulty adapting to her new surroundings in Connecticut.
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