presumably covering the same area, enclosing a hundred feet square,
“with palisadoes ten and one half feet high, and three pieces of
ordnance planted on it.” The town agreed with Nathaniel Southworth to
build a watch house, “which is to be sixteen feet in length, twelve feet
in breadth, and eight feet stud, to be walled with boards, and to have
two floors, the upper floor to be six feet above the tower, to batten
the walls and make a small pair of stairs in it, the roof to be covered
with shingles, and a chimney to be built in it. For the said work he is
to have eight pounds, either in money or other pay equivalent.” This
being only thirty-two years after the building of the brick tower, it
would seem as if the latter could hardly have fallen or been taken down,
and it is possible if not probable, that the wooden watch tower was
built upon the old brick one; but of this we can only conjecture. This
was in the period of King Philip’s war in 1675. From here might have
been seen the blaze of the houses of Eel River (now Chiltonville), and
the terrible warwhoop almost heard as the savages burst upon the little
hamlet near Bramhall’s corner on that peaceful Sabbath in March, 1676,
when they left eleven dead bodies of women and children and smoking
ruins to mark their savage onslaught.
The Harbor
[Illustration: OFF BEACH POINT.]
[Illustration: Illustrated capital]
We have, from the easterly brow of Burial Hill, a beautiful picture of
the harbor and its surroundings. Below us the ground slopes to the
water, cut into terrace below terrace, with the buildings upon them. At
its foot are the wharves and harbor, and below it the Beach near which
the “Mayflower” swung at her anchors. Manomet is the range of misty blue
hills stretching into the bay on the right. Kingston and Duxbury, with
Captain’s Hill are on the left, and far out Clark’s Island, Saquish, and
the Gurnet, with the thin, sandy strip of beach joining the latter
headlands. On the Gurnet is Fort Andrew, and at Saquish is Fort
Standish, both earthworks, built by the Government during the Civil war
of 1861-65, but now dismantled and unused. These sites are the property
of the United States. The Gurnet, it is said, takes its name from a
somewhat similar promontory in the English channel, near Plymouth,
England. On it are located a United States life-saving station, twin
lighthouses and a Dabol trumpet fog signal. A whistling buoy at the
entrance of the harbor, opposite the Gurnet, gives warning in thick
weather, of the dangerous Brown’s Island shoal. Saquish is an Indian
word signifying an abundance of clams. Clark’s Island was named from the
mate of the “Mayflower,” who commanded the shallop on the expedition
when the island was discovered.
The following statistics were furnished by Capt. A. M. Harrison from the
United States Survey of 1853-57: From the shore end of Long Wharf, in a
straight line, to Gurnet Light, the distance is four and
seven-sixteenths statute miles, or, three and seven-eighths nautical
miles. The length of Plymouth Beach, from the foot of Manomet Hills to
the beacon on extreme point, is three and five-sixteenths statute miles,
or two and seven-eights nautical miles. The length of the Beach from its
junction with the mainland to the beacon, is two and five-eighths
statute miles, or two and one-fourth nautical miles.
Voyage of the Mayflower Shallop
[Illustration: Illustrated capital]
From Burial Hill we can overlook the whole course of that boat
expedition which started on its voyage of discovery from the “Mayflower”
in Provincetown Harbor, directly opposite us across the bay. Coasting
along the inside of Cape Cod at the right, its sandy shore hidden by
distance from our sight, some of the exploring party on foot, forcing
their way through the tangled wilderness, sometimes wading in half
frozen water through the surf or across brooks, they slowly make their
way. Constantly on the alert, and two or three times attacked and
beating off their assailants, the shallop now with all the party aboard
nears Manomet point. It begins to snow and rain and the wind to blow and
the seas to rise. Now the hinge of the rudder breaks, and oars are got
out to steer with. Master Coppin, the pilot, bids them to be of good
cheer, for he sees the harbor which he had promised them.
[Illustration: THE MAYFLOWER IN PLYMOUTH HARBOR.]
Across the bay they drive, keeping on a press of sail to make the
desired harbor before nightfall when crash goes the mast, broken into
three pieces, and the shallop is near being wrecked. Now the flood-tide
takes them and bears them in past the Gurnet nose, and Master Coppin,
finding himself in a strange place that he had never seen before, throws
up his hands and exclaims: “The Lord be merciful to us, I never saw this
place before,” and in his terror would have run the boat on shore, “in a
cove full of breakers,” between the Gurnet and Saquish; “but a lusty
seaman which steered bade those that rowed, if they were men, about with
her, or else they were all cast away.” The short twilight of the winter
day had faded into darkness, as the storm-tossed and dispirited company
found themselves “under the lee of a small island.” There it is before
us, the third highland to the left—the first being the Gurnet and the
second Saquish. They landed, and kept their watch that night in a rain.
Gov. Bradford, in his history, gives us a few more particulars: “In the
morning they find the place to be a small island secure from Indians.
And this being the last day of the week, they here dry their stuff, fix
their pieces, rest themselves, return God thanks for their many
deliverances and here the next day keep their Christian Sabbath.”
Tradition says that from a large rock with a flat top that is there now,
bearing the inscription, “On the Sabbath day we rested,” the first
prayer ascended on this shore; and there, for the first time in New
England, praise and thanks were given to that watchful Providence that
had guided and guarded them. The next day, Monday, they sailed up to the
shore below us, and, stepping on Plymouth Rock, made the exploration
which ultimately determined them to fix upon this place for their
plantation.
Morton Park
[Illustration: Illustrated capital]
One of the most attractive spots in old Plymouth and one that the casual
visitor does not always see, is Morton Park. Lying a little more than a
mile from the town centre it makes a convenient pleasure-ground for
Plymouth people, and the beauty of the place is such as to attract all
lovers of woodland scenery. Nature has done her most to make the park
charming, and man has very wisely made little attempt to improve it.
Nearly 200 acres there are, consisting of deep woods and open country,
hills and valleys, brooks and ponds.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO MORTON PARK.]
The park nearly surrounds Little Pond, consisting of forty acres, and
borders for a mile on the historic Billington Sea, which has 308 acres.
Roads and paths have been laid out in romantic situations, and some
trees planted, but otherwise the wild woodland cleared of underbrush
remains in its natural state. In 1889 the land was given to the town by
several public-spirited citizens, and the park was named for Nathaniel
Morton, Esq., one of its principal donors, who during his life made it
his special pride, and gave his money generously for its improvement.
Town Brook
“And there is a very sweet brooke runnes under the hillside, and many
delicate springs of as good water as can be drunke.”
GOV. BRADFORD.
[Illustration: Illustrated capital]
At the foot of Burial Hill, on the south side, the Town Brook flows
through the centre of the town, “vexed in all its seaward course by
bridges, dams and mills.” Along the banks the Pilgrims erected their
first dwelling-houses and brought water from “the very sweet brooke”
below, into which the “many delicate springs” still continue to run.
[Illustration: OUTLET OF BILLINGTON SEA.]
It is a favorite resort for artists who delight in sketching the
picturesque scenery and ancient architecture. One of these springs of
deliciously clear cold water, is forced up from near the brook by
electric power, and runs out in a fountain at the corner of Leyden and
Main Streets, on land once owned by Elder Brewster as previously noted.
During the summer many thousands are here refreshed, and while citizens
much enjoy the cooling draughts, visitors highly commend the public
provision which enables them to partake of the waters of a spring, from
which the Pilgrims themselves daily obtained their supply “of as good
water as can be drunke.”
The stream proceeds from Billington Sea about two miles distant from the
town. It furnishes a valuable water power at the present, and in the
days of the Pilgrims, and for nearly two centuries after, it abounded
with alewives almost at their doors, affording an important resource for
the supply of their wants. The tide flowed for some distance up this
stream and formed a convenient basin for the reception and safe shelter
of the shallops and other vessels employed in their earlier enterprises
of fishing and traffic. Under authority of a Legislative act the Town of
Plymouth purchased this estuary in 1909 that the area and surrounding
may be subject to public improvements. From Watson’s Hill, over this
brook, where Market Street crosses it, came the great sachem Massasoit,
with twenty of his braves, on a visit to the Pilgrims, when was
concluded that treaty April 1, 1621, which during nearly fifty-five
years conduced so effectually to the safety and permanence of the
colony.
Old Houses
[Illustration: Illustrated capital]
Plymouth contains many old buildings antedating the Revolution, but they
have been repaired and modernized so that they do not have that
appearance at present, and visitors are often disappointed in not
finding the antique structures which they expected. Old people, now
living, can remember when several of these buildings had “Dutch ovens”
and chimneys built on the outside.
Old houses still remaining are the Kendall Holmes house on Winter
street, built in 1666; the Leach house, on Summer Street, built in 1679;
the Howland house, 1666; the Shurtleff house, 1698; the Crowe house,
1664; and the William Harlow house, built in 1677, partly of the
material of the old fort on Burial Hill. The Howland descendants
recently purchased the old homestead on Sandwich street, and in the
spring of 1913, put it in complete repair, designing it as a place of
annual meeting, and for public visitation in the summer season. The Cole
blacksmith shop, 1684, which composed part of a building at the corner
of Leyden and Main streets, and was regarded with much interest by
visitors, was badly damaged by fire April 16, 1913, and has been
replaced by a very handsome store building. It is a coincidence that
this old smithy which the Pilgrims knew on the first Pilgrim street,
should have burned on the anniversary of the day the “Mayflower” sailed
on her return voyage, after passing the winter here in Plymouth harbor.
[Illustration: WM. CROWE HOUSE, 1664.]
The Winslow house on North Street is a good example of the colonial
style of architecture. It was built about 1754 by Edward Winslow, who
was a great-grandson of Gov. Winslow, of the colony. He purchased the
land from Consider, a grandson of John Howland, who was one of the
“Mayflower” passengers. Additions have recently been made to the house
which is now owned and occupied by Mrs. C. L. Willoughby. In this house
then owned by her father, Charles Jackson, Miss Lydia Jackson was
married to the famed scholar and philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
[Illustration: WILLIAM HARLOW HOUSE, 1677.]
The Sergeant William Harlow House was built in 1677 of timbers from the
fort on Burial Hill, which was taken down at the close of the King
Phillip War. It has recently been purchased by the Plymouth Antiquarian
Society and is now open to the public.
On the corner of Main and North Streets, built in 1730, still stands the
house of General John Winslow, who removed the Acadians from Nova
Scotia. This was also the home of James Warren, President of the
Provincial Congress.
The Town
[Illustration: Illustrated capital]
By the State census of 1920 the population of Plymouth was 13,032. The
total valuation in 1920 was $20,854,025, of which $15,573,175 was real
estate, and $5,280,850 personal. The number of polls assessed was 3,523
and the acres of land assessed 50,269. Tax rate, $22.80 on $1,000. The
funded debt January 1, 1920, was $188,533 of which amount $42,933 was
water debt, leaving but $145,600 funded for other purposes. This is
extremely moderate in comparison with the value of the town’s municipal
property and assets, which are net aggregated.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH HIGH SCHOOL.]
Few towns are better provided with city conveniences. A system of public
works, introduced in 1855, supplies the inhabitants with pure water from
the great ponds that lie in the woods a few miles south of the town.
Excellent drainage is secured by an extensive system of sewers, the main
outlets discharging in deep water of the harbor 1500 feet from the
shore. The main thoroughfares are lighted by electricity, and both
electricity and gas are in use for illuminants in public buildings,
stores, factories and dwellings. Court Street and Main Street, from the
N. Y., N. H. & H. railroad station to the head of Water Street, comprise
the “Great Whiteway” system of arc lighting from underground wires, with
very satisfactory results. These lights were turned on in the evening of
March 1st, 1916, the occasion having been made an impromptu celebration,
in which several thousands of citizens of Plymouth and neighboring towns
took part. Electric street railways furnish connection with the adjacent
towns, and are a source of much pleasure in summer for trolley trips to
the beaches, hotels, and suburbs.
[Illustration: PLYMOUTH PUBLIC LIBRARY.]
The town has a public library incorporated in 1880, containing nearly
16,000 volumes and a valuable collection of 4,000 large photographs from
the finest art subjects in European galleries. Its schools rank among
the best in the State, and its high-school building, erected in 1891 at
a cost of forty thousand dollars, and enlarged in 1914 at a cost of more
than thirty thousand dollars, has accommodation for over three hundred
pupils. In its religious denominations holding regular services are
represented the Unitarian, Congregational, Baptist, Universalist,
Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal, Advent, German Lutheran, Christian
Scientist, Spiritualist, Latter Day Saints and Jewish faiths.
Plymouth has good streets, her principal thoroughfares being
macadamized. The sidewalks throughout the centre of the town are
concreted. Her stores are kept abreast of the times, and a weekly
newspaper, the Old Colony Memorial established May, 1822, chronicles the
happenings of local and neighborhood interest.
The town contains five banking institutions,—Old Colony and the Plymouth
National banks; the Plymouth, the Plymouth Five Cents and the Plymouth
Co-operative savings banks, occupying two fine brick buildings on Main
Street. There are six excellent hotels within the town limits, four of
them well known as summer resorts. To the credit of the town be it said,
that its citizens are so law abiding that only a small but very
effective uniformed police force is required, and there is seldom
occasion of arrest for any serious offense.
The fire department has a first-class alarm and motor system, and is run
in regular city style. The town voted in March, 1916, to reorganize the
department under a single Commissioner, and appropriated about $17,000
for new motor apparatus. Of the four “auto” pieces, going into
commission in 1917, two are combined chemical and hose; one a powerful
three stream pump, hose and ladder combination; and one a first-class
ladder truck. This modern outfit, in charge of a chief and permanent
force at the Central station, is so quickly effective as to meet
emergencies; but two steamers, one ladder truck and a hose wagon of the
old department, are kept available in case of need.
[Illustration: ARMORY.]
The military establishment consists of a fine State armory which cost
$30,000 in which the “Standish Guards,” chartered in 1818, have their
quarters. The “Guards” were one of the best companies in the dandy Fifth
Regiment, and their past history in the Civil and Spanish wars is highly
creditable. They were “Minute Men of 1861,” responding under Capt.
Charles C. Doten on the first call for troops the morning of April 16,
1861, and with their regiment, then the Third Massachusetts, were the
very first of any troops of the war, either National or Volunteer, to go
within the rebel lines as they did when on the gunboat “Pawnee” they ran
the rebel batteries and destroyed the Norfolk navy yard, and rescued the
frigate “Cumberland” on the night of April 20, 1861. In the Spanish war,
commanded by Capt. W. C. Butler, they were in camp in the South, but the
regiment, the Fifth, was not sent to Cuba, while all the while in
instant readiness for active service. Again, June 21, 1916, as company D
of the Fifth, they at once responded to the call for state troops to
defend the Mexican border, and splendidly maintained their patriotic
record, under the command of Capt. Charles H. Robbins,—the Lieut. Col.
of the regiment being their former commander, Capt. W. C. Butler. The
company returned Oct. 21, 1916 and received a hearty welcome from the
townspeople. As part of the National Guard, the company was mustered
into the United States service for the European war, Aug. 8, 1917, under
command of Capt. A. J. Carr, and with 141 men went into camp at
Framingham, Aug. 17, where the 5th and 9th regiments were consolidated
and became the 101st U. S. N. G. Infantry, in the 26th Division,
embarking for service in Europe, Sept. 7, 1917.
Its Industries
[Illustration: Illustrated capital]
The character of Plymouth’s industrial life has entirely changed within
a half century. Within the memory of men now living, the time was when
the town boasted a fleet of seventy-five fishermen, and enjoyed prestige
as a fishing port. In common with other seaport towns of New England,
this industry has departed, but thriving manufactories have risen in its
place and coal barges and steamships are doing business at the port,
superseding the old fishing schooners which once crowded the wharves or
whitened the harbor with their sails.
Plymouth’s manufacturing industries show great diversity of character,
and are exceedingly prosperous. The yearly value of their total product
is not far from fifteen million dollars. The great cordage works at
North Plymouth are the very largest concern of the kind in the world,
employing above 2,000 hands, and have built up a flourishing corporation
hamlet in that quarter of the town. Their manufacturing product is over
$10,000,000 a year, and their big steamships bringing from Yucatan
directly to Plymouth great cargoes of fibre as raw material, give the
port, as one of foreign import, rank in Massachusetts over all other
ports of the state directly next to Boston. There are three large mills
engaged in the production of woolen and worsted cloths, one busy concern
making rugs and mats, while three extensive factories keep many of
Plymouth’s inhabitants employed in the manufacture of tacks, nails, and
rivets. An iron foundry does a large business in stovemaking, and at
Chiltonville there is a big branch plant of the Boston Woven Hose and
Rubber Company, under Plymouth management which supports quite a village
of its own. Besides these are the manufactories of insulated wire for
electrical purposes, zinc and copper, saw gummers and swages, barrels,
boxes, kegs and kits, and numerous smaller enterprises. The Plymouth
Electric Light and Power Company furnishes current to several of these
establishments, besides sending current to Kingston, Duxbury and
Marshfield, Middleboro and Carver for domestic and street lighting. It
also lights Plymouth, having in its circuits of the several towns,
nearly 40 miles of wire. The Cape Cod Canal, on both sides for its
entire length, is illuminated by the P. E. L. Co., through a special
system of heavy aerial conductors comprising a circuit of about 30
miles.
Plymouth’s manufactured products bear an excellent name in the markets
of the world, her cordage and woolen goods being particularly well known
as of the very best character.
In 1912 the town granted to Andrew Kerr a large area of the sand flats
in the harbor for propagation of clams, proving a good enterprise for
the town. The herring fishery, employing many small boats each autumn at
the mouth of the harbor, is also a productive industry of many thousands
of dollars a season.
Of late years many Plymouth residents have engaged in cranberry culture
on an extensive scale, and their ventures have been exceedingly
profitable, amounting to about $400,000 yearly. Together with the
adjoining town of Carver, which is still more extensively engaged in
cranberry raising, the two towns produce more than one-fourth of the
cranberries grown in the entire United States. An industry, which is of
large proportions, is the raising of brook trout and spawn for the
markets.
The recent harbor improvements, and the railroad facilities which will
necessarily be increased in 1920, together with the attention being
centered on Plymouth in its connection with the approaching Tercentenary
Celebration will be likely to attract other manufacturing and business
interests to the town, while its residential advantages are so apparent,
that its eligible locations are now rapidly being appropriated.
As a Summer Resort
Viewed simply as the landing-place of the Pilgrims, Plymouth has an
interest which attaches to no other spot in America. The number of
visitors from all parts of the country increases with each year, as
historic sentiment becomes more widespread and facilities for travel are
multiplied. It is estimated that over 125,000 strangers visit the town
in a year. It is not alone on account of its history that Plymouth is
attractive to the visitor. The beauty of its scenery, the unusual
healthfulness of its air, the purity of its water, the variety of its
drives, the number of ponds within its limits, and its unbounded
resources for the sportsman and pleasure-seeker, have been more widely
recognized with each recurring season. It combines the most interesting
features of town and country, and has direct connection with Boston by
the Old Colony Railroad built in 1845, and now leased by the New York,
New Haven and Hartford R. R. Co., also directly with Providence and New
York, by the Fall River Line, and the Plymouth & Middleboro Railroad,
built by the towns in 1892 and sold to the N. Y., N. H. & H. corporation
in 1911. The distance from Boston is thirty-seven miles by rail, with
frequent trains; and during the summer months a daily steamer capable of
carrying 2,000 passengers is on the route between the two places, the
sail being a delightful one.
[Illustration: CLARK’S ISLAND.]
As a summer resort for health and pleasure, Plymouth has great
attractions. Plymouth and the adjoining towns of Kingston and Duxbury
nearly encircle a harbor of almost unrivalled beauty, a source of
endless pleasure to the summer visitor. There are good sand beaches for
surf and smooth-water sea bathing, bath houses being provided by the
town. In the bay are opportunities for fine sport in the mackerel
season, and a haul of sea-perch, tautog, cod or haddock is always to be
had. Plymouth extends over a territory about eighteen miles long, and
from five to nine miles wide, and beyond the settled parts of the town
is a succession of wooded hills. This large tract is interspersed with
hundreds of large and small ponds (or lakes) stocked with fish,
furnishing limitless fields for the lover of nature or seeker of
pleasure, in walking, riding, fishing, or hunting. Wealthy residents of
other places have fine summer seats at the town overlooking the harbor
and bay.
[Illustration: ALONG SHORE FROM STEPHENS’ POINT.]
The Compact
Signed in the Cabin of the “Mayflower,” Nov. 11th, Old Style, Nov.
21st, New Style, 1620.