A GUIDE TO
PLYMOUTH
_And Its History_
Compiled from Inscriptions on TABLETS, MONUMENTS
& STATUES erected in Honor of Its Founders
_THE PILGRIMS_, or given in prose or verse
on Occasions of Memorial Celebrations
[Illustration]
_By_ HELEN T. BRIGGS _and_ ROSE T. BRIGGS
_Illustrated by_ RAYMOND C. DREHER
[Illustration]
PUBLISHED BY
THE PILGRIM SOCIETY
_and_
THE PLYMOUTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
_Copyright, 1938_
BY THE PLYMOUTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
THE MEMORIAL PRESS
PLYMOUTH, _Massachusetts_
Illustration]
_FOREWORD_
Plymouth preserves with loyal respect the places which are associated
with her Forefathers, the Pilgrims.
In the town they founded, tablets, statues, and public monuments bear
witness to the veneration that historical societies, the State, and
the Nation, hold for the memory of that small group of men and women,
simple in their origin, exalted in their purpose, who were destined to
prove themselves great among the greatest, and whose example of a free
commonwealth and a free faith, is one of the far-reaching influences in
history.
Many questions are asked by visitors to Plymouth about Plymouth
history and the localities of Pilgrim Life. It is the purpose of this
short guide to review the Pilgrim story and give in the words of
permanent inscriptions, the public estimation of the Pilgrims and their
accomplishment.
Plymouth, 1938.
[Illustration: PILGRIM HALL
In grateful memory
Of our ancestors
Who exiled themselves from their
native country
for the sake of Religion
And here successfully laid the
foundation
of Freedom and Empire
December XXII A.D. MDCCCXX
their descendants the Pilgrim Society
have raised this edifice
August XXXI MDCCCXXIV]
_PLYMOUTH_
“Forever honored be this, the place of our fathers’ refuge!
Forever remembered the day which saw them, weary and distressed,
broken in everything but spirit, poor in all but faith and
courage, at last secure from the dangers of wintry seas, and
impressing this shore with the first footsteps of civilized man!”
--DANIEL WEBSTER
From the oration delivered
at Plymouth December 22,
1820, in commemoration of
the first settlement of New
England.
[Illustration]
_CONTENTS_
PAGE
FOREWORD i
THE PILGRIMS OF THE MAYFLOWER 9
List of Mayflower Passengers 10
THE COMPACT 13
Signers of the Compact 14
FROM PLYMOUTH, ENGLAND TO PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS 15
Departure and Landfalls
Inscriptions at:
Southampton 15
Provincetown 15
Exploration 16
Plymouth Rock 16
The Monument over Plymouth Rock 17
COLES HILL. The First Burying Ground 18
List of Those Who Died in the First Winter 19
Statue of Massasoit 20
Memorial Seats 20
THE FIRST STREET (Leyden Street) 21
Common House 22
TOWN BROOK--THE BREWSTER GARDENS 24
BURIAL HILL 26
The Fort 26
The Guns 27
The Pilgrim Progress 28
The Graves 29
THE MEMORIAL TO THE PILGRIM WOMEN 33
List of Women and Girls Who Came in the Mayflower
THE NATIONAL MONUMENT TO THE FOREFATHERS 34
THE FIRST CHURCH IN PLYMOUTH 36
The Covenant 36
The Elders 37
The Congregation--from Dr. Charles W. Eliot’s inscription
on the Standish Monument in Duxbury 37
The Meetinghouses 38
THE COLONY AND TOWN RECORDS (1620–1691)
The Pilgrim Citizen--from “The Pilgrim Spirit” by
George P. Baker 40
The Colony and Town Records, and the Records of the
New England Confederacy 41
THE PILGRIM SOCIETY
Its establishment and purpose 43
Its history 43
Its collections 44
THE OLD COLONY CLUB 47
Its celebration of Forefathers’ Day
THE PLYMOUTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY 48
THE ANTIQUARIAN HOUSE 51
THE HARLOW HOUSE: A 17TH CENTURY HOME 53
THE HOWLAND HOUSE 55
THE SPARROW HOUSE 56
AUTHORITIES 57
[Illustration: THE MAYFLOWER]
[Illustration]
The Pilgrims _of the_ Mayflower
“So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their
resting place near twelve years; but they knew that they were
Pilgrims, and looked not much on these things, but lifted up
their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted
their spirits.”
BRADFORD: _History of Plymouth Plantation_
The little ship Mayflower of about 120 tons burden according to the
present register, Capt. Christopher Jones commanding, set sail from
Plymouth, England, on September 16, 1620.
She carried a crowded company: men with their wives and children, young
men and maidens, eager with a sober spirit to found a colony, and make
their permanent homes in the new world of America. Because of religious
differences, they had already separated themselves from the established
Church of England, and in consequence had suffered persecution, fines,
and imprisonment.
Their small congregations had met in secret that they might worship
according to their own principles and ideals.
Some of them had previously left their homes in the villages of York,
Nottinghamshire, and Lincolnshire, and had spent twelve years of exile
in Holland, where they found hospitable and friendly tolerance in the
cities of Amsterdam and Leyden.
But after long and serious debate, it was decided that they must
seek greater liberty for themselves and their children; so banding
together part of the congregation in Leyden with others in England,
the passengers of the Mayflower sailed, not as conquerors of a new
province, or adventurers of fortune, but as Pilgrims with a fixed
purpose to secure civic and religious freedom in a new land.
THE MAYFLOWER PASSENGERS
“The names of those who came over first in
the year 1620
and were by the blessing of God the first
beginners and (in a sort) the foundation
of all the Plantations and Colonies
in New England.”
*Died the first winter
*Mr. John Carver
*Katharine, his wife
Desire Minter
John Howland, servant
*Roger Wilder, servant
William Latham, a boy
a maid-servant
*Jasper More, a child
Mr. William Brewster
Mary, his wife
Love Brewster, their son
Wrestling Brewster, their son
Richard More, a child
*His brother, a child
Mr. Edward Winslow
*Elizabeth, his wife
George Soule, servant
*Elias Storey, servant
*Ellen More, a child
William Bradford
*Dorothy, his wife
Mr. Isaac Allerton
*Mary, his wife
Bartholomew Allerton
Remember Allerton (daughter)
Mary Allerton
*John Hooke, servant
Mr. Samuel Fuller (surgeon)
*William Button, servant (died at sea)
*John Crackston
John Crackston, his son
Captain Myles Standish
*Rose, his wife
*Mr. Christopher Martin
*his wife
*Solomon Prower, servant
*John Langmore, servant
*Mr. William Mullins
*his wife
*Joseph Mullins
Priscilla Mullins
*Robert Carter, servant
*Mr. William White
Susanna, his wife
Resolved, their son
Peregrine, their son (born off Provincetown)
*William Holbeck, servant
*Edward Thompson, servant
Mr. Stephen Hopkins
Elizabeth, his wife
Giles Hopkins
Constance Hopkins
Damaris Hopkins (daughter)
Oceanus Hopkins (born at sea)
Edward Doty (Doten), servant
Edward Lister, servant
Mr. Richard Warren
John Billington
Ellen, his wife
John Billington, their son
Francis Billington, their son
*Edward Tilley
*Ann, his wife
Henry Sampson, cousin; child
Humility Cooper, cousin; little girl
*John Tilley
*his wife
Elizabeth Tilley
Francis Cooke
John Cooke, his son
*Thomas Rogers
Joseph Rogers, his son
*Thomas Tinker
*his wife
*his son
*John Rigdale
*Alice, his wife
*James Chilton
*his wife
Mary Chilton
*Edward Fuller
*his wife
Samuel, their son
*John Turner
*his two sons
Francis Eaton
*Sarah, his wife
Samuel Eaton, their infant son
*Moses Fletcher
*John Goodman
*Thomas Williams
*Degory Priest
*Edmond Margeson
Peter Brown
*Richard Britteridge
*Richard Clarke
Richard Gardiner
Gilbert Winslow
John Alden, cooper
*John Allerton, seaman
*Thomas English, seaman
William Trevor, seaman, (hired for one year)
---- Ely, seaman, (hired for one year)
[Illustration:
“Immortal scroll! the first where men combined
From one deep lake of common blood to draw
All rulers, rights and potencies of law.”
--JOHN BOYLE O’REILLEY
Poem read at the dedication
of the National Monument
to the Forefathers August 1, 1889.]
[Illustration]
The Pilgrims held a charter issued to a member of a company of London
merchants who had agreed to support their venture.
They intended to make a settlement somewhat to the north of the already
established colony in Virginia, but storms buffeted the little ship,
and head winds drove her from her course. When at last land was sighted
after a weary voyage, they found themselves many leagues further north
than they had intended.
With winter upon them, they knew that they must establish themselves at
once, outside of the territory originally granted them, and that their
charter would not cover this emergency. They determined to act for
themselves.
In the cabin of the Mayflower before they came to anchor in “Cape
Codd” bay, on Nov. 21, 1620 (N.S.), the men of the Company drew up and
signed a compact for their government, electing their own officers, and
binding themselves to work together for their common good and their
common faith.
From this simple mutual agreement, took form the first American
commonwealth, the beginning “of government of the people, by the
people, for the people.”
THE COMPACT
“In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten,
the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by
the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland king,
defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory
of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of
our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the
northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and
mutually, in the presence of God and one of another, covenant
and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for
our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the
ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and
frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions,
and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet
and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we
promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we
have hereunder subscribed our names, in the year of the reign of
our sovereign lord, King James of England, France, and Ireland
the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, anno Domini
1620.”
[Illustration]
SIGNERS OF THE COMPACT
John Carver
William Bradford
Edward Winslow
William Brewster
Isaac Allerton
John Alden
Myles Standish
Samuel Fuller
Christopher Martin
William Mullins
William White
Richard Warren
John Howland
Stephen Hopkins
Edward Tilley
John Tilley
Francis Cooke
Thomas Rogers
Thomas Tinker
John Rigdale
Edward Fuller
John Turner
Francis Eaton
James Chilton
John Crackston
John Billington
Moses Fletcher
John Goodman
Degory Priest
Thomas Williams
Gilbert Winslow
Edmund Margeson
Peter Brown
Richard Britteridge
George Soule
Richard Clarke
Richard Gardner
John Allerton
Thomas English
Edward Doten
Edward Lester
The “Compact” was succeeded, in law, if not in the respect of the
colonists, by a regular patent taken out in the name of one of the
Adventurers (the English investors) in 1621. This is now in Pilgrim
Hall. It was superseded by another, also to the Adventurers; and
finally, in 1629, after the colonists had bought out the English
investors, by one to “Wm. Bradford and associates,”--that is, the
freemen of the colony. By thus transferring the “home office” of
the company from London to America, the colony became an all but
independent government. Consciously or unconsciously, it had from the
beginning exercised most of the functions of a sovereign state, and
continued to do so, except during the “tyranny” of Sir Edmund Andros,
until it merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.
[Illustration]
From Plymouth, England
_to_
Plymouth, Massachusetts
[Illustration]
_In England_:
“On the 25th of August 1620
From the West Quay near this spot
The famous Mayflower began her voyage
Carrying the little company of
Pilgrim Fathers
Who were destined to be the founders
Of the New England States of America.”
Memorial tablet at Southampton, England. Placed by the
Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America.
_At Provincetown_:
“They established and maintained on the bleak and barren edge of a
vast wilderness, a state without a king or a noble, a church without a
bishop or a priest, a democratic commonwealth the members of which were
‘straightly tied to all care of each other’s good, and for the whole by
every one.’
“With long suffering devotion and sober resolution they illustrated for
the first time in history the principles of civic and religious liberty
and the practices of a genuine democracy.
“Therefore the remembrance of them shall be perpetual in the vast
republic that has inherited their ideals.”
From the inscription written by Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President
Emeritus of Harvard, for the Memorial Monument to the Pilgrims
in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
_Exploration_:
While the Mayflower lay at anchor in Cape Cod bay, two exploring
parties had been sent out to search for a suitable place for a
settlement.
On Wednesday, Dec. 16 (N.S.) the third expedition sailed along the
shore in the shallop owned by the Pilgrim company. There were eighteen
men on board: two officers, the master-gunner, and three seamen from
the Mayflower, and ten Pilgrim volunteers. These were Gov. Carver,
Capt. Standish, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Tilley, Edward
Tilley, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Dotey, Richard Warren,
and two of the Pilgrims’ own seamen, John Allerton and Thomas English.
The weather was cold and rough, and the voyage proved an adventurous
and memorable one.
On the second day, they escaped unharmed a sudden and violent attack
from a band of Indians on the shore. When they resumed their voyage a
storm arose, and in the blinding snow, with high winds and a rough sea,
they were nearly shipwrecked.
At last in the darkness they found shelter in the lee of a small island
at the mouth of Plymouth harbor, and passed the night safely on shore.
When the sun shone the next morning, they dried their soaked clothing,
looked after their firearms, repaired the damaged shallop, and gave
thanks to God “for his mercies in their manifold deliverances.” “And
this being the last day of the week, they prepared there to keep the
Sabbath.”
_Plymouth Rock_:
On Monday, December 21, they crossed to the mainland, finding a channel
“fit for shipping” and a sheltered harbor. There they made their first
landing on a rock on the shore.
The situation seemed promising. They marched into the land and found
deserted corn fields “and little running brooks.” “A place fit for
situation; at least it was the best they could find.” “So they returned
to their ship again, with this news to the rest of their people, which
did much comfort their hearts.”
The Mayflower then weighed anchor for Plymouth, where three days were
spent in anxious deliberation. They asked Divine Guidance on the
momentous question of the settlement, and it was at last decided to
accept the first site considered, and build their houses on the bank of
the brook running into the sea, near the rock where they first landed.
Thus Plymouth Rock became “the stepping-stone of a nation.” The Rock
has long been fully identified; notably in 1741 by Elder Thomas Faunce,
who, at the age of ninety-five, in the presence of his sons and many
spectators, declared his knowledge of it was received from his father
and the Pilgrims still living in his boyhood.
THE MONUMENT OVER PLYMOUTH ROCK
For the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, the National
Society of the Colonial Dames of America built a beautiful portico of
Doric columns over the Rock.
This replaced the “monumental canopy,” whose corner stone had been laid
Aug. 2, 1859, under the care of the Pilgrim Society.
At the beginning of the Revolution, a large section, split from the
main rock, had been carried by the patriots of Plymouth with great
ceremony and enthusiasm to the Town Square, and there placed beneath a
Liberty Pole to rouse and maintain patriotic feeling.
In 1834 this fragment was removed to the front of Pilgrim Hall, and
surrounded by an iron railing inscribed with the names of the Pilgrim
Fathers. It was returned to the shore again in 1880, and the severed
fragment fitted into its original position.
Finally in 1921, all parts of the Rock were strongly cemented together,
and now rest, where the tide reaches it, under the new portico on the
shore.
The park reservation surrounding the Rock, from the roadway eastward to
the water, is the property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is
cared for and controlled by the State.
“Plymouth Rock does not mark a beginning or an end. It marks a
revelation of that which is without beginning and without end,
a purpose shining through eternity with a resplendent light,
undimmed even by the imperfections of men, and a response, an
answering purpose from those who oblivious, disdainful of all
else, sought only an avenue for the immortal soul.”
--CALVIN COOLIDGE
Address read at the opening of the
Tercentenary Celebration at Plymouth,
Dec. 21, 1920.
[Illustration]
COLE’S HILL
The first Burying Ground.
“But what was most sad and lamentable was, that in two or three
months half of their number died, being the depth of winter, and
wanting houses and other comforts.”
--from WILLIAM BRADFORD’S
_Of Plymouth Plantation_
Before the Mayflower left Cape Cod, and while she lay at anchor in
Plymouth harbor, a violent and fatal sickness broke out among her
passengers.
Confinement in their close and crowded cabin, the hardship of a long
and stormy voyage, poor food, and the exposure of building their first
houses on shore, caused many of the Pilgrim company to lose their
lives, in sight of the promised land they had ventured so much to gain.
Hardly a family but lost one or two of its members; wives, their
husbands, children, their parents; before spring came, one half of the
little colony had perished and were secretly buried on this hill by the
shore.
Three hundred years later, the General Society of Mayflower Descendants
placed a handsome sarcophagus to honor and receive these dead from
their nameless graves, which time and accident had disturbed, and the
Massachusetts Tercentenary Commission set aside a park reservation
on the crest of the hill, to surround the monument. It was formally
dedicated September 8, 1921.
On the side facing the street, the inscription reads:
“This Monument marks the First Burying Ground in Plymouth of the
Passengers of the Mayflower.
“Here under cover of darkness the fast dwindling company laid
their dead, levelling the earth above them lest the Indians
should know how many were the graves.
“Reader! History records no nobler venture for faith and freedom
than that of this Pilgrim band.
“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and
cold they laid the foundations of a state wherein every man,
through countless ages should have liberty to worship God in his
own way.
“May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating
and spreading the lofty ideals of our republic throughout the
world!”
At one end of the memorial is inscribed:
“The Bones of the Pilgrims found at various times in or near this
enclosure and preserved for many years in the canopy over the Rock were
returned at the time of the Tercentenary celebration and are deposited
within this monument.”
“Erected by the General Society of
Mayflower Descendants A.D. 1920.”
On the opposite end of the monument is:
“About a hundred sowls came over in this first ship, and began this
work which God in his Goodness hath hithertoe Blessed. Let his Holy
Name have ye praise.”
BRADFORD 1650.
THOSE WHO DIED IN THE FIRST WINTER
On the opposite side of the monument, facing the sea, is a list of the
Pilgrims who died in the first winter, as follows:
“of the hundred and four passengers these died in Plymouth during the
first year:
John Allerton
Mary, first wife of Isaac Allerton
Richard Britteridge
Robert Carter
John Carver and
Katherine, his wife
James Chilton’s wife
Richard Clarke
John Crackston, Sr.
Sarah, first wife of Francis Eaton
Thomas English
Moses Fletcher
Edward Fuller and
his wife
John Goodman
William Holbeck
John Hooke
John Langmore
Edmund Margeson
Christopher Martin and
his wife
Ellen Moore and a brother (children)
William Mullins
Alice, his wife
Joseph, their son
Solomon Prower
John Rigdale and
Alice, his wife
Thomas Rogers
Rose, first wife of Myles Standish
Elias Story
Edward Tilley and
Ann, his wife
John Tilley and
his wife
Thomas Tinker
his wife and
son
John Turner and
two sons
William White
Roger Wilder
Elizabeth, first wife of Edward Winslow
Thomas Williams”
The following died before reaching Plymouth:
Dorothy, first wife of William Bradford
William Button
James Chilton
Jasper Moore
Edward Thompson
STATUE OF MASSASOIT
Not far from the Sarcophagus stands a fine statue of the Indian Sachem
Massasoit. It was modeled by the sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin, and given by
the National Order of Red Men. It was unveiled September 5, 1921, and
dedicated in October of same year.
Massasoit, the grand sachem of the confederated tribes of Pokanoket,
visited Plymouth on a fine spring day, April 1st, 1621. He was received
with ceremony, a feast and gifts. A treaty of peace and friendship was
drawn up and signed by him and the Pilgrims. He remained their loyal
friend, and preserved peace with the colony for half a century.
MEMORIAL SEATS
Two stone seats have also been given as memorials, and placed on the
hill, one near the statue of Massasoit, and the other under the great
linden tree at the northern end. This was dedicated August 31st, 1921,
and inscribed:
Presented by
The Pennsylvania Society
of
New England Women
To commemorate the Tercentenary
of the
Landing of the Pilgrims
1620–1920
The inscription of the other seat reads:
In Memory
of
The Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers whose
heroic idealism established the basic principles
of the government of our land.
Presented by
The Society of Daughters of Colonial Wars
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Seated here, with the wide view of harbor, Plymouth Beach, and distant
ocean spread before them
“Let musing strangers view the ground,
Here seek tradition’s lore,
Where Pilgrims walked on holy ground
With God in days of yore.”
SAMUEL DAVIS
[Illustration]
The First Street
NOW LEYDEN STREET
Since it was the twenty-first of December when the first exploring
party landed in Plymouth, and winter was fast closing in, the first
work to be undertaken by the men of the Mayflower was to provide
shelter for their families and a storage place for their supplies.
A Common House was the first to be built, and other houses were added
as those who survived the fatal epidemic were able “in their great
weakness” to accomplish the heavy task. They tenderly cared for the
sick and dying, and toiled through the winter weather with incredible
courage, and an unshaken faith; when spring came the Mayflower sailed
on her homeward voyage, but not one of the Pilgrim Company relinquished
his fixed purpose and returned to England. The women bravely supported
the men, and were determined to make and maintain their homes and rear
their children in this new land of opportunity for civil and religious
liberty.
Along the bank of the brook, the Pilgrims found cleared land, the
abandoned cornfields of a tribe of native Indians who had perished
about three years before in another mysterious epidemic. High land rose
from the shore to a hill beyond, and following the ascent, the first
street was laid out.
Along this pathway, Governor Carver portioned to each person a lot of
land, each plot to be of the same size: three rods long and half a rod
wide. The company was divided into nineteen families, and each family
was to build its own house, which was to front the street, with a
garden behind, those on the south side sloping down to the brook. The
lots were to be inclosed with high palings for protection. The houses
are described as built of hewn plank, the roofs thatched with swamp
grass.
A partial plan of the location of the allotments was roughly drawn
by William Bradford, and may still be seen at the Registry of Deeds
on Russell St. in Plymouth. Seven houses were built during the first
winter. It was not until March that the last of the women and children
who had been sheltered during the winter on the Mayflower, were brought
on shore to live.
The Common House was the first to be finished. It sheltered the men
working on shore; the community assembled there on the Sabbath, until
the lower room in the Fort was ready for this purpose; there the Colony
business was transacted, and the first “Court Days”, from which the
New England institution of the Town Meeting was to develop, were held.
It was used, too, as a hospital for the sick, and after the dwelling
houses were built, it served as a store house. It is marked with a
tablet:
COMMON HOUSE
This tablet is erected by the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts to mark
the site of the first house built by
The Pilgrims
In that house on the 21st of February 1621 (New Style) the right
of popular suffrage was exercised and Myles Standish was chosen
Captain by a majority vote. On or near this spot, April 1, 1621,
the memorable treaty with Massasoit was made.
Next to the Common House came that of Peter Brown, and third, that of
John Goodman. Farther up the street, at its intersection by the path
to the Indian ford over the brook, was the house and land of William
Brewster, Elder and spiritual leader of the Colony.
Across the path, continuing up the hill, were the houses of John
Billington, Francis Cooke, and Edward Winslow. On the opposite side,
conveniently near his duties at the fort, was the house of Captain
Myles Standish. Next to that, descending the hill again towards the
shore, was the large lot and house of the Governor, William Bradford.
Part of his garden was used in 1637 for the site of the first Meeting
House. Next to Bradford’s house came those of Stephen Hopkins, and
of the faithful physician, Dr. Samuel Fuller. On most of these lots,
descriptive tablets have been placed by the Town of Plymouth.
Six years after the first labor of building the settlement had been
accomplished, the Colony received a visitor from the Dutch trading post
at Manhattan, which sent its Secretary, Isaac De Rasiere, to confer
with them about their respective trading transactions.
In a letter to Holland after his return from Plymouth, he describes
vividly and minutely the town as he saw it in October 1627.
“New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill, stretching east
toward the seacoast, with a broad street about a cannon shot
of about eight hundred feet long leading down the hill.... The
houses are constructed of hewn plank, with gardens also enclosed
behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses
and court yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade
against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the street are three
wooden gates.
In the center at the cross street stands the Governor’s house,
before which is a square enclosure upon which four patteros are
mounted so as to flank along the streets.”
The old street, following unchanged its original direction, has been
in constant use for more than three hundred years, and its present
inhabitants number several descendants of the first dwellers.
[Illustration]
Town Brook
_and_
The Brewster Gardens
“The meersteads and garden plottes of those which came first,
layed out 1620.”
To honor the memory of the courageous men and women who established
their homes and made their gardens along the Town Brook in 1621–22,
Mrs. William Forbes of Milton, with the co-operation of the Town,
created in 1920–22, a beautiful little park on the site of the first
meersteads.
The land apportioned to Elder Brewster was half way up the hill, and
his garden sloped down to the brook. A flowing spring in the hollow
has been reclaimed for a drinking fountain, and a branch has also been
piped to the Main Street in front of the Government Building which was
built on Brewster land.
The inscription on the fountain reads:
“Pilgrim Spring
on the Meerstead
set off to
Elder William Brewster
in the original allotment
December, 1620
erected by the Town 1915
“Freely drink and quench your thirst
Here drank the Pilgrim Fathers first.”
Near a little pool below the spring stands a fine statue of a Pilgrim
Maiden, by H. H. Kitson. It is inscribed:
“To those intrepid English women whose courage, fortitude, and
devotion brought a new nation into being, this statue of the
Pilgrim maiden is dedicated.”
Presented to the Town of Plymouth by the
National Society of New England Women.
The statue is full of life, vigorous and alert, typical of the strength
and cheerful courage with which the youthful Pilgrims met the hardships
and dangers of their new homes.
Above the spring, on the upward path to the street, the National
Society of Daughters of the American Colonists have placed a stone seat
in remembrance of the women who came in the ship Ann in 1623. From here
the brook in its little valley can be seen winding to the sea; on its
banks, the gardens which still bloom behind the old houses on Leyden
Street, occupy the same ground as those “garden plottes” where the
Pilgrim women cultivated the herbs which they consigned to England,
three hundred years ago. Perhaps no gardens in America can claim a
longer history of continuous use.
At the mouth of the brook was the herring weir, built before 1627 to
control the annual run of herring up the stream to the fresh water
ponds above. The herring still run in the spring through a similar
weir, and are still a source of revenue to the town.
The Town Brook with its springs of “sweet water,” the herring fishing,
and the ford which lead to the Indian encampment on the southern hill,
made one of the important centers of the community life, and the
gardens and sunny exposures of the little houses on the bank, protected
by the guns on the Fort Hill above them, must have given some quiet and
happy moments to the anxious and homesick Pilgrim women.
[Illustration]
Burial Hill
Called Fort Hill until 1698
THE FORT
On the top of the hill, beyond the row of the first houses, and
overlooking the town, the Pilgrims in 1622–23 built with great labor, a
fort and stockade; Governor Bradford describes it:
“A fort of good timbers, both strong and comely, which was a good
defense, made with a flat roof, and battlements, and on which their
ordinance was mounted, and where they kept constant watch, especially
in time of danger.”
In 1633, he further says--“Our ancient work of fortification, by
continuance of time is decayed, and Christian wisdom teaches us to
depend upon God in the use of all good means for our safety.” It was
therefore ordered by the Governor that the fort should be repaired, and
the stockade enlarged. In 1635 and in 1642, it was again repaired, and
in 1643 a watch tower was built nearby. This was of brick, two stories
high, and contained a fireplace with a chimney.
Though hostile Indians never attacked the town, both they and the
neighboring friendly tribes held the white men in increased respect for
this protection.
During the first winter, the Pilgrims elected Capt. Myles Standish
their military leader. He organized and trained his little army of
twelve men, led their marches, protected the town, and rendered valiant
service for thirty-five years.
“The only trained soldier
In the Pilgrim Community
Always their military Commander
But also a valuable civil servant
And a wise promoter
Of the business interests
Of the Pilgrim Stock Company.
In fight fearless impetuous and resolute
In civil affairs cautious and firm
In business shrewd just and far-seeing
A conscientious and high-minded leader
Of devout men and women
Who founded in a wilderness
A tolerant church and a free state.”
From
Standish Monument
Duxbury, Massachusetts
DR. CHARLES W. ELIOT
THE GUNS
On the side hill near the site of the fort now stand two ancient
cannon; they were presented to Plymouth Oct. 4, 1921, by the British
Government, through the good offices of the Honorable Artillery Company
of London (chartered in 1537) and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Company of Massachusetts (chartered in 1638).
Col. Sidney Hedges, speaking at the presentation of the guns, said:
“While we are not sure that they are the original pieces, which stood
on the spot in 1621, they certainly are of the same type and age: one
is called a Minion, manufactured in 1557, and the other a Sackeret,
manufactured in 1550.”
Bradford and Winslow mention such guns.
“The master came on shore with many of his sailors, and brought with
him one of the great pieces, called a minion, and helped us to draw it
up the hill, with another piece that lay on shore, and mounted them,
and a saller (saker, or sackeret) and two bases (very small pieces).”
At the presentation ceremony, Oct. 4, 1921, Mr. Joseph Smith read an
original poem which contained these lines:
“Minion and Sackeret, bravely done.
Guns of a king and queen,
Brazen and bold in the autumn sun,
Mute on the hill grass-green,
Moulded in strength by skillful hands,
Fashioned in beauty for war’s demands,--
The terrible beauty that Death commands,--
And the nod of king and queen.
Here will they stand at the dead man’s gate
Where the Pilgrims sleep and dream and wait
For the day when the lowly and the great
Are as one at the throne serene.
* * * * *
The land that holds the bones of all their sires
The land they loved despite their hapless lot,
Has kindled once again ancestral fires
And tells these dead they have not been forgot.
And here she sends to her dead exiled sons
To guard their sanctuaries, these ancient guns.”
The Pilgrim Progress
More far reaching than the voice of the guns, was the message to the
future from the small lower room of the fort, where the Pilgrims held
their services of worship. Here their Elder, William Brewster, extolled
freedom of thought and conscience; here were read letters received from
their beloved pastor in Leyden, John Robinson; here they sang hymns of
praise and thanksgiving; but still surrounded by danger, “they must
constantly be on their guard, night and day.”
“With arms they gathered in the congregation to worship Almighty God.
But they were armed, that in peace they might seek divine guidance in
righteousness: not that they might prevail by force, but that they
might do right though they perished.”
--CALVIN COOLIDGE
Plymouth, Dec. 21, 1920
The congregation assembled “at beat of drum,” and marched together from
their homes on Leyden Street, protected by the muskets of the men.
“They march three abreast, and are led by a sergeant.--Behind comes
the Governor in a long robe, beside him on the right hand comes the
preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain with his
side arms.”
The women with babes in their arms and their children clinging to them,
the boys and young men and the maidens follow,--“and so they march in
good order, and each sets his arms down near him.”
It is minutely described in a letter written in 1627, by Isaac de
Rasieres, a visitor of state from the Dutch colony at Manhattan.
This “Pilgrim Progress” is yearly reproduced by a memorial service to
the Pilgrims on the site of the first fort-meeting house.
On successive Fridays in August, at five o’clock, a group of men,
women and children, many of them still bearing the names of their
Pilgrim forefathers, wearing the white caps and kerchiefs, the
steeple-crowned hats and cloaks of the congregation of 1621, assemble
again on the first street, and mount the hill, where a short service of
commemoration is held. Old hymns are sung, among them those which the
Pilgrims brought with them from Leyden.
“Bow down thine ear, Jehovah, answer me:
For I am poor, afflicted, and needy.
Keep Thou my soul, for merciful am I;
My God, Thy servant save, that trusts in Thee.”
Psalm 68 from the Psalm book, published in Amsterdam by Henry
Ainsworth, and used by the Pilgrim congregation in Leyden and at
Plymouth.
The Graves
“Here sleep the dead, their sacred dust is laid
Beneath the grass-green bosom of this hill;
They lived in faith, they faced death unafraid,
They wrought in pain, nor deemed their labors ill.”
--JOSEPH SMITH
Oct. 4, 1921
As the Pilgrims established themselves more firmly in the wilderness,
there was no further need of secret burials on Cole’s Hill, and the
hill about the fort was early used for the graves of the colony.
Though there are many ancient graves on Burial Hill, most of the
resting-places of the Pilgrims of the Mayflower are not to be found
in Plymouth, but in the later settlements of Kingston, Duxbury,
Marshfield, Eastham, Middleboro, and Dartmouth, whither they had
followed their sons, or established themselves again as pioneers from
the first settlement.
A small granite shaft on the brow of the hill bears the name of
Governor Bradford, and it is believed that he is buried here, near the
grave of his son, Major William Bradford. The inscription on the north
side of the monument reads:
“Beneath this stone rests the ashes
of William Bradford
A zealous puritan and sincere Christian
Gov. of Ply. Col. from April 1621 to 1657
aged 69, except 5 years which he declined.
Qua patris difficilime
Adapti sunt nolite turpiter relinquere.”
(What your fathers with so much difficulty
attained, do not basely relinquish.)
and on the south side:
“William Bradford of Austerfield, Yorkshire, England, was the
son of William and Alice Bradford. He was Governor of Plymouth
Colony from 1621 to 1633, 1635, 1637, 1639 to 1643, 1645 to
1657.”
The inscription on the tomb-stone of his son Major William Bradford
reads:
“Here lies the body of
Honorable Major William Bradford
who expired Febr. ye 20th 1703/4 aged 71 years.
He lived long, but still was doing good
& in his country’s service lost much blood.
After a life well spent, he’s now at rest.
His very name and memory is blest.”
Major Bradford lived in Kingston. At the time of his funeral, the roads
were obstructed by deep snow. He was carried by bearers along the sea
shore from Jones River to Plymouth, to be buried at his wish beside his
father on Burial Hill.
Near the site of the Old Fort, is the grave stone of Elder Thomas
Cushman, with the inscription:
“Here lyeth buried ye body of that precious servant of God, Mr. THOMAS
CUSHMAN, who after he had served his generation according to the will
of God, and particularly the church of Plymouth for many years in the
office of a ruling elder fell asleep in Jesus, Decmr. ye 10, 1691 & ye
84. year of his age.”
Here is also a monument erected Aug. 15, 1855, to Robert Cushman, Elder
Thomas Cushman, his son, and Elder Cushman’s wife, Mary Allerton, of
the Mayflower.
On the east is inscribed:
“Erected by
The descendants of
Robert Cushman
In memory of their Pilgrim Ancestors,
XVI--September, MDCCCLVIII.”
North side:
“Fellow-exile with the Pilgrims in Holland,
Afterwards their chief agent in England,
Arrived here--IX--November,--MDCXII,
With Thomas Cushman his son:
Preached--IX--December,
His memorable sermon on ‘The Danger of self-love
And the sweetness of true friendship:’
Returned to England--XIII--December,
To vindicate the enterprise of Christian emigration;
And there remained in the service of the Colony Till--
MDCXXV,
When, having prepared to make Plymouth His permanent
home,
Continued west side:
He died, lamented by the forefathers as ‘their ancient
friend,--who was as their right hand with their friends the
adventurers, and for divers years had done and agitated all
their business with them to their great advantage.’”
South side:
“THOMAS CUSHMAN.
Son of Robert, died--X--December, MDCXCI,
Aged nearly--LXXXIV--years.
For more than XLII--years he was
Ruling Elder of the First Church in Plymouth,
By whom a tablet was placed to mark his grave on
this spot,
Now consecrated anew by a more enduring
memorial.
MARY,
widow of Elder Cushman, and daughter of Isaac
Allerton,
Died--XXVIII--November, MDCXCIX, aged about--XC--
years,
The last survivor of the first comers in the Mayflower.”
Another important Pilgrim landmark is the grave of JOHN HOWLAND which
is situated on the westerly slope of the hill, near the rear entrance
to the cemetery. Near it are three other old graves; that of Edward
Gray, 1681, whose stone is the oldest on Burial Hill; that of William
Crowe, 1683–84; and that of Thomas Clark, 1697, who came over in the
ship “Ann”.
John Howland’s grave is marked by a modern stone, ornamented with a bas
relief of the “Mayflower”. On it is inscribed this excerpt from the
Town Records:
“Hee was a godly man & an ancient professor in the wayes of
Christ. Hee was one of the first comers into this land & was
the last man that was left of those that came over in the Shipp
called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth.”
There is no more peaceful and beautiful burying place than this green
hill, crowned with elm trees, overlooking the lovely view of town
and sea. Hundreds of quaint and interesting stones appeal to the
antiquarian and the scholar, and the site of the Pilgrim’s fort, and
the graves of the Pilgrims, connect it for all time with the nation’s
“first beginnings.”
* * * * *
“And when we sail as Pilgrim’s sons and daughters
The spirit’s Mayflower over seas unknown,
Driving across the waste of wintry waters
The voyage every soul shall make alone,
The Pilgrim’s faith, the Pilgrim’s courage grant us;
Still shines the truth that for the Pilgrim shone.
We are his seed; nor life nor death shall daunt us.
The port is Freedom! Pilgrim heart, sail on!”
--L. B. R. BRIGGS
December 21, 1920
From the ode read at the celebration
of the 300th anniversary of the
Landing of the Pilgrims.
[Illustration]
The Memorial _to the_ Pilgrim Women
On the corner of North Street and the Water side, not far from Plymouth
Rock, is a small park enclosed by hedges of box and privet; in the
center against a background of lilac trees, a tall granite fountain
supports on the front, a standing figure representing a Pilgrim woman.
Capable, courageous and devoted, steadfast in her faith and to her
duties though a life-long exile from the home of her birth, through
dangers and privations she made possible the domestic comfort and the
permanence of the Pilgrims’ homes in the wilderness.
On the curb of the pool an inscription reads:
“Erected by the National Society
Daughters of the American Revolution
In memory of the heroic
Women of the Mayflower
1620–1920”
and on the back of the fountain:
“They brought up their families
in sturdy virtue and a living faith in
God without which nations perish.”
On the shaft is given the names of the women who came in the Mayflower.
“Mary Norris Allerton
Mary Allerton
Remember Allerton
Eleanor Billington
Mary Brewster
---- Chilton
Mary Chilton
Sarah Eaton
Susannah Fuller White
Dorothy Bradford
Katherine Carver
Maid servant of the Carvers,
name unknown
Humility Cooper
---- Martin
---- Fuller
Elizabeth Hopkins
Constance Hopkins
Damaris Hopkins
Alice Mullens
Priscilla Mullens
Elizabeth Tilley
---- Tilley
Desire Minter
Ellen Moore
Alice Rigdale
Rose Standish
Ann Tilley
---- Tinker
Elizabeth Winslow”
[Illustration]
The National Monument to the Forefathers
“This Monument
Where Virtue, Courage, Law and Learning sit
Calm Faith above them, grasping Holy Writ;
White hand upraised o’er beauteous trusting eyes,
And pleading finger pointing to the skies.”
--JOHN BOYLE O’REILLY
Poem read at the dedication of the
Monument to the Forefathers
August 1, 1889.
“What of her by the western sea,
Born and bred as the child of Duty,
Sternest of them all?
She it is, and she alone
Who built on faith as her corner stone;
Of all the nations, none but she
Knew that the truth shall make us free.”
Tercentenary Ode
--L. B. R. BRIGGS
On the summit of a hill, back of the center of the town, stands the
National Monument to the forefathers. Surmounting the pedestal, a
figure of Faith, of heroic size, raises her arm with her forefinger
pointing to heaven. Beneath her are seated Liberty, Law, Education, and
Morality, representative of the Pilgrim ideals; below them are marble
bas-reliefs of episodes in Pilgrim history. “The Departure from Delft
Haven,” “The Signing of the Compact,” “The Landing of the Pilgrims,”
and “The Treaty with Massasoit.”
Around the level plateau on which the monument stands, a wide view
unrolls itself like a scroll of Pilgrim history. There lies the town
of their founding; beyond it, the distant line of the ocean horizon
seems almost as empty as when the Mayflower ploughed through the winter
storms three hundred years ago. Her anchorage was inside the long,
low strip of the beach, where she rode till the spring of 1621; a
protection to the colonists, and a shelter for the women and children
until houses could be built for them on shore.
Beyond the point of the beach is Clark’s Island, where the exploring
party from the Mayflower spent the first Sabbath in Plymouth history.
Still beyond, Saquish, the Gurnet, and the line of the coast had been
mapped and charted by Capt. John Smith in 1615 and were known to
earlier voyagers, as well as to the Pilgrims.
To the left stretch the Kingston shores where Elder Brewster, John
Howland, and others soon took grants from the first colony. To
Captain’s Hill, in Duxbury, Myles Standish retired after his long
service, to spend the remainder of his life. His doughty figure on a
granite pillar raised in his honor, looks across the bay to the statue
of the Pilgrims’ Faith.
At the right, rises the headland of the Manomet hills; among them
were also many Pilgrim land grants and house holdings. Behind, toward
the sunset, the lights of the town fade into miles of still sparsely
settled woodland, the remains of the old unbroken forest.
This site, well chosen by the Pilgrim Society, was acquired by them in
fulfillment of the purpose expressed in their original charter of 1819:
“to procure in the town of Plymouth a suitable lot, or plot of land for
the erection of a monument to perpetuate the memory of the virtues, the
enterprise, and unparalleled sufferings of their ancestors.”
The erection of a monument upon this ground, became a national
undertaking, and subscriptions came from all parts of the country. The
donations were acknowledged by engraved certificates; those above a
certain amount, with a small bronze replica of the monument.
The original design by Hammatt Billings of Boston, was of huge size,
but the pedestal was somewhat reduced when finally built. The figure of
Faith is 36 ft. high, and the pedestal 45 ft.
The corner stone was laid Aug. 2, 1859, and thirty years later the
monument was completed. It was dedicated Aug. 1, 1889, with great
enthusiasm, in the presence of many distinguished people.
[Illustration]
The First Church in Plymouth
“The story of heroic adventure, fortitude, and endurance, of
which this church is the permanent memorial, does not belong to
one age or one country. It has become the treasured heritage of
all congregations founded upon freedom and self-government.”
--REV. JOHN CUCKSON
_History of the First Church
in Plymouth._
From This Church
Scrooby 1606 Plymouth 1620
Were Founded the
First Church in Duxbury 1632
„ „ „ Marshfield 1632
„ „ „ Eastham 1646
„ „ „ Plympton 1698
„ „ „ Kingston 1717
Second Church in Plymouth 1738
Third Church in Plymouth 1801
Now Church of the Pilgrimage
COVENANT OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF PLYMOUTH
“In ye name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in obedience to his holy will
and devine ordinances, wee being by ye most wise and good providence
of God brought together in this place, and desirous to unite ourselves
with this congregation or church under the Lord Jesus Christ our head,
that it may be in such sort as becometh all those whom he hath redeemed
and sanctified to himself, wee doe hereby solemnly and religiously as
in His most holy presence, avouch the Lord Jehovah ye only true God,
to be our God and ye God of ours, and do promise and bind ourselves
to walk in all our ways according to ye rules of ye gospel and in all
sincere conformity to his holy ordinances, and in mutual love to and
watchfulnesse over one another.”
ELDERS OF THE FIRST CHURCH
WILLIAM BREWSTER
1620–1644
THOMAS CUSHMAN
1649–1691
THOMAS FAUNCE
1699–1746
[Illustration]
THE CONGREGATION