Plymouth Harbor

The English settlers chose this area for their new settlement after three days of surveying along the coast. Plymouth's protected bay and the fresh water of Town Brook made the location a good choice. The settlers officially disembarked on December 21, 1620.

The landing on Plymouth Rock- Painting by Michele Felice Corne (circa 1752-1845), 1809.
One of the earliest representations of the landing, after the engraving by Samuel Hill, 1800.
Note the Billings canopy in the foreground is the second photo of this display.

Courtesy of Pilgrim Hall Museum 75 Court Street, Plymouth

Plymouth's fishing fleet and Plymouth Rock, circa 1870.
This fishing schooners shown here were the backbone of Plymouth's commercial fleet. James Baker

Plymouth Rock

Plymouth Rock is one of Plymouth's most famous attractions. It is traditionally said that the Pilgrims first set foot at the site of Plymouth Rock, though no historical evidence can support this claim. The first identification of Plymouth Rock as the actual landing site was made in 1741 by 94-year old Thomas Faunce, whose father had arrived in Plymouth in 1623, three years after the arrival of the Mayflower. The rock located roughly 650 feet (200m) from where the initial settlement was built.

Plymouth Rock became internationally famous as the supposed landing place of the Pilgrims. In 1774, the Rock was split into two pieces during an effort to relocate it to a more prominent site at Town Square. The lower half of Rock remained in place on the waterfront, but the upper half was moved to Plymouth center and later to a fenced enclosure in front of Pilgrim Hall. The upper piece was rejoined with its lower half in 1880 and placed under a Victorian canopy designed by Hammatt Billings. The date 1620 was inscribed on the Rock at this time. The Billings canopy was open at street level and did no protect the Rock from souvenir hunters. The two sections were lowered to their original sea level position under the present canopy in 1921. Plymouth Rock is the centerpiece of Pilgrim Memorial State Park, the smallest park in the Massachusetts State Forest and Park System, but also the most heavily visited.

Mayflower II

Mayflower II is a full-size reproduction of the Mayflower, the ship which brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620. It is located at the State Pier in Plymouth Center. The ship is open as a museum about the Pilgrim's historic voyage from Plymouth, England, and is considered a faithful reproduction of the original Mayflower. It is officially a part of Plimoth Plantation. The ship was built in Brixham, England in 1956, and sailed to Plymouth across the Atlantic Ocean in 1957 by famous mariner Alan Villiers. The ship is still seaworthy, and occasionally takes voyages around Plymouth Harbor.

Town Brook

Town Brook is a 1.5-mile stream that originates at the 269 -acre Billington Sea and flows through Brewster Garden into historic Plymouth Harbor. Town Brook was the source of freshwater that prompted the Pilgrims to settle in Plymouth. The brook sustained the early settlement through difficult times. The local Wampanoag Indians, namely Squanto, taught the settlers how to fish for herring and to use them as fertilizer for their corn crops. Later, Town Brook became the first center of industrialization as its water was used to power numerous mills along its course. Industries along Town Brook had a major impact on Plymouth's nineteenth century history.

Plymouth Rock, the world's most famous Dedham granodiorite boulder. The date "1620" was carved into it in 1880 when the two halves were reunited.
James Baker

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