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
By Helen T. Briggs and Rose T. Briggs
Illustrated by Raymond C. Dreher
PUBLISHED BY
THE PILGRIM SOCIETY
and
THE PLYMOUTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY
Copyright, 1938
By The Plymouth Antiquarian Society
THE MEMORIAL PRESS
PLYMOUTH, Massachusetts
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.
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.
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] |
THE MAYFLOWER
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.