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.

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.

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.