Guide to Historic Plymouth: Localities and Objects of Interest

by A. S. Burbank

“A church without a bishop,

A state without a king.”

Here is their writing, some of it quaint and crabbed, some fair and legible. Here, on these very pages, rested the hands fresh from handling the sword and the musket or the peaceful implements of husbandry, of Bradford and Brewster and Standish and others of that heroic band. Here is the original laying-out of the first street,—Leyden street. Here is the plan of the plots of ground first assigned for yearly use, which they called, in the tinge of the Dutch tongue they had acquired in their long residence in Holland, “meersteads.” Here are the simple and yet wise rules—laws they can hardly be called—laid down for the government of the infant colony.

Here is the order establishing jury trial in Governor Bradford’s writing, the order for the first custom laws, the division of cattle into lots, one cow being divided into thirteen lots. It was four years after the Landing before any domestic cattle were brought over, and in order to equalize them they were divided into lots, each family having one. It must have been a pretty nice affair to divide the milk of one cow among thirteen parties, to satisfy all.

Here also is the second patent to the company from the Earl of Warwick, granted in 1629, with its great wax seal engraved for the purpose, and the original box in which it came from England. Here are signatures, also, of nearly as much interest as those of the Pilgrims themselves,—the marks of the original proprietors of all these broad fields and forests, whose names are represented by signs of bows and tortoises, of reptiles and animals.

Here are also ancient deeds written in the Indian language, as put in form by Eliot and Mayo. The record clerk must have had his patience severely taxed when they were copied.

The Registry of Probate is on the second floor, where with the several offices there is a beautiful court room for the Probate sessions. The filing and registry room is a model for convenience in safe keeping and reference to papers concerning estates.

Opposite Court Square is the Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, a fine building erected in 1885-86, which is an ornamental and prominent feature of the locality.

The building at the right of the church is the Old Colony Club, instituted in 1769. Next beyond is Russell Building, in which is located the Pilgrim Bookstore, where will be found a large and varied collection of souvenirs, views of interesting localities, books of Pilgrim story and history, post cards and mementos of a visit to “Pilgrim Land.”