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 Plymouth, Massachusetts was the place were the Pilgrims first landed in America and where New England’s first settlement was established.
The town of Plymouth lies 40 miles south of Boston and was where in 1620, the Mayflower with a cargo of English settlers landed in America. Plymouth was established as the first settlement in New England and it was here that America’s first ever thanksgiving was held.
Plymouth has a unique place in American history and its story is deeply routed in the mythology of the United States. After falling out with the Church of England, a group of 77 separatists decided to set sail on the Mayflower for the New World to live out the rest of their pious lives. They first arrived in what is now Provincetown on Cape Cod, but hostile natives forced them to set sail again. The Mayflower was heading to the mouth of the Hudson River, but violent storms sent the ship towards present day Plymouth Harbour. The Pilgrims officially set foot on dry land at Plymouth Rock on December 21, 1620 and the Plymouth Colony was established soon after.
The colony and indeed present day Plymouth have the Native Wampanoag Tribe to thank for their survival and existence. With little knowledge of how to cultivate the region, the settlers were facing starvation until the local Wampanoag’s taught them how to catch eels and grow corn. After a bountiful harvest in autumn 1621, the Pilgrims gathered the Wampanoag leaders for a thanksgiving feast. Thanksgiving has long been established as a public holiday in America and each year Plymouth holds a parade through the town and a re-enactment of its first thanksgiving.
Today Plymouth is an affluent town home to around 58,000 people, a number of designer outlet malls and a few golf courses. The town’s main industry is tourism and Plymouth has a number of historic visitor attractions. These include the rather underwhelming Plymouth Rock, where the Pilgrims first stepped on Plymouth shores and the Pilgrim Hall Museum, America’s first museum which contains artefacts from early settler life such as the bible of one of the settlers and the cradle of Peregrine White, who was born aboard the Mayflower.
Moored in Plymouth Harbour is Mayflower II an exact replica of the original Pilgrim ship and a popular historic attraction, while just outside the town is the Plimoth Plantation an amazingly accurate reconstruction of the original Plymouth settlement.
Other points of interest include Burial Hill where the Pilgrim forefathers are buried and the Jenney Grist Mill, a reconstruction of a 17th century mill outlining the beginnings of industry in America. While throughout Plymouth are statues of William Bradford, first governor of the Plymouth Colony, Massasoit, the leader of the Wampanoags who helped the settlers and the National Monument to the Forefathers.
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