Part 1

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

[Illustration]

_By_ HELEN T. BRIGGS _and_ ROSE T. BRIGGS

_Illustrated by_ RAYMOND C. DREHER

[Illustration]

PUBLISHED BY THE PILGRIM SOCIETY _and_ THE PLYMOUTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY

_Copyright, 1938_ BY THE PLYMOUTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY

THE MEMORIAL PRESS PLYMOUTH, _Massachusetts_

Illustration]

_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.

[Illustration: 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.

[Illustration]

_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

[Illustration: THE MAYFLOWER]

[Illustration]

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.

THE MAYFLOWER PASSENGERS

“The names of those who came over first in the year 1620 and were by the blessing of God the first beginners and (in a sort) the foundation of all the Plantations and Colonies in New England.”

*Died the first winter

*Mr. John Carver *Katharine, his wife Desire Minter John Howland, servant *Roger Wilder, servant William Latham, a boy a maid-servant *Jasper More, a child Mr. William Brewster Mary, his wife Love Brewster, their son Wrestling Brewster, their son Richard More, a child *His brother, a child Mr. Edward Winslow *Elizabeth, his wife George Soule, servant *Elias Storey, servant *Ellen More, a child William Bradford *Dorothy, his wife Mr. Isaac Allerton *Mary, his wife Bartholomew Allerton Remember Allerton (daughter) Mary Allerton *John Hooke, servant Mr. Samuel Fuller (surgeon) *William Button, servant (died at sea) *John Crackston John Crackston, his son Captain Myles Standish *Rose, his wife *Mr. Christopher Martin *his wife *Solomon Prower, servant *John Langmore, servant *Mr. William Mullins *his wife *Joseph Mullins Priscilla Mullins *Robert Carter, servant *Mr. William White Susanna, his wife Resolved, their son Peregrine, their son (born off Provincetown) *William Holbeck, servant *Edward Thompson, servant Mr. Stephen Hopkins Elizabeth, his wife Giles Hopkins Constance Hopkins Damaris Hopkins (daughter) Oceanus Hopkins (born at sea) Edward Doty (Doten), servant Edward Lister, servant Mr. Richard Warren John Billington Ellen, his wife John Billington, their son Francis Billington, their son *Edward Tilley *Ann, his wife Henry Sampson, cousin; child Humility Cooper, cousin; little girl *John Tilley *his wife Elizabeth Tilley Francis Cooke John Cooke, his son *Thomas Rogers Joseph Rogers, his son *Thomas Tinker *his wife *his son *John Rigdale *Alice, his wife *James Chilton *his wife Mary Chilton *Edward Fuller *his wife Samuel, their son *John Turner *his two sons Francis Eaton *Sarah, his wife Samuel Eaton, their infant son *Moses Fletcher *John Goodman *Thomas Williams *Degory Priest *Edmond Margeson Peter Brown *Richard Britteridge *Richard Clarke Richard Gardiner Gilbert Winslow John Alden, cooper *John Allerton, seaman *Thomas English, seaman William Trevor, seaman, (hired for one year) ---- Ely, seaman, (hired for one year)

[Illustration:

“Immortal scroll! the first where men combined From one deep lake of common blood to draw All rulers, rights and potencies of law.”

--JOHN BOYLE O’REILLEY

Poem read at the dedication of the National Monument to the Forefathers August 1, 1889.]

[Illustration]

The Pilgrims held a charter issued to a member of a company of London merchants who had agreed to support their venture.

They intended to make a settlement somewhat to the north of the already established colony in Virginia, but storms buffeted the little ship, and head winds drove her from her course. When at last land was sighted after a weary voyage, they found themselves many leagues further north than they had intended.

With winter upon them, they knew that they must establish themselves at once, outside of the territory originally granted them, and that their charter would not cover this emergency. They determined to act for themselves.

In the cabin of the Mayflower before they came to anchor in “Cape Codd” bay, on Nov. 21, 1620 (N.S.), the men of the Company drew up and signed a compact for their government, electing their own officers, and binding themselves to work together for their common good and their common faith.

From this simple mutual agreement, took form the first American commonwealth, the beginning “of government of the people, by the people, for the people.”

THE COMPACT

“In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign lord, King James, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland king, defender of the faith, etc., having undertaken, for the glory of God, and advancement of the Christian faith, and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names, in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord, King James of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth, anno Domini 1620.”

[Illustration]

SIGNERS OF THE COMPACT

John Carver William Bradford Edward Winslow William Brewster Isaac Allerton John Alden Myles Standish Samuel Fuller Christopher Martin William Mullins William White Richard Warren John Howland Stephen Hopkins Edward Tilley John Tilley Francis Cooke Thomas Rogers Thomas Tinker John Rigdale Edward Fuller John Turner Francis Eaton James Chilton John Crackston John Billington Moses Fletcher John Goodman Degory Priest Thomas Williams Gilbert Winslow Edmund Margeson Peter Brown Richard Britteridge George Soule Richard Clarke Richard Gardner John Allerton Thomas English Edward Doten Edward Lester

The “Compact” was succeeded, in law, if not in the respect of the colonists, by a regular patent taken out in the name of one of the Adventurers (the English investors) in 1621. This is now in Pilgrim Hall. It was superseded by another, also to the Adventurers; and finally, in 1629, after the colonists had bought out the English investors, by one to “Wm. Bradford and associates,”--that is, the freemen of the colony. By thus transferring the “home office” of the company from London to America, the colony became an all but independent government. Consciously or unconsciously, it had from the beginning exercised most of the functions of a sovereign state, and continued to do so, except during the “tyranny” of Sir Edmund Andros, until it merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.

[Illustration]

From Plymouth, England _to_ Plymouth, Massachusetts

[Illustration]

_In England_:

“On the 25th of August 1620 From the West Quay near this spot The famous Mayflower began her voyage Carrying the little company of Pilgrim Fathers Who were destined to be the founders Of the New England States of America.”

Memorial tablet at Southampton, England. Placed by the Massachusetts Society of the Colonial Dames of America.

_At Provincetown_:

“They established and maintained on the bleak and barren edge of a vast wilderness, a state without a king or a noble, a church without a bishop or a priest, a democratic commonwealth the members of which were ‘straightly tied to all care of each other’s good, and for the whole by every one.’

“With long suffering devotion and sober resolution they illustrated for the first time in history the principles of civic and religious liberty and the practices of a genuine democracy.

“Therefore the remembrance of them shall be perpetual in the vast republic that has inherited their ideals.”

From the inscription written by Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of Harvard, for the Memorial Monument to the Pilgrims in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

_Exploration_:

While the Mayflower lay at anchor in Cape Cod bay, two exploring parties had been sent out to search for a suitable place for a settlement.

On Wednesday, Dec. 16 (N.S.) the third expedition sailed along the shore in the shallop owned by the Pilgrim company. There were eighteen men on board: two officers, the master-gunner, and three seamen from the Mayflower, and ten Pilgrim volunteers. These were Gov. Carver, Capt. Standish, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, John Tilley, Edward Tilley, John Howland, Stephen Hopkins, Edward Dotey, Richard Warren, and two of the Pilgrims’ own seamen, John Allerton and Thomas English.

The weather was cold and rough, and the voyage proved an adventurous and memorable one.

On the second day, they escaped unharmed a sudden and violent attack from a band of Indians on the shore. When they resumed their voyage a storm arose, and in the blinding snow, with high winds and a rough sea, they were nearly shipwrecked.

At last in the darkness they found shelter in the lee of a small island at the mouth of Plymouth harbor, and passed the night safely on shore.

When the sun shone the next morning, they dried their soaked clothing, looked after their firearms, repaired the damaged shallop, and gave thanks to God “for his mercies in their manifold deliverances.” “And this being the last day of the week, they prepared there to keep the Sabbath.”

_Plymouth Rock_:

On Monday, December 21, they crossed to the mainland, finding a channel “fit for shipping” and a sheltered harbor. There they made their first landing on a rock on the shore.

The situation seemed promising. They marched into the land and found deserted corn fields “and little running brooks.” “A place fit for situation; at least it was the best they could find.” “So they returned to their ship again, with this news to the rest of their people, which did much comfort their hearts.”

The Mayflower then weighed anchor for Plymouth, where three days were spent in anxious deliberation. They asked Divine Guidance on the momentous question of the settlement, and it was at last decided to accept the first site considered, and build their houses on the bank of the brook running into the sea, near the rock where they first landed.

Thus Plymouth Rock became “the stepping-stone of a nation.” The Rock has long been fully identified; notably in 1741 by Elder Thomas Faunce, who, at the age of ninety-five, in the presence of his sons and many spectators, declared his knowledge of it was received from his father and the Pilgrims still living in his boyhood.

THE MONUMENT OVER PLYMOUTH ROCK

For the 300th anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims, the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America built a beautiful portico of Doric columns over the Rock.

This replaced the “monumental canopy,” whose corner stone had been laid Aug. 2, 1859, under the care of the Pilgrim Society.

At the beginning of the Revolution, a large section, split from the main rock, had been carried by the patriots of Plymouth with great ceremony and enthusiasm to the Town Square, and there placed beneath a Liberty Pole to rouse and maintain patriotic feeling.

In 1834 this fragment was removed to the front of Pilgrim Hall, and surrounded by an iron railing inscribed with the names of the Pilgrim Fathers. It was returned to the shore again in 1880, and the severed fragment fitted into its original position.

Finally in 1921, all parts of the Rock were strongly cemented together, and now rest, where the tide reaches it, under the new portico on the shore.

The park reservation surrounding the Rock, from the roadway eastward to the water, is the property of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is cared for and controlled by the State.

“Plymouth Rock does not mark a beginning or an end. It marks a revelation of that which is without beginning and without end, a purpose shining through eternity with a resplendent light, undimmed even by the imperfections of men, and a response, an answering purpose from those who oblivious, disdainful of all else, sought only an avenue for the immortal soul.”

--CALVIN COOLIDGE

Address read at the opening of the Tercentenary Celebration at Plymouth, Dec. 21, 1920.

[Illustration]

COLE’S HILL

The first Burying Ground.

“But what was most sad and lamentable was, that in two or three months half of their number died, being the depth of winter, and wanting houses and other comforts.”

--from WILLIAM BRADFORD’S _Of Plymouth Plantation_

Before the Mayflower left Cape Cod, and while she lay at anchor in Plymouth harbor, a violent and fatal sickness broke out among her passengers.

Confinement in their close and crowded cabin, the hardship of a long and stormy voyage, poor food, and the exposure of building their first houses on shore, caused many of the Pilgrim company to lose their lives, in sight of the promised land they had ventured so much to gain.

Hardly a family but lost one or two of its members; wives, their husbands, children, their parents; before spring came, one half of the little colony had perished and were secretly buried on this hill by the shore.

Three hundred years later, the General Society of Mayflower Descendants placed a handsome sarcophagus to honor and receive these dead from their nameless graves, which time and accident had disturbed, and the Massachusetts Tercentenary Commission set aside a park reservation on the crest of the hill, to surround the monument. It was formally dedicated September 8, 1921.

On the side facing the street, the inscription reads:

“This Monument marks the First Burying Ground in Plymouth of the Passengers of the Mayflower.

“Here under cover of darkness the fast dwindling company laid their dead, levelling the earth above them lest the Indians should know how many were the graves.

“Reader! History records no nobler venture for faith and freedom than that of this Pilgrim band.

“In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and cold they laid the foundations of a state wherein every man, through countless ages should have liberty to worship God in his own way.

“May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading the lofty ideals of our republic throughout the world!”

At one end of the memorial is inscribed:

“The Bones of the Pilgrims found at various times in or near this enclosure and preserved for many years in the canopy over the Rock were returned at the time of the Tercentenary celebration and are deposited within this monument.”

“Erected by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants A.D. 1920.”

On the opposite end of the monument is:

“About a hundred sowls came over in this first ship, and began this work which God in his Goodness hath hithertoe Blessed. Let his Holy Name have ye praise.”

BRADFORD 1650.

THOSE WHO DIED IN THE FIRST WINTER

On the opposite side of the monument, facing the sea, is a list of the Pilgrims who died in the first winter, as follows:

“of the hundred and four passengers these died in Plymouth during the first year:

John Allerton Mary, first wife of Isaac Allerton Richard Britteridge Robert Carter John Carver and Katherine, his wife James Chilton’s wife Richard Clarke John Crackston, Sr. Sarah, first wife of Francis Eaton Thomas English Moses Fletcher Edward Fuller and his wife John Goodman William Holbeck John Hooke John Langmore Edmund Margeson Christopher Martin and his wife Ellen Moore and a brother (children) William Mullins Alice, his wife Joseph, their son Solomon Prower John Rigdale and Alice, his wife Thomas Rogers Rose, first wife of Myles Standish Elias Story Edward Tilley and Ann, his wife John Tilley and his wife Thomas Tinker his wife and son John Turner and two sons William White Roger Wilder Elizabeth, first wife of Edward Winslow Thomas Williams”

The following died before reaching Plymouth:

Dorothy, first wife of William Bradford William Button James Chilton Jasper Moore Edward Thompson

STATUE OF MASSASOIT

Not far from the Sarcophagus stands a fine statue of the Indian Sachem Massasoit. It was modeled by the sculptor Cyrus E. Dallin, and given by the National Order of Red Men. It was unveiled September 5, 1921, and dedicated in October of same year.

Massasoit, the grand sachem of the confederated tribes of Pokanoket, visited Plymouth on a fine spring day, April 1st, 1621. He was received with ceremony, a feast and gifts. A treaty of peace and friendship was drawn up and signed by him and the Pilgrims. He remained their loyal friend, and preserved peace with the colony for half a century.

MEMORIAL SEATS

Two stone seats have also been given as memorials, and placed on the hill, one near the statue of Massasoit, and the other under the great linden tree at the northern end. This was dedicated August 31st, 1921, and inscribed:

Presented by The Pennsylvania Society of New England Women To commemorate the Tercentenary of the Landing of the Pilgrims 1620–1920

The inscription of the other seat reads:

In Memory of The Pilgrim Fathers and Mothers whose heroic idealism established the basic principles of the government of our land. Presented by The Society of Daughters of Colonial Wars Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Seated here, with the wide view of harbor, Plymouth Beach, and distant ocean spread before them

“Let musing strangers view the ground, Here seek tradition’s lore, Where Pilgrims walked on holy ground With God in days of yore.”

SAMUEL DAVIS

[Illustration]

The First Street

NOW LEYDEN STREET

Since it was the twenty-first of December when the first exploring party landed in Plymouth, and winter was fast closing in, the first work to be undertaken by the men of the Mayflower was to provide shelter for their families and a storage place for their supplies.

A Common House was the first to be built, and other houses were added as those who survived the fatal epidemic were able “in their great weakness” to accomplish the heavy task. They tenderly cared for the sick and dying, and toiled through the winter weather with incredible courage, and an unshaken faith; when spring came the Mayflower sailed on her homeward voyage, but not one of the Pilgrim Company relinquished his fixed purpose and returned to England. The women bravely supported the men, and were determined to make and maintain their homes and rear their children in this new land of opportunity for civil and religious liberty.

Along the bank of the brook, the Pilgrims found cleared land, the abandoned cornfields of a tribe of native Indians who had perished about three years before in another mysterious epidemic. High land rose from the shore to a hill beyond, and following the ascent, the first street was laid out.

Along this pathway, Governor Carver portioned to each person a lot of land, each plot to be of the same size: three rods long and half a rod wide. The company was divided into nineteen families, and each family was to build its own house, which was to front the street, with a garden behind, those on the south side sloping down to the brook. The lots were to be inclosed with high palings for protection. The houses are described as built of hewn plank, the roofs thatched with swamp grass.

A partial plan of the location of the allotments was roughly drawn by William Bradford, and may still be seen at the Registry of Deeds on Russell St. in Plymouth. Seven houses were built during the first winter. It was not until March that the last of the women and children who had been sheltered during the winter on the Mayflower, were brought on shore to live.