Part 2

The Common House was the first to be finished. It sheltered the men working on shore; the community assembled there on the Sabbath, until the lower room in the Fort was ready for this purpose; there the Colony business was transacted, and the first “Court Days”, from which the New England institution of the Town Meeting was to develop, were held. It was used, too, as a hospital for the sick, and after the dwelling houses were built, it served as a store house. It is marked with a tablet:

COMMON HOUSE

This tablet is erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to mark the site of the first house built by The Pilgrims

In that house on the 21st of February 1621 (New Style) the right of popular suffrage was exercised and Myles Standish was chosen Captain by a majority vote. On or near this spot, April 1, 1621, the memorable treaty with Massasoit was made.

Next to the Common House came that of Peter Brown, and third, that of John Goodman. Farther up the street, at its intersection by the path to the Indian ford over the brook, was the house and land of William Brewster, Elder and spiritual leader of the Colony.

Across the path, continuing up the hill, were the houses of John Billington, Francis Cooke, and Edward Winslow. On the opposite side, conveniently near his duties at the fort, was the house of Captain Myles Standish. Next to that, descending the hill again towards the shore, was the large lot and house of the Governor, William Bradford. Part of his garden was used in 1637 for the site of the first Meeting House. Next to Bradford’s house came those of Stephen Hopkins, and of the faithful physician, Dr. Samuel Fuller. On most of these lots, descriptive tablets have been placed by the Town of Plymouth.

Six years after the first labor of building the settlement had been accomplished, the Colony received a visitor from the Dutch trading post at Manhattan, which sent its Secretary, Isaac De Rasiere, to confer with them about their respective trading transactions.

In a letter to Holland after his return from Plymouth, he describes vividly and minutely the town as he saw it in October 1627.

“New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill, stretching east toward the seacoast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of about eight hundred feet long leading down the hill.... The houses are constructed of hewn plank, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and court yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the street are three wooden gates.

In the center at the cross street stands the Governor’s house, before which is a square enclosure upon which four patteros are mounted so as to flank along the streets.”

The old street, following unchanged its original direction, has been in constant use for more than three hundred years, and its present inhabitants number several descendants of the first dwellers.

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Town Brook

_and_

The Brewster Gardens

“The meersteads and garden plottes of those which came first, layed out 1620.”

To honor the memory of the courageous men and women who established their homes and made their gardens along the Town Brook in 1621–22, Mrs. William Forbes of Milton, with the co-operation of the Town, created in 1920–22, a beautiful little park on the site of the first meersteads.

The land apportioned to Elder Brewster was half way up the hill, and his garden sloped down to the brook. A flowing spring in the hollow has been reclaimed for a drinking fountain, and a branch has also been piped to the Main Street in front of the Government Building which was built on Brewster land.

The inscription on the fountain reads:

“Pilgrim Spring on the Meerstead set off to Elder William Brewster in the original allotment December, 1620 erected by the Town 1915 “Freely drink and quench your thirst Here drank the Pilgrim Fathers first.”

Near a little pool below the spring stands a fine statue of a Pilgrim Maiden, by H. H. Kitson. It is inscribed:

“To those intrepid English women whose courage, fortitude, and devotion brought a new nation into being, this statue of the Pilgrim maiden is dedicated.”

Presented to the Town of Plymouth by the National Society of New England Women.

The statue is full of life, vigorous and alert, typical of the strength and cheerful courage with which the youthful Pilgrims met the hardships and dangers of their new homes.

Above the spring, on the upward path to the street, the National Society of Daughters of the American Colonists have placed a stone seat in remembrance of the women who came in the ship Ann in 1623. From here the brook in its little valley can be seen winding to the sea; on its banks, the gardens which still bloom behind the old houses on Leyden Street, occupy the same ground as those “garden plottes” where the Pilgrim women cultivated the herbs which they consigned to England, three hundred years ago. Perhaps no gardens in America can claim a longer history of continuous use.

At the mouth of the brook was the herring weir, built before 1627 to control the annual run of herring up the stream to the fresh water ponds above. The herring still run in the spring through a similar weir, and are still a source of revenue to the town.

The Town Brook with its springs of “sweet water,” the herring fishing, and the ford which lead to the Indian encampment on the southern hill, made one of the important centers of the community life, and the gardens and sunny exposures of the little houses on the bank, protected by the guns on the Fort Hill above them, must have given some quiet and happy moments to the anxious and homesick Pilgrim women.

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Burial Hill

Called Fort Hill until 1698

THE FORT

On the top of the hill, beyond the row of the first houses, and overlooking the town, the Pilgrims in 1622–23 built with great labor, a fort and stockade; Governor Bradford describes it:

“A fort of good timbers, both strong and comely, which was a good defense, made with a flat roof, and battlements, and on which their ordinance was mounted, and where they kept constant watch, especially in time of danger.”

In 1633, he further says--“Our ancient work of fortification, by continuance of time is decayed, and Christian wisdom teaches us to depend upon God in the use of all good means for our safety.” It was therefore ordered by the Governor that the fort should be repaired, and the stockade enlarged. In 1635 and in 1642, it was again repaired, and in 1643 a watch tower was built nearby. This was of brick, two stories high, and contained a fireplace with a chimney.

Though hostile Indians never attacked the town, both they and the neighboring friendly tribes held the white men in increased respect for this protection.

During the first winter, the Pilgrims elected Capt. Myles Standish their military leader. He organized and trained his little army of twelve men, led their marches, protected the town, and rendered valiant service for thirty-five years.

“The only trained soldier In the Pilgrim Community Always their military Commander But also a valuable civil servant And a wise promoter Of the business interests Of the Pilgrim Stock Company. In fight fearless impetuous and resolute In civil affairs cautious and firm In business shrewd just and far-seeing A conscientious and high-minded leader Of devout men and women Who founded in a wilderness A tolerant church and a free state.”

From Standish Monument Duxbury, Massachusetts

DR. CHARLES W. ELIOT

THE GUNS

On the side hill near the site of the fort now stand two ancient cannon; they were presented to Plymouth Oct. 4, 1921, by the British Government, through the good offices of the Honorable Artillery Company of London (chartered in 1537) and the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts (chartered in 1638).

Col. Sidney Hedges, speaking at the presentation of the guns, said:

“While we are not sure that they are the original pieces, which stood on the spot in 1621, they certainly are of the same type and age: one is called a Minion, manufactured in 1557, and the other a Sackeret, manufactured in 1550.”

Bradford and Winslow mention such guns.

“The master came on shore with many of his sailors, and brought with him one of the great pieces, called a minion, and helped us to draw it up the hill, with another piece that lay on shore, and mounted them, and a saller (saker, or sackeret) and two bases (very small pieces).”

At the presentation ceremony, Oct. 4, 1921, Mr. Joseph Smith read an original poem which contained these lines:

“Minion and Sackeret, bravely done. Guns of a king and queen, Brazen and bold in the autumn sun, Mute on the hill grass-green, Moulded in strength by skillful hands, Fashioned in beauty for war’s demands,-- The terrible beauty that Death commands,-- And the nod of king and queen. Here will they stand at the dead man’s gate Where the Pilgrims sleep and dream and wait For the day when the lowly and the great Are as one at the throne serene.

* * * * *

The land that holds the bones of all their sires The land they loved despite their hapless lot, Has kindled once again ancestral fires And tells these dead they have not been forgot. And here she sends to her dead exiled sons To guard their sanctuaries, these ancient guns.”

The Pilgrim Progress

More far reaching than the voice of the guns, was the message to the future from the small lower room of the fort, where the Pilgrims held their services of worship. Here their Elder, William Brewster, extolled freedom of thought and conscience; here were read letters received from their beloved pastor in Leyden, John Robinson; here they sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving; but still surrounded by danger, “they must constantly be on their guard, night and day.”

“With arms they gathered in the congregation to worship Almighty God. But they were armed, that in peace they might seek divine guidance in righteousness: not that they might prevail by force, but that they might do right though they perished.”

--CALVIN COOLIDGE Plymouth, Dec. 21, 1920

The congregation assembled “at beat of drum,” and marched together from their homes on Leyden Street, protected by the muskets of the men. “They march three abreast, and are led by a sergeant.--Behind comes the Governor in a long robe, beside him on the right hand comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain with his side arms.”

The women with babes in their arms and their children clinging to them, the boys and young men and the maidens follow,--“and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him.”

It is minutely described in a letter written in 1627, by Isaac de Rasieres, a visitor of state from the Dutch colony at Manhattan.

This “Pilgrim Progress” is yearly reproduced by a memorial service to the Pilgrims on the site of the first fort-meeting house.

On successive Fridays in August, at five o’clock, a group of men, women and children, many of them still bearing the names of their Pilgrim forefathers, wearing the white caps and kerchiefs, the steeple-crowned hats and cloaks of the congregation of 1621, assemble again on the first street, and mount the hill, where a short service of commemoration is held. Old hymns are sung, among them those which the Pilgrims brought with them from Leyden.

“Bow down thine ear, Jehovah, answer me: For I am poor, afflicted, and needy. Keep Thou my soul, for merciful am I; My God, Thy servant save, that trusts in Thee.”

Psalm 68 from the Psalm book, published in Amsterdam by Henry Ainsworth, and used by the Pilgrim congregation in Leyden and at Plymouth.

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.

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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.

“Mary Norris Allerton Mary Allerton Remember Allerton Eleanor Billington Mary Brewster ---- Chilton Mary Chilton Sarah Eaton Susannah Fuller White Dorothy Bradford Katherine Carver Maid servant of the Carvers, name unknown Humility Cooper ---- Martin ---- Fuller Elizabeth Hopkins Constance Hopkins Damaris Hopkins Alice Mullens Priscilla Mullens Elizabeth Tilley ---- Tilley Desire Minter Ellen Moore Alice Rigdale Rose Standish Ann Tilley ---- Tinker Elizabeth Winslow”

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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.

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The First Church in Plymouth

“The story of heroic adventure, fortitude, and endurance, of which this church is the permanent memorial, does not belong to one age or one country. It has become the treasured heritage of all congregations founded upon freedom and self-government.”

--REV. JOHN CUCKSON

_History of the First Church in Plymouth._

From This Church Scrooby 1606 Plymouth 1620

Were Founded the

First Church in Duxbury 1632 „ „ „ Marshfield 1632 „ „ „ Eastham 1646 „ „ „ Plympton 1698 „ „ „ Kingston 1717 Second Church in Plymouth 1738 Third Church in Plymouth 1801 Now Church of the Pilgrimage

COVENANT OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF PLYMOUTH