Search results
Historical disembarkation site of the Mayflower Pilgrims
- Plymouth Rock is the historical disembarkation site of the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known written reference to the rock dates from 1715 when it was described in the town boundary records as "a great rock".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plymouth_Rock
People also ask
What is Plymouth Rock?
Who founded Plymouth Rock?
Why is Plymouth Rock a symbol of self-governance?
What does Plymouth Rock symbolize for many people?
Is Plymouth Rock a state park?
Was Plymouth Rock the first place the Pilgrims landed?
Plymouth Rock is the historical disembarkation site of the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known written reference to the rock dates from 1715 when it was described in the town boundary records as "a great rock".
Sep 5, 2024 · Plymouth Rock, granite slab upon which, according to tradition, the Pilgrim Fathers stepped first after disembarking from the Mayflower on December 26, 1620, at what became the colony of New Plymouth, the first permanent European settlement in New England.
- Overview
- HISTORY Vault: America the Story of Us
Explore the real history of the Pilgrims' purported landing place—Plymouth Rock.
Two words inevitably cross the lips of first-time visitors to Plymouth Rock: “That’s it?”
Yes, Plymouth Rock never fails to underwhelm, leaving tourists struck by disappointment rather than awe. But don’t blame the rock. America’s most famous piece of granite is simply a victim of outsized expectations. The overhyped legend surrounding the Pilgrims’ supposed landing place conjures visions of the Rock of Gibraltar. The reality, however, is that the country’s birthstone is a mere boulder.
The Pilgrims
And then there’s the inconvenient truth that no historical evidence exists to confirm Plymouth Rock as the Pilgrims’ steppingstone to the New World. Leaving aside the fact that the Pilgrims first made landfall on the tip of Cape Cod in November 1620 before sailing to safer harbors in Plymouth the following month, William Bradford and his fellow Mayflower passengers made no written references to setting foot on a rock as they disembarked to start their settlement on a new continent.
It wasn’t until 1741—121 years after the arrival of the Mayflower—that a 10-ton boulder in Plymouth Harbor was identified as the precise spot where Pilgrim feet first trod. The claim was made by 94-year-old Thomas Faunce, a church elder who said his father, who arrived in Plymouth in 1623, and several of the original Mayflower passengers assured him the stone was the specific landing spot. When the elderly Faunce heard that a wharf was to be built over the rock, he wanted a final glimpse. He was conveyed by chair 3 miles from his house to the harbor, where he reportedly gave Plymouth Rock a tearful goodbye. Whether Faunce’s assertion was accurate oral history or the figment of a doddering old mind, we don’t know. (And if Faunce indeed was telling a tall tale about the humble chunk of granite, he broke the cardinal rule of American mythology: When you make stuff up, go big—really big.)
America The Story of Us is an epic 12-hour television event that tells the extraordinary story of how America was invented.
WATCH NOW
Nov 20, 2017 · Plymouth Rock, located on the shore of Plymouth Harbor in Massachusetts, is reputed to be the very spot where William Bradford, an early governor of Plymouth colony, and other Pilgrims first set...
Nov 22, 2012 · According to legend, Plymouth Rock is the large glacial erratic stone that the Pilgrims first stepped upon when they landed at Plymouth in 1620. Historical documents from that time period , however, make no mention of the rock.
Oct 23, 2023 · Plymouth Rock, located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, is believed to be the spot where the Pilgrims first hopped off the Mayflower. It’s a symbol that’s etched into America’s history books, standing for the grit and resolve of the early Pilgrims and perhaps a literal stepping stone to self-governance.
May 29, 2018 · Plymouth Rock is the stone upon which the Pilgrims were said to have stepped when the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth harbor on 21 December 1620. Identified in 1741 by Thomas Faunce, who was born in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1650, the massive rock was moved to the Town Square in 1774.
