Plymouth Rock

From Vero - Wikipedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Template:About Template:Use American English Template:Infobox NRHP

Plymouth Rock is a boulder in Plymouth, Massachusetts, that symbolizes the historical disembarkation site of the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620, and has been claimed to be the Pilgrims' actual landing site.

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".<ref>Russell, 1.</ref>

The first documented claim of Plymouth Rock as the landing place of the Pilgrims was made by 94-year-old Thomas Faunce in 1741, 121 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth.<ref name=Gambino2011>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Thacher, 30.</ref>

In 1774, the rock broke in half during an attempt to haul it to Town Square in Plymouth. One portion remained in Town Square and was moved to Pilgrim Hall Museum in 1834. It was rejoined with the other portion of the rock, which was still at its original site on the shore of Plymouth Harbor, in 1880. The date 1620 was inscribed at that time. The rock is now ensconced beneath a granite canopy. However, Plymouth Rock has been moved multiple times since 1620. According to Donna D. Curtin, Executive Director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum, the rock has "unquestionably" been relocated several times, including its complete excavation and latest relocation onto the shoreline in 1920. This fact complicates the perception that it remains in its original location, as it has been moved and altered multiple times over the centuries.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref>

History

Early identification

The two most significant primary sources on the founding of Plymouth Colony are Edward Winslow's 1622 Mourt's Relation and William Bradford's 1630–1651 history Of Plymouth Plantation, and neither refers to Plymouth Rock.<ref name=hall>Pilgrim Hall Museum, "Plymouth Rock."</ref> The rock first attracted public attention in 1741 when the residents of Plymouth began plans to build a wharf that would bury it. Before construction began, a 94-year-old church elder named Thomas Faunce declared that the boulder was the landing place of the Mayflower Pilgrims.<ref name=Thacher>Thacher, 29–30.</ref><ref name=Seelye>Seelye, 616–617.</ref>

Faunce eventually asked to be brought to the rock to say a farewell. According to Plymouth historian James Thacher:

Template:Blockquote

File:The Landing of the Pilgrims (1877) by Henry A. Bacon.jpg
The Landing of the Pilgrims by Henry A. Bacon (1877)

Faunce's father had arrived in the colony aboard the ship Anne in 1623, just three years after the Mayflower landing, and Elder Faunce was born in 1647, when many of the Mayflower Pilgrims were still living, so his assertion made a strong impression on the people of Plymouth. The wharf was built, but the rock left intact, the top portion protruding from the earth so as to be visible to curious visitors.<ref name=Thacher />

More recent generations have questioned Faunce's assertion, alleging that he invented the story or did not have the correct facts, given that he was not an eyewitness to the event. Donna D. Curtin, Executive Director of the Pilgrim Hall Museum, stated that the rock has "unquestionably" been moved multiple times. This includes being raised from its original location due to the construction of a wharf, and its later excavation and relocation onto the shoreline in 1920, indicating that the rock's location has changed significantly over time.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> Journalist Bill Bryson, for example, wrote, "The one thing the Pilgrims certainly did not do was step ashore on Plymouth Rock", arguing that the boulder would have made an impractical landing spot.<ref>Bryson, 4.</ref> Others have pointed out that the Pilgrims landed at Provincetown to explore Cape Cod more than a month before they arrived in Plymouth harbor, which lessens the significance of where they set foot in Plymouth. In 1851, a group of Cape Cod residents formed the Cape Cod Association for the purpose of promoting Provincetown as the site of the original Pilgrim landing.<ref>Seelye, 94.</ref> Such efforts eventually led to the construction of the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, which was completed in 1910.

Movements

Col. Theophilus Cotton (son of Plymouth magistrate Josiah Cotton) and the townspeople of Plymouth decided to move the rock in 1774. It split in two, however, so the bottom portion was left behind at the wharf and the top portion was relocated to the town's meeting house.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Captain William Coit wrote in The Pennsylvania Journal of November 29, 1775 that he brought captive British sailors ashore "upon the same rock our ancestors first trod".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Plymouth Rock 1867.jpg
The 1867 monumental canopy that housed Plymouth Rock until 1920

A large portion of the rock was relocated from Plymouth's meetinghouse to Pilgrim Hall in 1834. In 1859, the Pilgrim Society began building a Victorian canopy designed by Hammatt Billings at the wharf over the portion of the rock left there, which was completed in 1867. The Pilgrim Hall section of the rock was moved back to its original wharf location in 1880, rejoined to the remaining portion, and the date "1620" was carved into it.<ref name=Seelye />

In 1920, the rock was temporarily relocated so that the old wharves could be removed and the waterfront landscaped<ref name=hall /> to a design by architect Arthur Asahel Shurcliff, with a waterfront promenade behind a low seawall in such a way that, when the rock was returned to its original site, it would be at water level. The care of the rock was turned over to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and a new Roman Doric portico was constructed, designed by McKim, Mead & White for viewing the tide-washed rock protected by gratings.<ref name=Seelye />

During the rock's many journeys throughout the town of Plymouth, numerous pieces were taken and sold. Today approximately a third remains.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is estimated that the original Rock weighed Template:Convert. Some documents indicate that tourists or souvenir hunters chipped it down, although no pieces have been noticeably removed since 1880. Today there are pieces in Pilgrim Hall Museum and in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.<ref name=Seelye /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A Template:Convert piece of the Rock is set on a pedestal in the cloister of historic Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims in Brooklyn Heights, New York. The church was formed by a merger of Plymouth Church and Church of the Pilgrims and was originally pastored by Henry Ward Beecher,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> brother of author Harriet Beecher Stowe.

In 1835, French author Alexis de Tocqueville wrote:

Template:Blockquote

State park attraction

Today, Plymouth Rock is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as part of Pilgrim Memorial State Park. From April through November, Pilgrim Memorial is staffed by guides who inform visitors of the story of Plymouth Rock.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

While the rock is currently situated beneath a granite canopy at Pilgrim Memorial State Park, it has been moved several times since the 18th century. Experts such as Donna D. Curtin of the Pilgrim Hall Museum and Dr. Simon Engelhart of Durham University's Department of Geography confirm that Plymouth Rock has been relocated multiple times, with its current location differing from its original position in 1620.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />

Panorama

Template:Wide image

See also

Citations

Template:Reflist

General and cited references

Template:Mayflower passengers and related topics Template:National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Template:Thanksgiving Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Plymouth_Rock&oldid=355367"