“Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the fast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.” William Bradford, in 1620, expressed his heartfelt gratitude at arriving on dry land after months at sea on The Mayflower. The Pilgrims had arrived and were now on a mission to create the first permanent English settlement in southern New England—they chose Plimoth, or Plymouth, as it is known today.
Plymouth is located 40 miles south of Boston on Massachusetts’ South Shore. It lies along the Pilgrims Highway, which is the major route between Cape Cod and Boston. There is lots to do and see there. Take a walking tour of Plymouth Plantation, the recreated Pilgrim settlement. There is also a Lantern tour that takes you to supposed haunted locations and tells of the legends of Plymouth. Be sure to see Hobbamock's Wampanoag Homesite, a living historical exhibit of an important family of the Wampanoag people. Also tour the three historical homes of Plymouth: Harlow Old Fort House, the Spooner House and Hedge House.
Founded in 1620, Plymouth is best known as the first English settler’s colony, established by the Pilgrims, who came from England on a hard and arduous journey upon the Mayflower. Plymouth is the largest and oldest municipality in New England and one of the oldest in the America. It has been continually inhabited since its beginnings in 1620, which makes it the oldest inhabited English settlement in the United States. The colony dissolved itself in 1691, but the town remained.
The Plymouth Plantation recreates 17th century life in the New World. It is a live history exhibit and is designed much as it had been in the 1600s. Town folk and the Wampanoag Indians in period costumes carry out tasks from the time such as cultivation, processing of wild and domesticated plants and animals, house construction, crafts, and socializing. Visitors can walk amongst the buildings and fort and explore life as it was for the Pilgrims and Wampanoag.
In the 1600s, there were probably as many as 12,000 Wampanoag Indians inhabiting 40 villages. Three epidemics swept across New England and the Canadian Maritimes between 1614 and 1620 claiming as many as 100% of some Indian villages. By the time the Pilgrims came in 1620, fewer than 2000 mainland Wampanoag had survived and about 3000 island Wampanoag, who lived in relative isolation, were still living. The Wampanoag have lived on the lands in Plymouth and surrounding areas for over 12,000 years and a current population of 3000 have endured and grown slowly.
Hobbamock was a warrior and councilman of the Wampanoag village at Plymouth. He lived on the other side of the brook from the Plymouth Plantation. He had ten family members accommodated by a wigwam, a bark-covered longhouse, and a menstruation hut. Archaeologists recreated the site as a living exhibit based on ethno historic sources, archaeological data and oral tradition. Guides reenact a range of activities that would have been a part of Wampanoag life in the 1600s.
