Pilgrims Landed on Plymouth Rock

[monkeyboy]

According to historian George Willison, who devoted his life to the subject, the story about the rock is all malarkey, a public relations stunt pulled off by townsfolk to attract attention. What Willison found out is that the Plymouth Rock legend rests entirely on the dubious testimony of Thomas Faunce, a ninety-five year old man, who told the story more than a century after the Mayflower landed. Unfortunately, not too many people ever heard how we came by the story of Plymouth Rock. Willison's book came out at the end of World War II and Americans had more on their minds than Pilgrims then. So we've all just gone merrily along repeating the same old story as if it's true when it's not. And anyway, the Pilgrims didn't land in Plymouth first. They first made landfall at Provincetown. Of course, the people of Plymouth stick by hoary tradition. Tour guides insist that Plymouth Rock is THE rock.

 

[kasar]

Have you ever seen Plymouth Rock? I think everyone has the same reaction: "That's IT?".

 

[SwedishMeatball]

 

[RoyalCanadian]

I think the Plymouth tour guides would have an even harder time trying to explain to the tourists that the first recorded Thanksgiving to be held in North America actually took place on the shores of Hudson Bay in 1619.

 

[Virgo10]

The rock use to be a lot bigger. Everyone and their brother would take a piece of it home when they came to check it out. Now, of course, it's
semi-enclosed.

I think I read somewhere that the Pilgrims actually landed closer to Provincetown but ended up settling in Plymouth.

BTW, I lived in Plymouth for 11 years.

 

[phamton]

I think the Plymouth tour guides would have an even harder time trying to explain to the tourists that the first recorded Thanksgiving to be held in North America actually took place on the shores of Hudson Bay in 1619.

Actually there are even some earlier Thanksgivings in the Americas:


In May 1541, Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and 1,500 men celebrated at the Palo Dur Canyon -- located in the modern-day Texas Panhandle -- after their expedition from Mexico City in search of gold. In 1959 the Texas Society Daughters of the American Colonists commemorated the event as the "first Thanksgiving."

Another "first Thanksgiving" occurred on June 30, 1564, when French Huguenot colonists celebrated in a settlement near Jacksonville, Florida. This "first Thanksgiving," was later commemorated at the Fort Carolina Memorial on the St. Johns River in eastern Jacksonville.

On April 30th 1598, Don Juan de Oñate, reached the banks of El Rio Bravo (Rio Grande). The first recorded act of thanksgiving by colonizing Europeans on this continent occurred on that April day in 1598 in Nuevo Mexico, about 25 miles south of what is now El Paso, Texas. After having begun their northward trek in March of that same year, the entire caravan was gathered at this point. The 400 person expedition included soldiers, families, servants, personal belongings, and livestock . . . virtually a living village. Two thirds of the colonizers were from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain, Portugal, and the Canary Islands). There was even one Greek and a man from Flanders! The rest were Mexican Indians and mestizos (mixed bloods).

The harsh winter of 1609-1610 generated a famine that caused the deaths of 430 of the 490 settlers. In the spring of 1610, colonists in Jamestown, Virginia, enjoyed a Thanksgiving service after English supply ships arrived with food. This colonial celebration has also been considered the "first Thanksgiving."

 

[Crankyshank]

The rock use to be a lot bigger. Everyone and their brother would take a piece of it home when they came to check it out. Now, of course, it's
semi-enclosed.

I think I read somewhere that the Pilgrims actually landed closer to Provincetown but ended up settling in Plymouth.

BTW, I lived in Plymouth for 11 years.

That and the rock was split in half when they tried taking it off the beach and then again when it fell off while being transported.
I thought it was common knowledge they first landed in P'town and then continued on to Plymouth.

 

[aprincessmom]

First Encounter Beach in Eastham is the first place the Pilgrims encountered Indians. They landed there after leaving Provincetown (where they first landed) and before they got to Plymouth (where they settled).

I think most people in New England know that Plymouth wasn't where the Pilgrims first landed but I'm not sure how common that knowledge is outside of New England.