Part 4

The Old Colony Club Organized January 13 1769 Founders

Isaac Lothrop Pelham Winslow Elkanah Cushman John Thomas Edwards Winslow Jr. John Watson Corneilius White Alexander Scammel Thomas Mayhew Jr. Samuel Adams

This Club had the distinction of holding the first public observance of Forefathers’ Day, on Dec. 22, 1769. At one of the first meetings it was voted: “that Friday, December 22 be kept by this Club in commemoration of the landing of our worthy ancestors in this place.”

The day was celebrated by the firing of a cannon, the display of a handsome flag upon the Club house, a procession of the members, who were greeted by a volley of small arms and a patriotic song by assembled school children, a dinner, and an evening entertainment.

The next year, 1770, at the anniversary celebration, Edward Winslow Jr. delivered a short address, which may be considered the first public commemoration of the Pilgrims. This inaugurated a series of speeches and orations given for many years by prominent men, sponsored at first by the Old Colony Club, later by the town and the parish of the First Church, and continued by the Pilgrim Society and the Plymouth Antiquarian Society.

Due to an error in reckoning the date, December 22 was long celebrated as Forefathers’ Day. The anniversary actually falls on December 21, and is now so observed.

The Old Colony Club was dissolved just before the Revolution, due to the conflicting politics of its members. It was later reorganized, and is one of the leading clubs of the town.

The Plymouth Antiquarian Society

The Plymouth Antiquarian Society was founded in 1920 by a group of women whose aims are:

“To preserve buildings and personal and household property of Antiquarian value;

To acquire knowledge of their original use, and of the records and unwritten traditions of Plymouth;

And so far as is possible by accurate representation of the life, surroundings, and pursuits of bygone generations, to give the Present a better understanding of the Past.”

In pursuance of these aims, the Plymouth Antiquarian Society has established and maintains two museum Houses, the Antiquarian House 1809–30 and the Harlow House 1677. Each is arranged to give visual expression to whatever can be learned, by record, by tradition, and by the preservation of household luxuries and necessities, of the daily life of a Plymouth family at the time in which it was built. Each endeavors also, by the accumulation of notes, publications, photographs etc., to be a useful source of information on the subjects within its field.

The first undertaking of the Plymouth Antiquarian Society, was to preserve the fine old house, built in 1809 by Maj. William Hammatt, and later occupied for nearly a hundred years by Mr. Thomas Hedge and his family.

In 1920, this estate had been lately bought by the Town as a site for a Memorial Hall, and it was necessary to remove or tear down the house and its picturesque barn and outbuildings. The Society was willing to undertake their preservation, and accepted all the buildings as a gift from the Town, to be used for this purpose. They were successfully moved to their present position on Water St., and are maintained by the Society as a typical example of a prosperous Plymouth home of the early 19th century.

A few years later, the Antiquarian Society undertook the restoration and preservation of the Wm. Harlow House, long one of the Pilgrim landmarks of the town, on account of the fact that it contains beams and timber from the Fort on Burial Hill. These were granted to Serj. William Harlow for use in building his “new house” when the Fort was dismantled at the close of King Philips’s war. The Society uses this house as the background for a study of the living conditions and household industries of the last quarter of the Pilgrim century. Not only is the visitor here introduced to the spinning, weaving, dyeing, cooking, and candle-making which made up so much of the daily lives of the pioneer women of New England, but demonstrations are given, and classes held, both for children and for older students who find the knowledge of these homely arts gives a stimulating background to their study of colonial history.

The facilities of the Antiquarian Society are much used by the Plymouth Schools, and also by other schools, sometimes at a considerable distance. Both houses also give much pleasure, and a better understanding of Plymouth and New England, to the many visitors who see them each summer.

“Advance then, ye future generations! We would hail you, as you rise in your long succession to fill the places which we now fill.

We bid you welcome to this pleasant land of the fathers. We bid you welcome to the healthful skies and the verdant fields of New England. We greet your accession to the great inheritance which we have enjoyed.

We welcome you to the immeasurable blessings of rational existence, and the light of everlasting truth!”

DANIEL WEBSTER Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820.

The Antiquarian House

The Antiquarian House, which serves as headquarters for the Plymouth Antiquarian Society, was built in 1809 by Maj. William Hammatt, a successful merchant and ship owner. Soon after the house was built, the Embargo Act temporarily interrupted New England commerce, and Maj. Hammatt suffered financial reverses. The house was sold, and about 1830 was purchased by Mr. Thomas Hedge, whose family occupied it for nearly a hundred years.

The architecture of the house has the characteristic grace and delicacy of the Federal period, and its interesting octagonal plan shows the influence of the fashion set by Thomas Jefferson, who was not only a statesman but an observant and original architect.

Inside the house, the furniture, the books, papers, and ornaments, the glass, china, and household utensils, of a family of the period, are all in their proper places, and are shown by a hostess in the charming dress of the 1830’s. There is also a handsome and interesting collection of dresses and accessories of the 19th century, and a library where books, papers, newspapers, and personal letters make a valuable record of the time.

The house is surrounded by handsome grounds, and a garden of the old fashioned flowers in favor when it was built.

Thus in architecture, decoration and furniture, even in such details as the clothes in the closets, the toys in the nursery, and the roses in the garden, the Antiquarian House presents a lively and human picture of the opening years of the 19th century, and shows the influence of growing industry and commerce, the adventurous “China Trade,” and all the hopeful activity and expansion of a nation, founded in hardship, but destined to great prosperity and achievement.

The Wm. Harlow House

A 17TH CENTURY HOME

“_As one candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shown to many, yea, in some sort to our whole nation._”

The dim lights burning in the few houses first built by the Pilgrims on the banks of the Town Brook, increased to the brighter lights of a small town by the close of the 17th Century. (Population, 1620--102; 1700--1200.)

Ships came from England bringing new colonists, who were always welcomed, though at times there was hardly food enough to spare from the scanty harvests. “In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often,” but with reliance upon themselves and faith in the help of God, the Pilgrims and their descendants established at last a self-supporting and respected commonwealth, still owning allegiance to the King of England.

They built permanent homes on the edge of an unbroken wilderness; they built a church and a free school; they inaugurated the town meeting, where every freeman, or householder, had a voice in the affairs of the community. They elected their own Governor and selectmen and town officials, and maintained a small band of soldiers under a Captain and military officers. They made treaties with the Indians, and agreements for trade with their neighbors, the Dutch of Manhattan. Most important of all, they established freedom of speech and conscience in their religion, and liberty for their civil rights.

Cattle, sheep, and goats were early brought from England. Woolen cloth was woven on cottage looms, and linen spun from the flax raised in the fields.

Though the first houses were too rudely built to be long lasting, they soon became more substantial and comfortable, and many had “trim gardens.”

Several houses of the 17th century are still standing in Plymouth. One of these, the Harlow House, was built in 1677. It has been carefully restored, and shows in architecture and contents the characteristics of its times. The timbers which form its frame and beams were first used in the fort built on Burial Hill.

The close co-operation of family life, and the thrift and industry necessary to supply a household with food, light and clothing, by its own labor, can be well studied here, where household utensils and furniture are used as they were made to be used by the builder of the house, William Harlow, and his wife, fifty years after the Pilgrims built their first houses on the first street. Some of the Pilgrims were then still living in Plymouth, or its neighborhood; and since the process of household industries changed very little, it is easy to form a true picture of the domestic life of the Pilgrims from this home of their descendants.

Flax is spun on the wheels, and woolen cloth woven on the loom, dyed with plants from field and wood; candles are dipped from the wax of the bayberries, and the corn or maize of the Indian squaws is grown in the garden patch, dried, pounded, and cooked in iron kettles over the wood fire on the hearth. From a home like this, the next generation took grants of land in more distant parts of the colony, and became the pioneers of other new settlements; the frontier was pushed onward into the forests, and along the river banks. Thus the growth of a nation was continued.

The Plymouth Antiquarian Society is the owner of the Harlow House, and takes great thought and interest in reviving there the human element in daily life in a momentous episode of history,--the settlement of the Plymouth Colony.

“In a short time other causes sprung up to bind the Pilgrims with new cords to their chosen land. Children were born, and the hopes of a future generation arose, in the spot of their new habitation.

The second generation found this the land of their nativity, and saw they were bound to its fortunes.

They beheld their fathers’ graves around them, and while they read the memorials of their toils and labors, they rejoiced in the inheritance which they found bequeathed to them.”

DANIEL WEBSTER Plymouth, Dec. 22, 1820

The Howland House

The old records of Plymouth pay tribute at his death to John Howland. He came as a lusty youth among the Pilgrims of the Mayflower, and after an arduous life spent for the Colony, was the last of that valiant company to die in Plymouth.

His grave stone repeats the record of the town, “He was a godly man and an ancient professor in the ways of Christ.”

John Howland and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley, had a large family of sons and daughters to inherit and transmit his good name, which after the passage of three hundred years, may be found in every state of that republic to whose beginnings he had given his youth and manhood.

Today the Society of Howland Descendants has preserved one of the earliest of the 17th century houses in Plymouth as a memorial to the founder of their family.

The house where Jabez Howland, son of John, the Pilgrim, lived, was built in 1667 by Jacob Mitchell. It was of one room with an attic and a great chimney at one end--a very usual type of building at that time. Successive generations have enlarged it by adding rooms on each side of the chimney, and a “lean to,” and by lifting the roof for upper rooms, the original structure still remains as part of the completed house. In these oldest rooms John Howland and his wife, no doubt, visited his son and his family, and around the great fire place, which is still existing, memorable tales must have been told of the adventures and experiences of the Pilgrims in their old English homes, their sojourn in Holland, and the early days of the Plymouth settlement. With this historical background the gradual evolution of such a house to meet the changing circumstances and conditions of two centuries is an interesting study of American life.

The Society of Howland Descendants, holds its annual reunions in the old house, and have furnished and filled the rooms with antiquarian collections given by its members, or preserved in groups as individual memorials.

The house with its associations is interesting to visitors, and to the Howland family a lesson of veneration from the Past to future generations.

The Sparrow House

When the Plymouth Colony Trust undertook the rehabilitation of a number of old houses on Summer St., many of them were found to contain architectural features of unusual interest. Notable among them, is the Richard Sparrow house. This house is an excellent example of 17th century building, and clearly shows how it was enlarged, a few years after it was built, from the “one-room” to the “lean-to” or “salt-box” type. Its great fireplace, with rounded inner corners and 17th century oven, is remarkable. If, as is believed, the house was built by Richard Sparrow in 1640, it is probably the oldest house now standing in Plymouth. It was therefore decided to restore it to its original appearance, and open it to the public.

The Sparrow House is now the headquarters of the Plymouth Potters, a group of local craftsmen doing very attractive and original work with local clay. They maintain a workshop and showroom at the Sparrow House. An old water wheel turns in the brook at the foot of the garden and the firing kiln on the shady bank presents much of interest to craftsmen and artists.

Authorities

The history of the Plymouth Colony may be read in considerable detail in the words of its founders.

The most important of these contemporary accounts is Governor Bradford’s history “Of Plymouth Plantation,” covering the years 1602–1647. This has been republished at various times, notably by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts (1898) and the Massachusetts Historical Society (1912).

In his “Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers” (1847), Alexander Young has gathered together and republished a number of contemporary accounts, including “Mourt’s Relation,” so called, which is actually a journal of 1620–21, written by Gov. Bradford and Edward Winslow, and originally published in London in 1622, with a preface signed “G. Mourt”; “Good News from New England,” Winslow’s journal of 1622–23, published in London, 1624; and various other interesting documents, such as Cushman’s discourse on “The Sin and Danger of Self-Love,” a letter referring to the first Thanksgiving; and Winslow’s account of the church in Leyden, including John Robinson’s farewell sermon.

The “Colony Records” have been published by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and the “Town Records” by the town of Plymouth. They contain much information invaluable to the student.

Other 17th century writers who mention Plymouth are Thomas Morton, the genial but disorderly founder of “Merrymount”; John Pory; and Isaac de Rasieres, whose description of Plymouth in 1629 is quoted in most of the modern histories. Concerning the “Bay Colony” (Massachusetts) Alexander Young has reprinted much original matter, in a volume similar to his “Chronicles of the Pilgrim Fathers.”

Among later histories, the following are very helpful.

“The Pilgrim Republic”--John A. Goodwin “The Pilgrims and their History”--Roland G. Usher “Plymouth and the Pilgrims”--Arthur Lord

PILGRIM HALL

A Museum of Pilgrim History and Relics. Open mornings and afternoons and in the summer, open evenings.

PILGRIM SOCIETY _Founded 1820_

THE PLYMOUTH ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY

_presents_

THE ANTIQUARIAN HOUSE

[symbol] 1809 [symbol]

126 WATER STREET

THE WILLIAM HARLOW HOUSE

[symbol] 1677 [symbol]

119 Sandwich Street

_Museums That Might Be Lived In_

CRAFTSMEN AT WORK

_using local clay_

UNIQUE SOUVENIRS

THE JABEZ HOWLAND HOUSE

[symbol] 1667 [symbol]

_Pilgrim John Howland Society_

Sandwich Street, opposite Water Street

_Open to Visitors_

Built in 1674

Admission 25c

THE MAJ. JOHN BRADFORD HOUSE

LANDING ROAD · KINGSTON, MASS.

_Originally a part of Plymouth_

_Visit the_

JOHN ALDEN HOUSE

DUXBURY :: MASS.

APTUCXET

First Trading Post of Plymouth Colony

[symbol] 1627 [symbol]

Reconstructed on the original foundations to illustrate the beginnings of American commerce.

On the Cape Cod Canal near the South end of the Bourne Bridge on the Gray Gables Road.

_Visit the_

HISTORIC WINSLOW HOUSE

MARSHFIELD

Careswell Street Route 139

Home of Hon. Isaac Winslow, son of Gov. Josiah Winslow and grandson of Gov. Edward Winslow.

_Built 1699 and one of the finest mansions of its period now standing._

OPEN JUNE 17–SEPT. 15 ADMISSION 25 CENTS

OLD DARTMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY

FOUNDED 1903

To create and foster an interest in the history of that portion of the Plymouth Plantations set off as the Town of Dartmouth in 1664, a territory, at present, embracing the towns of Fairhaven, Acushnet, Dartmouth, Westport, and the City of New Bedford.

The Society, dedicated to historical research, maintains an extensive and unique Whaling Museum, together with a Museum of Domestic Articles illustrative of the past history of Old Dartmouth.

The Museums are open to the public during the week, except on Mondays. (Admission 25 cents) and on Sunday afternoons free.

JOHNNY CAKE HILL New Bedford Massachusetts WILLIAM H. TRIPP, _Secretary and Curator_

STATE STREET TRUST COMPANY

BOSTON, MASS.

_A New England Institution for Every Banking and Trust Service_

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS _Chairman of the Board_

ALLAN FORBES _President_

_Member Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation_

MASSACHUSETTS BONDING AND INSURANCE COMPANY

HOME OFFICE: BOSTON

T. J. FALVEY, _President_

Transacts business throughout the United States.

FIDELITY _and_ SURETY BONDS _and_ CASUALTY INSURANCE

A simple way to secure Dependable Insurance at fair price is to ask your agent or broker for a policy in a sturdy old New England Company--either the BOSTON INSURANCE COMPANY or the OLD COLONY INSURANCE COMPANY.

_Home Offices_: 87 KILBY STREET, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been corrected silently.

2. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been retained as in the original.

3. Italics are shown as _xxx_.