Part 3

Ascending the broad flight of steps leading to the brow of the hill, and turning to the left, we tread upon sacred, hallowed ground. Here were buried, in that dark, sad winter in which they landed, half of their little band. The terrible tale is told concisely by the narrator already quoted. “This month (March) thirteen of our number die. And in three months past dies half our company—the greatest part in the depth of winter, wanting houses and other comforts, being afflicted with the scurvy and other diseases which their long voyage and unaccommodate condition brought upon them, so as there die sometimes two or three a day. Of a hundred persons scarce fifty remaining; the living scarce able to bury the dead; the well not sufficient to tend the sick, there being in their time of greatest distress, but six or seven, who spare no pains to help them.” They buried them on this hill, and levelled the graves, and in the spring following planted grain above them, that the Indians might not know the extent of their great loss.

At four different times the remains have been discovered. In 1735, in a great rain, the water, rushing down Middle Street to the harbor, caused a deep gully there, exposing human remains and washing them into the sea. In 1855, workmen engaged in digging trenches for the water works found parts of five skeletons. The graves were in the roadway, about five rods south of the foot of Middle Street. One of the skulls was sent to a competent anatomist in Boston, and was pronounced to be of the Caucasian race. The remains were carefully gathered and placed in a metallic box, properly inscribed, and interred on Burial Hill, subsequently being deposited in the chamber of the canopy over the Rock, at its completion in the year 1867. Again, on the 8th of October, 1883, during grading on the hill, other remains were found which were carefully removed, and afterwards, on the 20th of November, enclosed in a lead box and re-interred on the precise spot of their original burial. Directly over the grave a granite slab has been placed by order of the town, bearing an appropriate inscription. On the 27th of November, 1883, others still were found which lie undisturbed near the last, and their exact resting-place is designated on the memorial slab above mentioned. Cole’s Hill has other histories, also. From the first days its position above and commanding the harbor led to its being selected as a place of defence. In 1742 the General Court granted a sum of money to the town to erect a battery here. In 1775, the old defence having gone to decay, a new one was built and manned, and continued to be kept up during the war. In 1814 still another fort was thrown up here, and placed in charge of companies of soldiers stationed in the town. In 1915-16 the brow of the hill southeast of Middle Street was filled off, continuing the esplanade from North to Leyden Street, much improving former conditions. (Extensive changes are about to be made on the level of the hill, and the Pilgrim graves recovered from the highway and properly marked.)

Leyden Street

(Originally named First Street, afterwards in the Records called Great and Broad Street; named Leyden Street in 1823.)

“There first was heard the welcome strain Of axe and hammer, saw and plane.”

Walking around the brow of the hill through Carver Street, we pass the handsome vestry of the Baptist church, built in 1915, and next the Universalist church, erected in 1826 on the spot where stood the ancient Allyne House, one of the last of its architecture to disappear in the colony. Standing on this elevation, we can see the reason for the selection of this place for the settlement. There below us, are the waters of “the very sweet brook,” into which the “many delicate springs” still continue to run. How sweet they must have tasted to the palates of those poor stormtossed wayfarers, who for months had been drinking the ship’s stale water! Sweet and pure they are now as they were then. Then the brook came to the sea in its natural wildness, unfettered by bridge or dam. Where it met the waters of the ocean was quite a wide estuary, so that before the lower bridge was built schooners of considerable size were wintered here nearly up to the second bridge. Beyond it is the land where there was “much corn land cleared.” Just below the junction of Carver and Leyden streets they built their first building, a “common house.” In 1801, in digging a cellar at that place, several tools and a plate of iron were found, which without doubt were in this “common house.” This house was about twenty feet square, and thatched. It took fire in the roof Jan. 14, 1621, and the thatch was burnt. It was a common log house, such as built now by Western pioneers, and probably was not used many years. These articles found were probably left in it unnoticed when vacated and only came to light when the little colony to whom they were so useful had expanded into a great nation. A sign and bronze tablet now mark this spot.

“Mourt’s Relation” furnishes us an interesting record:—

“Thursday, the 28th (old style) of December, so many as could went to work on the hill, where we proposed to build our platform for our ordnance, and which doth command all the plain and the bay, and from whence we may see far into the sea, and might be easier impaled, having two rows of houses and a fair street. So in the afternoon we went to measure out the grounds; and first we took notice how many families there were, willing all single men that had no wives to join with some family, as they thought fit, so that we might build fewer houses; which done, and we reduced them to nineteen families.

“To greater families we alloted larger plots; to every person half a pole in breadth and three in length, and so lots were cast where every man should lie; which was done and staked out,” and this was laying out of Leyden Street, so named in 1823. An unfinished plan of this street is to be seen on the old records of the Colony, at the Registry of Deeds. The full plot of the little settlement was about as shown in the annexed line drawing.

Burial Hill. _The _Edw Winslow._ _Town _Gov. Bradford._ Brook_ Square._ _Francis Cooke._ _Mr. Isaac Allerton._ _John Billington._ _A Highway leading to _King St. now Main St._ Town Brook._ _Mr. William Brewster._ _First _Stephen Hopkins._ Street—now Leyden St._ _John Goodman._ _John Howland._ _Peter Brown._ _Samuel Fuller._ _Common House._ Cole’s Hill First Burial Place. The Harbor

Continuing up Leyden street to Main street, we pass on our left the U. S. Government post office and custom house building, a handsome Colonial edifice completed in 1915. This site is peculiarly and historically appropriate for the Federal building, as it is the lot assigned to William Brewster, Dec. 28, 1620, (old style), in the laying out just described. He was the elder or spiritual teacher of the Pilgrims, so on his homestead where he taught religious liberty which distinguishes our country, the Nation places its representative cornerstone—a most happy coincidence of the marking of Colonial and National beginnings. The public fountain at the corner gives invitation to “freely drink and quench your thirst” from the Pilgrim Spring on the Brewster meerstead, the water of which is sent by electric power from the cool, copiously gushing source near the bank of Town Brook, 200 feet away.

Plymouth in 1627

In 1627, Isaac DeRaiseres, an officer from the Dutch Colony of New Netherland, now New York, visited Plymouth, and in a letter to Holland sends the following description of appearance of the place:—

“New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east toward the sea coast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of eight hundred (yards) long, leading down the hill, with a (street) crossing in the middle northwards to the rivulet and southwards to the land.[1] The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and court-yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the street are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross street, stands the Governor’s house, before which is a square enclosure, upon which four patereros (steen-stucken) are mounted, so as to flank along the streets. Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof, made of thick sawn planks, stayed with oak beams, upon the top of which they have six cannons, which shoot iron balls of four and five pounds, and command the surrounding country.”

[1]An error in statement of the points of the compass is here evident. It should be “southwards to the rivulet and northwards to the land.”

Town Square

Above Main and Market streets we enter Town Square, shaded by its noble elms, planted in 1784. On the corner of Main Street, a large building was built in 1875 by Mayflower Lodge I. O. O. F., covering the spot on which stood the house of William Bradford, so many years, the Pilgrim governor. It was burned January 10, 1904, and the “Governor Bradford Building,” a handsome brick structure with stores and offices took its place. A bronze tablet calls attention to the locality.

Above this is the Congregational Church, known as the “Church of the Pilgrimage.”

The present building was erected in 1840, and stands very near the site of the First Meeting-house in Plymouth, built in 1638. A tablet on the front of the church bears the following inscription:—

This tablet is inscribed in grateful memory of the Pilgrims and of their successors who, at the time of the Unitarian controversy in 1801, adhered to the belief of the Fathers, and on the basis of the original creed and covenant perpetuated, at great sacrifice, in the Church of the Pilgrimage, the evangelical faith and fellowship of the Church of Scrooby, Leyden, and the “Mayflower,” organized in England in 1606.

Opposite is an old building, now the Town House, on which is a historical bronze tablet. It was built in 1749 as a court house, the town contributing a part of the cost for the privilege of using it. When the new court house was built, in 1820, this old colonial building was purchased by the town and in it most of the town officers are located, also public sanitary conveniences. At the head of the square is the First Parish Church, the original church of the Pilgrims.

The first “Meeting-house,” as the Pilgrims called church edifices, to distinguish them from houses of worship of the established church, has been proved, by the investigations of Mr. W. T. Davis, to have stood on the north side of the square, near the spot occupied by the present Governor Bradford building. Of this we know but little, except that it was erected in 1638, (the Forefathers before that time worshipping in the fort on the hill), and had a bell. In 1683 a new building was erected, not on the same lot, but farther out at the head of the square. This was forty-five by forty feet, sixteen feet in the walls, had a Gothic roof, diamond window glass and a bell.

In 1744, still another church was built on or near the same site. This remained until 1830, when a Gothic edifice was erected. This stood farther up the hill than the previous one, and was destroyed by fire Nov. 22, 1892. The present stone building was completed and dedicated on December 21, 1899, and has on its front, tablets designating it as the first church. Its entrance portal is a fine reproduction of the arched doorway of the old church at Austerfield, England, in which Gov. Bradford was christened.

Burial Hill

“The Pilgrim Fathers are at rest; When Summer’s throned on high, And the world’s warm breast is in verdure dressed, Go, stand on the hill where they lie.”

Beyond and above Town Square stretches the verdant slope consecrated from the earliest years of the colony as a place of sepulture. Here repose the ashes of those who survived the first winter. “In one field a great hill, on which we point to make a platform and plant our ordnance, which will command all round about. From thence we may see into the bay and far into the sea.” Marble tablets mark the location of the Old Fort and Watch Tower, while numerous stones and monuments, which can easily be deciphered, point out resting places of Pilgrims and descendants.

The marble obelisk in memory of Gov. William Bradford, the second governor, with its Hebrew text, now difficult to decipher, but translated by good authority to read: “Let the right hand of the Lord awake,” together with a Latin inscription, freely rendered: “Do not basely relinquish what the Fathers with difficulty attained,” erected in 1825, is near to us, and around it are numerous stones, marking the graves of his descendants. On the south side of the Governor’s obelisk is inscribed:

H I William Bradford of Austerfield Yorkshire England. Was the son of William and Alice Bradford, He was Governor of Plymouth Colony from 1621 to 1633 1635 1637 1639 to 1643 1645 to 1657

On the north side:

Under this stone rest the ashes of William Bradford a zealous Puritan & sincere Christian Gov. of Ply. Col. from 1621 to 1657, (the year he died) aged 69, except 5 yrs, which he declined.

A little back, on a path to the rear entrance to the hill is the oldest stone in the cemetery. It must be remembered that for many years the colonists had far other cares, and many other uses for their little savings, than to provide stones to mark their graves. These had to be imported from England at much cost, and consequently it was some years before any were able to afford the expense. The oldest stone is that to the memory of Edward Gray, 1681. Mr. Gray was a merchant, and one of the wealthiest men in the colony. Near the head of this path is a stone to William Crowe, 1683-84. Near by is one to Thomas Clark, 1697, erroneously reputed to have been the mate of the “Mayflower,” but who came in the “Ann,” in 1623. Clark’s Island received its name from John Clark, now known to have been the mate of the “Mayflower.” Beside the grave of Thomas Clark is that of his son, Nathaniel, who was one of the councillors of Sir Edward Andros, Governor of New England. Other old stones are those of Mrs. Hannah Clark, 1697; and John Cotton, 1699. These are all the original stones bearing dates in the seventeenth century. There are some with dates of that century which have been erected since, by descendants, including the monument to Governor Bradford, before alluded to: the fine granite shaft to Robert Cushman; and the stone over the remains of John Howland. The inscription on the latter stone reads as follows:—

Here ended the Pilgrimage of JOHN HOWLAND who died February 23, 167 2-3, aged above 80 years. He married Elizabeth daughter of JOHN TILLEY who came with him in the Mayflower Dec. 1620. From them are descended a numerous posterity.

“Hee was a godly man and an ancient professor in the wayes of Christ. Hee was one of the first comers into this land and was the last man that was left of those that came over in the Shipp called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth.”—(Plymouth Records.)

Near the Bradford monument are the graves of his family. The face of the stone at the grave of his son, Major William Bradford, shelled off in 1876-77, but the inscription has since been retraced. The cut following is reproduced from a view taken of the original, and is an exact _facsimile_—

Here lyes ye body of ye honourable Major William Bradford, who expired Feb’ ye 20th, 1703-4, aged 79 years.

He lived long, but still was doing good, And in his country’s service lost much blood, And a life well spent, he’s now at rest, His very name and memory is blest.

At the grave of another son the headstone reads as follows:

Here lyes interred ye body of Mr. Joseph Bradford, son of the late Honorable William Bradford, Esq., Governor of Plymouth, Colony, who departed this life July the 10th, 1715 in the eighty-fifth year of his age.

The following are some of the inscriptions of the older stones:

Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Hannah Sturtevant, aged about sixty-four years. Dec. in March, 1708-9.

Here lyes buried the body of Mr. Thomas Faunce, ruling elder of the First Church of Christ in Plymouth. Deceased Feb’y, 27, 1745, in the ninety-ninth year of his age.

The fathers—where are they? Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

(Elder Faunce was the last who held the office of ruling elder in the church. He was contemporary with many of the first comers, and from him comes much of the information we possess about the localities now venerated.)

The epitaphs in old graveyards possess much interest to the lovers of the quaint and curious, and this first cemetery of New England is not without its attraction of that kind. The following are some of the most interesting:—

This stone is erected to the memory of that unbiased judge, faithful officer, sincere friend, and honest man, Col. Isaac Lothrop who resigned his life on the 26th day of April, 1750, in the forty-third year of his age.

Had Virtue’s charms the power to save Its faithful votaries from the grave, This stone had ne’er possessed the fame Of being marked with Lothrop’s name.

A row of stones on the top of the hill, near the marble tablet marking the locality of the Watch Tower, is raised to the memory of the ministers of the First Parish. Back of these is the Judson lot, where the sculptor’s chisel has perpetuated the remembrance of Rev. Adoniram Judson, the celebrated missionary to Burmah, whose body was committed to the keeping of Old Ocean. On the westerly side of the hill is a monument erected by Stephen Gale of Portland, Me:—

To the memory of seventy-two seamen, who perished in Plymouth Harbor, on the 26th and 27th days of December, 1778, on board the private armed brig, General Arnold, of twenty guns, James Magee, of Boston, Commander; sixty of whom were buried in this spot.

About midway on the easterly slope a little to the north of the main path up the hill, on the stone to a child aged one month:—

He glanced into our world to see A sample of our miserie.

On a stone a little farther north, to the memory of four children, aged respectively thirty-six, twenty-one, seventeen and two years:—

Stop traveller and shed a tear Upon the fate of children dear.

On the path towards the schoolhouse on a stone to a woman with an infant child by her side:—

Come view the seen, ’twill fill you with surprise, Behold the loveliest form in nature dies; At noon she flourished, blooming, fair and gay; At evening an extended corpse she lay.

Near the entrance to this path is the grave of a Revolutionary soldier, Capt. Jacob Taylor, died 1788:—

Through life he braved her foe, if great or small, And marched out foremust at his country’s call.

On this path is the grave of Joseph Bartlett, who died in 1703:—

Thousands of years after blest Abel’s fall, ’Twas said of him, being dead he speaketh yet; From silent grave methinks I hear a call:— Pray, fellow mortals, don’t your death forget. You that your eyes cast on this grave, Know you a dying time must have.

Near the same place is a curious stone, to the memory of John Cotton:—

Here lyes interred three children, viz., three sons of Rev. Mr. John Cotton, who died in the work of the gospel ministry at Charlestown, South Carolina, Sept. ye 18th, 1869, where he had great success, and seven sons of Josiah Cotton, Esq., who died in their infancy.

On the southerly slope of the hill, near a pine grove, is a stone to a child:—

The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

On the stone to the memory of Thomas Jackson, died in 1794:—

The spider’s most attenuated thread Is cord, is cable, to man’s tender tie.

MARTHA COTTON, 1796. Many years I lived Many painful scenes I passed, Till God at last Called me home.

In a long lot enclosed with an iron fence:—

F. W. Jackson. obit M. C. H. 23, 1797, 1 yr. 7 dys,

Heav’n knows what man He might have made. But we He died a most rare boy.

As young as beautiful; and soft as young, And gay as soft; and innocent as gay.

A little farther on in this path is the stone to Tabitha Plasket, 1807, the epitaphs, on which, written supposedly by herself, breaths such a spirit of defiance that it attracts much attention:—

Adieu, vain world, I’ve seen enough of thee; And I am careless what thou say’st of me; Thy smiles I wish not, Nor thy frowns I fear, I am now at rest, my head lies quiet here,

Mrs. Plasket, in her widowhood, taught a private school for small children, at the same time, as was the custom of her day, doing her spinning. Her mode of punishment was to pass skeins of yarn under the arms of the little culprits, and hang them upon pegs. A suspended row was a ludicrous sight.

Mr. Joseph Plasket (husband of Tabitha) died in 1794, at the age of forty-eight years. The widow wrote his epitaph as follows:—

All you that doth behold my stone, Consider how soon I was gone. Death does not always warning give, Therefore be careful how you live. Repent in time, no time delay, I in my prime was called away.

Nearly opposite this is one on a very young child:—

The babe that’s caught from womb and breast, Claim right to sing above the rest, Because they found the happy shore They never saw or sought below.

As this path comes out on the brow of the hill, near a white fence, is a stone to Elizabeth Savery, 1831:—

Remember me as you pass by, As you are now, so once was I; As I am now, so you will be, Therefore prepare to follow me.

On the path by the fence in the rear of the hill:—

The father and the children dead, We hope to Heaven their souls have fled. The widow now alone is left, Of all her family bereft. May she now put her trust in God, To heal the wound made by His rod.

On a stone raised to the memory of a child:—

He listened for a while to hear Our mortal griefs; then turned his ear To angel harps and songs, and cried To join their notes celestial, sigh’d and died.

A little from the path up Burial Hill to the left, just below the tall Cushman monument, a marble tablet designates the spot where the fort of the little colony was situated, quite a portion of its outline still being distinct, particularly at the easterly corner. We can see at once with what sagacity the site was chosen, undoubtedly by Standish. It commanded Leyden Street, and the approaches from the brook over which the Indians came.