Plymouth Rock

History

Plymouth Rock is a boulder in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States, which was claimed to have been at the site where the Mayflower Pilgrims landed to found Plymouth Colony in December 1620. 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". 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.

Plymouth Rock has been moved multiple times since 1620. 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. Over the years, people chipped away at the portion of the Rock that remained on the shoreline, removing hundreds of pounds of stone as souvenirs. The top portion of the rock was returned to the shoreline of Plymouth Harbor in 1880. The date 1620 was inscribed at that time. In 1920 the rock was completely excavated and relocated to a new location on the shoreline and a granite portico was erected over it.

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