Plymouth Massachusetts: History Museums of Plymouth
Plymouth MA, History of the Pilgrims
Plymouth's
History Museums
of the Pilgrims
The Jenny Grist
Mill, a re-created mill
that once stood on the
stream where the first
settlers built their homes
in 1620
In 1620 a group of 104 settler
including a group of religious pilgrims
landed on a shore near a clear
running stream where they built a
town that we now call Plymouth,
Massachusetts. Modern Plymouth
makes the most of its history and is a
great place to visit with several
museums to history just a walk from
were the settlers built their first
houses.
The ship that brought the
Pilgrims has been re-created
and is at the dock near the
landing site and open to the
public as a floating museum
to Pilgrim history. Nearby, the
place were the Pilgrims built
their first houses is now a park
along the stream that first
attracted the settlers to
Plymouth
The interior of the Sparrow House. History is the draw in Plymouth. Plymouth
Mass is often called the Nations home town.
Across the street, the replica of the ship that brought the Pilgrims, the
Mayflower, is at a dock in the harbour and open for visits. Nearby replica
cottages of the settlers act now as gift shops in Plymouth Memorial
State Park.
The Pilgrims left England because they
were not free to practice their Christian
religion without the influence of the British
monarchy.
Not all of the first group were religious
pilgrims, however; Miles Standish, for
example, was hired as a soldier to
provide security. Other travelers were
prospectors and speculators. Few of them
were fit enough or skilled enough to
survive their first harsh New England
winter.
The Pilgrims built their houses beside the stream, the oldest still standing the 1640
Sparrow House is now a museum and potters shop
visitors walk the street where the pilgrims built their houses, the oldest street in the
country: Leyden Avenue
Those first houses are gone
now but they are re-created
at the Plimoth Plantation
a living history museum
not far south on Route 3A
from the center of town.
Shuttle service reaches the
Plimoth Plantation
The first houses were on
Plymouth's Leydon
Street now the oldest
street in North America.
One of the early wood
frame houses, the 1661
Spooner House, still
stands and is open as a
museum.
The stream still runs along the path that the native Americans used to go from the shore
to the ponds inland.
Fine old houses now welcome visitors to
Plymouth
The walking trail to the Jenny Grist Mill
Inns of Newport
http://www.legendaryinnsofnewport.com/
Adele Turner Inn http://www.adeleturnerinn.
com/
Cliffside Inn http://www.cliffsideinn.com/
Best of Newport http://www.bestofnewport.
com/
Artisanal Cheese Makers
Shy Brothers, Westport
www.shybrothersfarm.com
Great Hill Blue, Marion
www.greathillblue.com
Museums and Sightseeing
New Bedford Whaling Museum
www.whalingmuseum.org
New Bedford Whaling National Park
www.nps.gov/nebe/
Schooner Ernestina
www.ernestina.org
Battleship Massachusetts, Battleship Cove
www.battleshipcove.org
Plimoth Plantation and Mayflower II
www.plimoth.org
Edaville Railroad and Cranberry World
www.edaville.com
King Richard’s Medieval Faire
www.kingrichardsfaire.net
Lloyd Center of the Environment (Nature
center, Trails)
www.thelloydcenter.org
Roche Jones Duff House Museum
www.rjdmuseum.org
Buttonwood Park Zoo
www.bpzoo.org
Lizzie Borden B&B/Museum
www.lizzie-borden.com
Music & Theatre
The Zeiterion
www.zeiterion.org
The Narrows
www.ncfta.org
The Tweeter Center
www.tweetercenter.com
New Bedford Symphony
www.nbsymphony.org
Festivals On The South Coast
New Bedford SummerFest
www.newbedfordsummerfest.com
Fall River Celebrates America
www.fallrivercelebrates.com
International Institute of Culinary Arts
www.iicaculinary.com
Outdoor Activities
Osprey Sea Kayak
www.ospreyseakayak.com
New Bedford ½ Marathon
www.newbedfordhalfmarathon.com
Art Galleries
The Art Complex
www.artcomplex.org
New Bedford Art Museum
www.newbedfordartmuseum.org
Artworks
www.artworksforyou.org
Narrows Center for the Arts
http://www.ncfta.org/
Concerts, galleries the local art scene on
the South Coast.
Restaurants, Food & Drink
The Back Eddy
www.thebackeddy.com
Freestones City Bar & Grill
www.freestones.com
Lodging, B&Bs
www.paquachuck.com
www.harborinnwestport.com
www.mass.gov/dcr/southeast.htm
www.destinationnewbedford.org
Wine Tours, Agricultural tours
Buzzards Bay Brewing
http://www.buzzardsbrew.com/
Coastal Wineries
http://www.coastalwinetrail.com
Vines to Wines Tours
http://www.vinestowinestours.com
B&B will arrange transportation
from their Inn to the area's
wineries.
Northeast Wineries
www.NortheastWineries.com
Buzzards Bay Brewing
http://www.buzzardsbrew.com/
Coastal Wineries
http://www.coastalwinetrail.com
New Bedford Whaling Museum
http://www.whalingmuseum.org/
New Bedford history of whaling.
Zeiterion Theatre
http://www.zeiterion.org
Vines to Wines Tours
http://www.vinestowinestours.com
B&B will arrange transportation
from their Inn to the area's
wineries.
Northeast Wineries
www.NortheastWineries.com
Other activities near Plymouth, Mass.
Plymouth is still a small town and can easily be walked in a day. Free parking is provided at several lots along
the harbor. towards the boat ramp. The ramp area parking is for boats with trailers but 200 yards to the north
there is free parking. Other lots provide paid parking.
You will need a vehicle to reach the Plimoth Plantation, about three miles outside the harbor along the coast to
the south.
Plymouth & Brockton shuttle runs service between the harbor and the Plimoth Plantation..
Train and bus service reaches Plymouth from Logan Airport.
Plymouth Mass History Museums: Plymouth's 1824 Pilgrim Hall is the country's oldest continually operating public museum
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The Ship Mayflower
brought the Pilgrims in
1620. The ship has been
re-created as a museum
and is at the dock near the
original landing site.
The Mayflower is open to
the public as a floating
museum to Pilgrim
history.
Nearby, beneath a granite
portico, you will find
Plymouth Rock at the foot
of the street where the
Pilgrims built their first
houses.
A stream runs through the
park nearby and this
provided the fresh water that
first attracted the Pilgrims to
Plymouth
About half the number that arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 did not survive the first winter. Miles Standish
lost his wife, Rose, and Priscilla Mullins (John Alden's Priscilla) lost her entire family.
Pilgrim Hall