A. S. Burbank

“ We have, from the easterly brow of Burial Hill, a beautiful picture of the harbor and its surroundings. Below us the ground slopes to the water, cut into terrace below terrace, with the buildings upon them. At its foot are the wharves and harbor, and below it the Beach near which the “Mayflower” swung at her anchors. Manomet is the range of misty blue hills stretching into the bay on the right. Kingston and Duxbury, with Captain’s Hill are on the left, and far out Clark’s Island, Saquish, and the Gurnet, with the thin, sandy strip of beach joining the latter headlands. ”

“ Plymouth extends over a territory about eighteen miles long, and from five to nine miles wide, and beyond the settled parts of the town is a succession of wooded hills. This large tract is interspersed with hundreds of large and small ponds (or lakes) stocked with fish, furnishing limitless fields for the lover of nature or seeker of pleasure, in walking, riding, fishing, or hunting. Wealthy residents of other places have fine summer seats at the town overlooking the harbor and bay. ”

“ Although by the configuration of the land Plymouth Harbor seems to have been designed for a perfect haven against every wind that blows, unfortunately it is dependent upon a full sea for depth enough of water to float vessels of large draft to the wharves. ”

“ Oval in form, with a flat top, it seems the very place to bring the great clumsy boat up to, as from its crest they can spring to the shore, dry-shod, a matter which, after their previous wading in the ice-cold water at the Cape, is of no small moment. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Of late years many Plymouth residents have engaged in cranberry culture on an extensive scale, and their ventures have been exceedingly profitable, amounting to about $400,000 yearly. Together with the adjoining town of Carver, which is still more extensively engaged in cranberry raising, the two towns produce more than one-fourth of the cranberries grown in the entire United States. An industry, which is of large proportions, is the raising of brook trout and spawn for the markets. ”

“ In one field is a great hill on which we point to make a platform, and plant our ordance, which will command all around about. From thence we may see into the 39 bay, and far into the sea; and we may see thence Cape Cod. Our greatest labor will be the fetching of our wood, which is half a quarter of an English mile; but there is enough so far off. What people inhabit here we yet know not, for as yet we have seen none. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is greenish syenite, very hard, and bears high polish when its fragments are worked for various purposes.
36 The Landing
Let us picture to ourselves the scene on that Monday morning, when, after the rest on Clark’s Island they came in their shallop to inspect the new country that they had providentially found. The wharves and buildings and every trace of civilization vanish. All is wild and unknown. Across the harbor comes the boat and every eye anxiously and keenly scanning the strange shore to discover the presence of human beings, who will be sure to be enemies. ”

“ With the assistance of the State of Massachusetts a channel 150 feet wide with eighteen feet depth at mean 7 low water, was opened in 1913 from Beach Point to the fine new stone pier of the Plymouth Cordage Co., and by it that great industrial plant now brings its fibre, for manufacture, direct from Mexico to its mills in steamships of 3500 tons measurement. In 1876 the United States Government dug a small channel from Broad channel to the wharves, where none had existed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As they break along the shore.”
The introduction of visitors to Plymouth as they come by rail, is at Seaside, a station in the extreme north part of the town, at the dividing line between Kingston and Plymouth. As the cars slow up passengers see the beautiful panorama of Plymouth Harbor spread out before their eyes. At the near left, across the bay appears Captain’s Hill, so called from its being the home of Capt. Myles Standish, and on its crest is a monument in honor of the Pilgrim warrior, surmounted by his statue fourteen feet in height. ”

“ GOV. BRADFORD.
At the foot of Burial Hill, on the south side, the Town Brook flows through the centre of the town, “vexed in all its seaward course by bridges, dams and mills.” Along the banks the Pilgrims erected their first dwelling-houses and brought water from “the very sweet brooke” below, into which the “many delicate springs” still continue to run.
OUTLET OF BILLINGTON SEA.
It is a favorite resort for artists who delight in sketching the picturesque scenery and ancient architecture. ”

“ Plymouth’s manufacturing industries show great diversity of character, and are exceedingly prosperous. The yearly 78 value of their total product is not far from fifteen million dollars. The great cordage works at North Plymouth are the very largest concern of the kind in the world, employing above 2,000 hands, and have built up a flourishing corporation hamlet in that quarter of the town. ”

“ The shallop is steered to its side; the company steps upon the Rock, and the Landing of the Forefathers, now so reverently commemorated, is completed. Look along the shore at this day, north or south, and you may see cliffs as 37 Cole’s Hill was then, with the mouth of Town Brook near by the Rock, which later made a safe little harbor for their boats in the rear of the dwellings which they erected on the south side of Leyden Street. ”

“ A system of public works, introduced in 1855, supplies the inhabitants with pure water from the great ponds that lie in the woods a few miles south of the town. Excellent drainage 74 is secured by an extensive system of sewers, the main outlets discharging in deep water of the harbor 1500 feet from the shore. The main thoroughfares are lighted by electricity, and both electricity and gas are in use for illuminants in public buildings, stores, factories and dwellings. ”

“ The town contains five banking institutions,—Old Colony and the Plymouth National banks; the Plymouth, the Plymouth Five Cents and the Plymouth Co-operative savings banks, occupying two fine brick buildings on Main Street. There are six excellent hotels within the town limits, four of them well known as summer resorts. To the credit of the town be it said, that its citizens are so law abiding that only a small but very effective uniformed police force is required, and there is seldom occasion of arrest for any serious offense. ”

“ Lying a little more than a mile from the town centre it makes a convenient pleasure-ground for Plymouth people, and the beauty of the place is such as to attract all lovers of woodland scenery. Nature has done her most to make the park charming, and man has very wisely made little attempt to improve it. Nearly 200 acres there are, consisting of deep woods and open country, hills and valleys, brooks and ponds.
68
ENTRANCE TO MORTON PARK.
The park nearly surrounds Little Pond, consisting of forty acres, and borders for a mile on the historic Billington Sea, which has 308 acres. ”

“ One of these springs of deliciously clear cold water, is forced up from near the brook by electric power, and runs out in a fountain at the corner of Leyden and Main Streets, on land once owned by Elder Brewster as previously noted. 70 During the summer many thousands are here refreshed, and while citizens much enjoy the cooling draughts, visitors highly commend the public provision which enables them to partake of the waters of a spring, from which the Pilgrims themselves daily obtained their supply “of as good water as can be drunke.” ”

“ It begins to snow and rain and the wind to blow and the seas to rise. Now the hinge of the rudder breaks, and oars are got out to steer with. Master Coppin, the pilot, bids them to be of good cheer, for he sees the harbor which he had promised them.
THE MAYFLOWER IN PLYMOUTH HARBOR.
Across the bay they drive, keeping on a press of sail to make the desired harbor before nightfall when crash goes the mast, broken into three pieces, and the shallop is near being wrecked. ”

“ The beauty of its scenery, the unusual healthfulness of its air, the purity of its water, 80 the variety of its drives, the number of ponds within its limits, and its unbounded resources for the sportsman and pleasure-seeker, have been more widely recognized with each recurring season. ”

“ Their manufacturing product is over $10,000,000 a year, and their big steamships bringing from Yucatan directly to Plymouth great cargoes of fibre as raw material, give the port, as one of foreign import, rank in Massachusetts over all other ports of the state directly next to Boston. There are three large mills engaged in the production of woolen and worsted cloths, one busy concern making rugs and mats, while three extensive factories keep many of Plymouth’s inhabitants employed in the manufacture of tacks, nails, and rivets. ”

“ The third is Education: on one side Wisdom, ripe with years; on the other Youth, led by Experience. The fourth figure is Freedom: on one side Peace rests under its Protection; on the other Tyranny is overthrown by its powers. Below these seated figures are marble alto-reliefs, representing scenes from the history of the Pilgrims:—the Departure from Delft Haven; the first Treaty with the Indians; Signing of the Social Compact; and the Landing at Plymouth. 11 On each of the four faces of the main pedestal is a large panel for records. ”

“ An iron foundry does a large business in stovemaking, and at Chiltonville there is a big branch plant of the Boston Woven Hose and Rubber Company, under Plymouth management which supports quite a village of its own. ”

“ The new prison is light, commodious and airy, and has 140 cells for men, and 12 for women. The number of prisoners averages about 120, about half of them being “trusties,” who perform the farm labor cheerfully, with but little oversight other than that necessary for direction. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This rational employment of prison labor for self support, is working splendidly, and the farm, the first of the kind in this country to be established on such a basis, is visited with much interest by officials connected with the criminal institutions of this and other states for the purpose of learning the methods of administration. ”

“ That in front contains the general inscription of the monument, viz., “National Monument to the Forefathers. Erected by a grateful people in remembrance of their labors, sacrifices and sufferings for the cause of civil and religious liberty.” The right and left panel contain the names of those who came over in the “Mayflower.” The rear panel is plain, to have an inscription at some future day.
LAW.
The total height of the Monument is eighty-one feet, from the ground to the top of the head of the statue of Faith. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A beautifully executed souvenir in genuine bronze, 23⁄4 inches in diameter, bearing on one side a model of the ship Mayflower and on the reverse a relief of The Landing of the Pilgrims, Dec. 21, 1620. By mail, $4.00 each.
THE CAPE COD FIRE LIGHTER.
Everybody loves a log fire and here is a way to start the blaze quickly without the use of kindling. Made of brass $4.50, or with tray $5.75. Add 15c for mailing.
PLYMOUTH ROCK BAYBERRY
A miniature model of Plymouth Rock moulded in genuine bayberry wax with the date 1620. A real novelty for milady’s work bag. Each one in a box, 30c. ”