Plymouth (historically known as Plimouth and Plimoth ) is a town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest municipality in Massachusetts by area. The population was 51,701 at the 2000 census, with an estimated 2009 population of 58,681. Plymouth is one of two county seats of Plymouth County, the other being Brockton. It is named after Plymouth, Devon, United Kingdom, which is, in turn, named after its location at mouth of the River Plym.
Plymouth is best known for being the site of the colony established by the Pilgrims, passengers of the Mayflower. Founded in 1620, Plymouth is the oldest municipality in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. It also is the oldest continually inhabited English settlement in the modern United States. The town has served as the location of several prominent events, the most notable being the First Thanksgiving feast. Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony from its founding in 1620 until the colony's dissolution in 1691.
Plymouth is located approximately 40 miles (64 km) south of Boston in a region of Massachusetts known as the South Shore. Throughout the 19th century, the town thrived as a center of ropemaking, fishing, and shipping, and once held the world's largest ropemaking company, the Plymouth Cordage Company. While it continues to be an active port, today the major industry of Plymouth is tourism. Plymouth is served by Plymouth Municipal Airport, and contains Pilgrim Hall Museum, the oldest continually operating museum in the United States.
As one of the country's first settlements, Plymouth is well-known in the United States for its historical value. The events surrounding the history of Plymouth have become part of the mythology of the United States, particularly those relating to Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrims and the First Thanksgiving.
History
Pre-colonial era
Prior to the arrival of the Pilgrims, the location of Plymouth was a village of 2,000 Wampanoag Native Americans called Patuxet. This region that would become Plymouth was visited twice by European explorers prior to the establishment of Plymouth Colony. In 1605, Samuel de Champlain sailed to Plymouth Harbor, calling it Port St. Louis. In 1614, Captain John Smith, a leader of the Jamestown settlement, explored parts of Cape Cod Bay; he is credited with naming the region which would become the future Plymouth Colony as "New Plimouth."
After these explorations, two plagues afflicted coastal New England in 1614 and 1617. Likely transmitted from British and French fishermen to natives on the shore, it killed between 90 and 95% of the local Wampanoag inhabitants. The near disappearance of the tribe from the site not only left their cornfields and other cleared areas for the soon-to-arrive Pilgrims to occupy, but also meant that the Indians were in no condition to resist the arrival of the colonists.
Colonial era
Plymouth has played an important role in American colonial history. It was the final landing site of the first voyage of the Mayflower , and the location of the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony. Plymouth was established in 1620 by Anglicans and English separatists who had broken away from the Church of England, believing that the Church had not completed the work of the Protestant Reformation. Today, these settlers are much better known as "Pilgrims," a term coined by William Bradford.
The Mayflower first anchored in what would become the harbor of Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 11, 1620. The ship was headed for Virginia, but eventually reached New England. There are varying theories as to how this happened. They include: violent storms threw the ship off course; a navigation error; the Dutch bribed the captain to sail north so the Pilgrims would not settle near New Amsterdam; and the Pilgrims on the Mayflower, who comprised only 35 of the 102 settlers aboard the Mayflower , hijacked the ship to land far from Anglican control. The Pilgrim settlers, realizing that the party did not have a patent to settle in the region, subsequently signed the Mayflower Compact. The Pilgrims went on to explore various parts of Cape Cod, but soon a storm and violent skirmishes with local Native Americans forced the migrants to sail westward into Cape Cod Bay. The Pilgrims eventually came across the sheltered waters of Plymouth Harbor on December 17. The appealing protected bay led to a site in the present-day Harbor District being chosen for the new settlement after three days of surveying. The settlers officially disembarked on December 21, 1620. It is traditionally said that the Pilgrims first set foot in America at the site of Plymouth Rock, though no historical evidence can prove this claim. The settlers named their settlement "Plimouth" (also historically known as "Plimoth", an old English spelling of the name) after the major port city in Devon, England from which the Mayflower sailed.
Plymouth faced many difficulties during its first winter, the most notable being the risk of starvation and the lack of suitable shelter. From the beginning, the assistance of Indians was vital. One colonist's journal reports:
We marched to the place we called Cornhill, where we had found the corn before. At another place we had seen before, we dug and found some more corn, two or three baskets full, and a bag of beans....In all we had about ten bushels, which will be enough for seed. It is with God's help that we found this corn, for how else could we have done it, without meeting some Indians who might trouble us.
Along with ransacking the food stores of Indians, the colonists also raided the houses of the few Indians who had survived the plague, as well as robbing Indian graves. Even greater assistance came from Samoset and Tisquantum (better known as Squanto), an Indian sent by Wampanoag Tribe Chief Massasoit, as an ambassador and technical adviser. Squanto had been kidnapped in 1614 by an English slave raider and sold in Malaga, Spain. Having learned English, he escaped slavery and returned home in 1619. Teaching the colonists how to farm corn, where and how to catch fish, and how to make other necessary items, he was instrumental in the survival of the settlement for the first two years. Squanto and another guide sent by Massasoit in 1621, Hobomok, helped the colonists set up trading posts for furs and pay off the cost of establishing the colony. Chief Massasoit later formed a Peace Treaty with the Pilgrims. Upon growing a plentiful harvest in the fall of 1621, the Pilgrims gathered with Squanto, Samoset, Massasoit, and ninety other Wampanoag men in a celebration of food and feasting. This celebration is known today as the First Thanksgiving, and is still commemorated annually in downtown Plymouth with a parade and a reenactment. Since 1941, Thanksgiving has been observed as a federal holiday in the United States.
Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony (which consisted of modern-day Barnstable, Bristol, and Plymouth Counties) from its founding in 1620 until 1691, when the colony was annexed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Plymouth holds the unique distinction of being the first permanent settlement in New England, and one of the oldest settlements in the United States.
19th century
In the 1800s, Plymouth remained a relatively isolated seacoast town whose livelihood depended on fishing and shipping. The town eventually became a regional center of shipbuilding and fishing. Its principal industry was the Plymouth Cordage Company, which became the world's largest manufacturer of rope and cordage products. The company was founded in 1824. At one point, the longest ropewalk in the world, a quarter-mile (0.4 km) in length, was found on the Cordage Company's site on the North Plymouth waterfront. It thrived into the 1960s, but was forced out of business in 1964 due to competition from synthetic-fiber ropes. The refurbished factory, known as Cordage Commerce Center, is home to numerous offices, restaurants and stores.
Modern history
In the last 30 years, Plymouth has experienced rapid growth and development. As in many South Shore towns, Plymouth became more accessible to Boston in the early 1970s with improved railroads, highways, and bus routes. Furthermore, the town's inexpensive land costs and low tax rates were factors in the town's significant population rise. Plymouth's population grew from 18,606 residents in 1970 to 45,608 residents in 1990, a 145% increase in 20 years. The population has continued to expand in recent years. While Plymouth has already surpassed several Massachusetts cities in population, the town is still officially regarded as a town, as it has not been re-chartered as a city. Plymouth has emerged as a major economic and tourist center of the South Shore.
Geography
See also: Neighborhoods in Plymouth, MassachusettsThe latitude of Plymouth is 41.9
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