Plymouth, MA news and local guide

Plymouth was the final landing place of the Mayflower and the site of the original settlement of Plymouth Colony, founded in December 1620 by separatists who had broken from the Church of England, later called the Pilgrims, a term coined by William Bradford. The Mayflower first anchored at Provincetown on November 11, 1620. It had been bound for the mouth of the Hudson River, and because the settlers had no patent for New England they signed the Mayflower Compact before going ashore. After exploring Cape Cod they found the sheltered harbor of Plymouth on December 17 and disembarked on December 21, 1620. Tradition holds that they first stepped ashore at Plymouth Rock, though no historical evidence supports it. The colony faced starvation and lack of shelter in its first winter and depended from the start on help from Native Americans. Squanto, who had escaped slavery in Spain and returned home in 1619, taught the colonists to grow corn and fish, and with Hobomok, sent by Massasoit in 1621, he helped them set up fur trading posts, and Massasoit made a peace treaty with the Pilgrims. Sources Wikipedia: Plymouth, Massachusetts