Here is the real story of Plymouth Rock—America’s most famous piece of granite and the oldest tourist attraction in the USA.
Located in Pilgrim Memorial State Park on the shore of Plymouth Harbor, Plymouth Rock is the site where William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims, who founded Plymouth Colony, disembarked in December 1620.
Now a major tourist attraction, the rock causes a variety of reactions among visitors. Many tend to be disappointed by its size, and other skeptical tourists question the authenticity of the Rock as an actual historical artifact.
Indeed, William Bradford and his fellow Mayflower passengers made no written references to setting foot on a rock as they disembarked on the new continent.
Although there is no historical evidence to confirm Plymouth Rock as the Pilgrims’ actual steppingstone to the New World, the rock was identified as this spot in 1741, more than 120 years after the arrival of the Mayflower.
That year, Thomas Faunce, a 94-year-old man, said his father arrived in Plymouth in 1623 and assured him the boulder was the exact landing spot. When Faunce heard that the town of Plymouth had plans to build a wharf over the rock, he wanted one final glimpse. He reportedly gave Plymouth Rock a tearful farewell. Whether Faunce’s story was accurate or not, we may never know.
Whatever the truth, Plymouth Rock quickly became an American icon and a monument to freedom.
In 1774, the rock broke in two as some of the town’s patriots attempted to move the boulder from the harbor to a liberty pole in front of the town’s meetinghouse. The bottom part of the rock was left embedded on the shoreline, while the top part was moved to the town square.
In 1834, the rock was moved again and placed in the front lawn of the Pilgrim Hall Museum. And, once again, the rock broke in two during the ride.
In 1880, the top of Plymouth Rock was reunited with its base at the harbor. That same year, the date “1620” was carved on the stone’s surface.
Today, over 400 years after the arrival of the Mayflower Pilgrims, Plymouth Rock is viewed by more than one million visitors each year.
