Plymouth Rock
"Here is a stone of which the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an instant, and the stone becomes famous: it is treasured by a great nation; it's very dust is treasured as a relic." Alexis De Toqueville, 1835
The numbers 1620 are carved into it. It has been moved more than a few times.Only one-third of it's original size, it has broken and split many times. It's final resting spot is under a canopy on the water. For a rock, it's pretty darned famous. Plymouth Rock is supposedly where the first religious freedom seekers from Europe set foot into the New World of the United States.
For Americans, it is a symbol of the beginning of our nation. Legend has it that those first Pilgrims arrived on The Mayflower and set foot on this rock. Then to celebrate the first harvest in their new land, they had a great feast to celebrate their new found freedom. Thanksgiving.
The rock was moved from the waterfront to the town square of Plymouth in 1774 as a symbol of liberty for the 13 Colonies who were ready to gain independence. When it was placed in the wagon to be moved, it split. It was moved again in the 1830's to it's place back on the waterfront where it remains to this day. Part of Pilgrim Memorial State Park, run by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, you can visit not only Plymouth Rock but also a replica of the Mayflower, The Mayflower II..
Happy Thanksgiving from The Unpaved Road! If you're celebrating tomorrow, I hope you have the happiest of holidays!
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