Plymouth is a coastal town in Massachusetts, south of Boston. It is the site of the first Pilgrim settlement, founded in 1620. Plymouth Rock, a boulder in Pilgrim Memorial State Park, marks the place where settlers are thought to have landed on shore. The Mayflower II, a full-scale replica of the ship that carried the Pilgrims across the Atlantic, is usually anchored at the park.
Inland, Pilgrim Hall Museum, which opened in 1824, displays artifacts documenting the history of the area’s native people and Pilgrim colonists. Nearby, Burial Hill Cemetery is the resting place of many early settlers. Other heritage attractions include Richard Sparrow House, an art gallery in a 17th-century home. Across the Town Brook river is the restored Jabez Howland House, which was owned by original Mayflower passengers. On a hilltop to the north, the National Monument to the Forefathers is a huge statue dedicated to the Pilgrims. Southeast of town, Plimoth Plantation features a reconstructed 17th-century English village.