Plymouth Rock is the legendary rock upon which the Pilgrims first stepped ashore at Plymouth.  It has quite a history of its own.  None of the writings of the Pilgrims mention Plymouth Rock.  In fact, the first known mention of it comes from the Pennsylvania Journal, in an article dated 29 November 1775, when Captain William Coit captured a British supply ship and forced the crew to come ashore at Plymouth "upon the same rock our ancestors trod".

According to James Thatcher, who wrote a history of Plymouth in 1835, Plymouth Rock was identified by Elder Faunce, whose father had known some of the Mayflower passengers.  In 1741, at the age of 95, Elder Faunce was informed that a wharf was going to be built over the top of the rock.  He was carried in a chair three miles to the rock, where he "bedewed it with his tears and bid to it an everlasting adieu."  According to Plymouth tradition, Elder Faunce had placed his children and grandchildren upon the rock every year, and told them about their forefathers.  In 1774, the Plymouth townspeople, "animated by the glorious spirit of liberty" just prior to the Revolutionary War, decided to remove the rock and place it in a shrine to liberty.  With 20 oxen, they hauled the stone out from its bed at the base of Cole's Hill.  The attempt broke the rock into two pieces.  Ever looking for historical signs, the residents decided this represented the splitting up of England and America.  The "British half" was dropped back into the ground, where its face still remained several inches above the water.  The top half was placed in front of the Plymouth meetinghouse underneath a flag that read "Liberty or death."  In 1775, Captain Coit forced the captured crew to step ashore on the now-stubble Plymouth Rock that still remained in the ground.

In 1834, the top-half of Plymouth Rock was moved from the Liberty pole to an iron-fenced enclosure (to discourage people from knocking off souvenirs) in front of the Pilgrim Hall Museum.  From 1859 through 1867--during which was the American Civil War--the Pilgrim Society built a canopy over the base of the part of Plymouth Rock that was still in the ground.  In 1880, the two pieces of the rock were brought back together, and the date "1620" was carved into its granite face.  In 1920, the Plymouth wharves were removed, and the coastline re-landscaped so that the rock was once again at the waterline.  At this time, a new portico was erected, and is the one seen today.

Plymouth Rock portico built over the top of Plymouth Rock in 1920.  The grass hill behind the portico
is Cole's Hill, where the Pilgrims buried their dead the first winter.