|
More Details and Buy
Now! |
Leyden Street, Brewster
Gardens,
Cole's Hill, and Fort Hill
|
When the Pilgrims first arrived at Plymouth in 1620, they
allotted 19 lots to the various families along a single street
leading from Fort Hill down to the sea. By the end of 1621
they had built seven houses along their street. In modern
Plymouth, this "first street" is now known as Leyden Street.
The houses and streets are now modern (although some of the
houses date to the 18th century), but the property once belonged
to the Mayflower passengers and were the original sites
of the first houses in Plymouth Colony. The pictures above show Leiden street, looking east, with Fort Hill
in the background. In the picture on the left, the red and
white house is sitting on property thought to have been first
assigned to the Pilgrims doctor, Samuel Fuller; and in the
picture on the right, the first white house on the left is
thought to be on property originally belonging to Mayflower
passenger Peter Browne: though the exact property locations do
remain in some doubt. |
|
Leyden street in Plymouth, looking east towards Plymouth harbor.
The south side of the street (photo at left) is the older side,
where the first seven houses were built the first year.
Later houses were built across the street on the north side
(photo at right.) Those houses on the south side of the street
had easier access to the Town Brooke, which lies just behind the
houses flowing down towards the bay. |
|
Town Brooke is the water source that first attracted the
Pilgrims to the area. Today, this is a park in Plymouth known as
"Brewster's Gardens." Originally teeming with fish, the Pilgrims
built gates and structures across the river to capture and
collect the spawning fish in bucketfuls, which they used to
fertilize their corn fields. It was also the Pilgrims'
source of water, which they used for everything from boiling
water for cooking, to providing water for their livestock and
gardens. In the picture at left, the houses in the
background are on Leyden Street, and so represent the
approximate location where the Pilgrims built their houses.
|
|
Cole's Hill in Plymouth is where the Pilgrims are thought to
have buried their dead the first winter at Plymouth, when half
of their colony died. The Pilgrims worried that if the
Indians saw how many of them were dying and came to realize how
weak the colony really was, it might encourage them to be more
bold and threatening: so the Pilgrims buried their dead with
some secrecy and without markers. Cole's Hill can be seen
behind the Plymouth Rock portico (at left). The street
that goes up the hill, about where the cars at left can be seen,
is Leyden Street. Cole's Hill is seen more closely in the
photo at right. |
|
Burial Hill, also known as Fort Hill, is located at the east end
of Leyden Street. This was the highest hill in the area,
about 130 feet above sea level, with a good view of the harbor.
The Pilgrims built their fort upon the top of this hill, and in
the earliest years of Plymouth there were six cannon mounted
inside the fort. They used the fort for their church
meeting house as well. In 1675 and 1676, the residents of
Plymouth built a smaller fort in the location shown in the
picture at right, to protect themselves from Indian attack.
After the end of the war, tradition says the wood from the fort
was sold and used to build the Harlow House, still standing at
Plymouth. Shortly after King Phillip's War, the hill began
to be used as a cemetery. The earliest gravestones in the
cemetery date to the late 1680s, although it is claimed that
some of the Mayflower passengers were buried on the hill.
The supposed gravesite of William Bradford, who died in 1657, is
shown at right. There is no original gravestone, and the
tall memorial marker was placed there in the 20th century.
|
|
Back to Menu / Next Page
|