A guide to Plymouth and its historyBriggs, Helen T. (Helen Taber)
History
A guide to Plymouth and its history
Briggs, Helen T. (Helen Taber)
Pilgrims (New Plymouth Colony); Plymouth (Mass.) -- Guidebooks; Plymouth (Mass.) -- History
“THOMAS CUSHMAN.
Son of Robert, died--X--December, MDCXCI,
Aged nearly--LXXXIV--years.
For more than XLII--years he was
Ruling Elder of the First Church in Plymouth,
By whom a tablet was placed to mark his grave on
this spot,
Now consecrated anew by a more enduring
memorial.
MARY,
widow of Elder Cushman, and daughter of Isaac
Allerton,
Died--XXVIII--November, MDCXCIX, aged about--XC--
years,
The last survivor of the first comers in the Mayflower.”
Another important Pilgrim landmark is the grave of JOHN HOWLAND which
is situated on the westerly slope of the hill, near the rear entrance
to the cemetery. Near it are three other old graves; that of Edward
Gray, 1681, whose stone is the oldest on Burial Hill; that of William
Crowe, 1683–84; and that of Thomas Clark, 1697, who came over in the
ship “Ann”.
John Howland’s grave is marked by a modern stone, ornamented with a bas
relief of the “Mayflower”. On it is inscribed this excerpt from the
Town Records:
“Hee was a godly man & an ancient professor in the wayes of
Christ. Hee was one of the first comers into this land & was
the last man that was left of those that came over in the Shipp
called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth.”
There is no more peaceful and beautiful burying place than this green
hill, crowned with elm trees, overlooking the lovely view of town
and sea. Hundreds of quaint and interesting stones appeal to the
antiquarian and the scholar, and the site of the Pilgrim’s fort, and
the graves of the Pilgrims, connect it for all time with the nation’s
“first beginnings.”
* * * * *
“And when we sail as Pilgrim’s sons and daughters
The spirit’s Mayflower over seas unknown,
Driving across the waste of wintry waters
The voyage every soul shall make alone,
The Pilgrim’s faith, the Pilgrim’s courage grant us;
Still shines the truth that for the Pilgrim shone.
We are his seed; nor life nor death shall daunt us.
The port is Freedom! Pilgrim heart, sail on!”
--L. B. R. BRIGGS
December 21, 1920
From the ode read at the celebration
of the 300th anniversary of the
Landing of the Pilgrims.
[Illustration]
The Memorial _to the_ Pilgrim Women
On the corner of North Street and the Water side, not far from Plymouth
Rock, is a small park enclosed by hedges of box and privet; in the
center against a background of lilac trees, a tall granite fountain
supports on the front, a standing figure representing a Pilgrim woman.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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