Much of the credit for reclaiming this area so closely associated with the lives of the Pilgrims and developing this beautiful park is due Mrs. William H. Forbes of Milton whose father, Ralph Waldo Emerson, married Miss Lidian Jackson, daughter of Charles Jackson, in the old Winslow House shown on another page. This park is reached from both Water Street and Main Street Extension. The points of greatest historical interest are so closely related in regard to location that to attempt to prescribe a definite route would be extremely difficult. The most important points of interest are within easy walking distance. As a suggestion, however, one might follow Water Street from Brewster Gardens north and find the historic Rock within a two minutes’ walk. During the Tercentenary celebration many changes were made in this section. The old wharves and buildings that had characterized this spot for generations, are gone and the immediate surroundings have been converted into a state reservation. It is a ground made sacred to the memory of the Pilgrims as is evidenced by the many memorials and markers in the vicinity, gifts of the various historical societies throughout the country. [Illustration: PERISTYLE OVER PLYMOUTH ROCK] PLYMOUTH ROCK [Illustration: {Illustrated capital}] The magnificent peristyle shown here was designed by the architects McKim, Mead & White and was a gift of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America on the 300th anniversary of the Landing of the Pilgrims. It encloses the historic “Rock” on which the Pilgrims first set foot. The foundation wall is open on the water side allowing the free wash of the flood tides around the rock as it lies in its original bed. [Illustration: PLYMOUTH ROCK—A NATIONAL SHRINE] Plymouth Rock, emblematic and suggestive of the Pilgrim associations has been viewed by countless thousands of people, not only from our own states, but the world over. It has been photographed, painted, and reproduced in bronze. On this rock the Pilgrims first stepped foot, December 21st, 1620. To those who may be prone to scepticism it can be stated that its interesting history has been handed down from generation to generation from Elder Thomas Faunce, who was born in Plymouth in 1647, and who died in 1746, aged 99 years. A few years before his death, at a time when removal or covering up of the rock was under contemplation, he made vigorous protest at what he termed the desecration of an object of deep veneration, stating that his father, John Faunce, who came over in the Ann in 1623, had told him that it was on that rock that the forefathers landed, as stated by them to him.