Plymouth County is a county in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, south of Boston. As of the 2020 census, the population was 530,819. Its county seats are Plymouth and Brockton. In 1685, the county was created by the Plymouth General Court, the legislature of Plymouth Colony, predating its annexation by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Plymouth Colony was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore, including the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the monument of Plymouth Rock.
Plymouth is a town and county seat of Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. Located in Greater Boston, the town holds a place of great prominence in American history, folklore, and culture, and is known as "America's Hometown". Plymouth was the site of the colony founded in 1620 by the Mayflower Pilgrims, where New England was first established. It is the oldest municipality in New England and one of the oldest in the United States. The town has served as the location of several prominent events, one of the more notable being the First Thanksgiving feast. Plymouth served as the capital of Plymouth Colony from its founding in 1620 until the colony's merger with the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691. The English explorer John Smith named the area Plymouth and the region 'New England' during his voyage of 1614. It was a later coincidence that, after an aborted attempt to make the 1620 trans-Atlantic crossing from Southampton, the Mayflower finally set sail for America from Plymouth, England.
Mayflower II is a reproduction of the 17th-century ship Mayflower, celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620. The reproduction was built in Devon, England during 1955–1956, in a collaboration between Englishman Warwick Charlton and Plimoth Patuxet, a living history museum. The work drew upon reconstructed ship blueprints held by the American museum, along with hand construction by English shipbuilders using traditional methods. Mayflower II was sailed from Plymouth, Devon on April 20, 1957, recreating the original voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, under the command of Alan Villiers. According to the ship's log, Mayflower II arrived at Plymouth on June 22; it was towed up the East River into New York City on Monday, July 1, 1957, where Villiers and crew received a ticker-tape parade. The ship was listed on the US National Register of Historic Places in 2020.
Plimoth Patuxet is a complex of living history museums in Plymouth, Massachusetts founded in 1947, formerly Plimoth Plantation. It replicates the original settlement of the Plymouth Colony established in the 17th century by the English colonists who became known as the Pilgrims. They were among the first people who emigrated to America to seek religious separation from the Church of England. It is a not-for-profit museum supported by administrations, contributions, grants, and volunteers. The recreations are based upon a wide variety of first-hand and second-hand records, accounts, articles, and period paintings and artifacts, and the museum conducts ongoing research and scholarship, including historical archaeological excavation and curation locally and abroad.
The Plimoth Grist Mill is a working grist mill located in Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is a reconstruction of the original Jenney Grist Mill, and it stands on the site of the original mill.
The Plimoth Patuxet Highway, formerly the Plimoth Plantation Highway, is a two-lane divided freeway with plastic stanchions posted on a rumbled asphalt median in Plymouth in the US state of Massachusetts. The highway was created in 1951 as a segment of Route 3 between the modern highway and its previous alignment. The current name for the roadway was designated by the state in 2023.
The Eel River is a 3.9-mile (6.3 km) river mostly in the village of Chiltonville in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Its headwaters are springs and small ponds above Russell Millpond. Its watershed encompasses approximately 15 square miles (39 km2). It flows along Plimoth Plantation and Plymouth Beach for about ½ mile before emptying into Plymouth Harbor between the beach and Manters Point.
Plymouth Beach is a small village located in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is located directly south of Plymouth Center, and is adjacent to Plimoth Plantation. Plymouth Beach consists of a motel, a restaurant and a small beachside community along Warren Cove.
South Plymouth is the portion of Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States that covers much of the southern section of the town, beginning at the Pine Hills, a large, mostly undeveloped forested area south of Plymouth Beach, Chiltonville and South Pond. The remainder of the section is south and east of the northeastern entrance to Myles Standish State Forest, stretching to the Bourne and Wareham town lines.
West Plymouth is a village in Plymouth, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located beyond the Colony Place retail development and the Plymouth Industrial Park off U.S. Route 44 and north of Myles Standish State Forest. It stretches west to the Carver town line and north to the Kingston town line. The villages within this section include Micajah Heights, a community surrounding Micajah Pond, Billington Sea, a village along the southern shore of the pond, Darby, a village surrounding Darby Pond, and the portion of East Carver that extends into Plymouth.
Ellisville is a village in southeastern Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on Cape Cod Bay, and is situated south of Vallerville and north of Cedarville. The neighborhoods within Ellisville include Harlow's Landing and Eastland Heights. Ellisville Harbor State Park, in the northern part of the village, has a natural harbor and beach.
Vallerville, also called Vallersville, is a village in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States, the smallest village in the town. It is located south of the village of Manomet and north of the village of Ellisville. The neighborhoods of Ocean Aire Beach, Surfside Beach and Bayside Beach are located within Vallerville.
Halfway Pond a 232-acre (0.94 km2) warm water pond located in Plymouth, Massachusetts between Myles Standish State Forest and Long Pond, west of Round Pond, southwest of Gallows Pond, and north of Fawn Pond and White Island Pond. The average depth is nine feet and the maximum depth is 13 feet (4.0 m). The pond is fed by groundwater springs and drains into the Agawam River. Halfway Pond Island lies in the middle of the pond and is managed as a research natural area by The Nature Conservancy in Massachusetts. There are almost three miles (5 km) of shoreline.
West Wind Shores is a small village in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is located south of Long Pond and north of Buzzards Bay, Whites Pond, Little Sandy Pond, Big Sandy Pond, and Ezekiel Pond. The village is built around several small ponds.
South Pond is a village in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is located east of Great South Pond, a reservoir that serves as one of Plymouth's municipal water sources. The village is located north of Myles Standish State Forest, northwest of Long Pond, southwest of Chiltonville and west of Route 3. Plymouth's main Post Office, the Plymouth Community Intermediate School, The Grove at Plymouth, and the Plymouth Town Forest are located directly north of the village. South Pond Chapel and South Pond Cemetery, a small cemetery, are located within the village. The town suffers from extremely high rates of poverty, as 93.6% of the population lives below the poverty line. This is mainly because it was originally founded as a slum for the laborers of the wealthy factory owner Michael Finsley in 1849.
Rocky Point is a peninsula in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The peninsula runs along Warren Cove and Plymouth Bay. The tip of the peninsula marks the convergence of Plymouth Bay and the larger Cape Cod Bay. The land rising from Plymouth Bay is considered to be the foothills to the Pine Hills.
Wellingsley, also known as Wellingsly, Jabez Corner, and Hobs Hole, is a neighborhood in Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States. It is notable for being the oldest separate neighborhood in the town. Wellingsley is located one mile south of Plymouth Center and north of Chiltonville. The neighborhood is interchangeably called Hobs Hole and Jabez Corner by its residents. Hobs Hole is a small brook that runs along Nook Road and empties into Plymouth Harbor. The name Hob's Hole supposedly derives from "Hobbamock's Hole", referencing a natural harbour ascribed to a famous pniese Pokanoket living with the pilgrims. Jabez Corner, at the intersection of Sandwich Street and Warren Avenue, which Route 3A passes through, is a location containing several small stores.
Town Brook is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) stream in Plymouth, Massachusetts that provided drinking water to the Pilgrims who made their homes adjacent to the brook on Leyden Street in Plymouth. Town Brook's headwaters are the Billington Sea, a 269-acre (109 ha) freshwater pond. The brook passes through numerous small ponds, including Deep Water Pond and Jenny Pond. It also passes by the Plimoth Grist Mill and the Brewster Gardens before emptying into Plymouth Harbor. A nature trail runs along the entire length of the brook.
Leyden Street is a street in Plymouth, Massachusetts that was created in 1620 by the Pilgrims, and claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited street in the Thirteen Colonies of British America. It was originally named First Street; afterward in the Records it was called Great and Broad Street. It was named Leyden Street in 1823, but it is also known as Leiden Street or The Street.
