Oh Plymouth, what about that Rock?

Our first full day in Cape Cod we went over to Plymouth to see the "Rock". Most of us remember Plymouth from our grade school days and associate it with Pilgrims, the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock and yes, the Horn of Plenty's and Thanksgiving. That's a lot of associations for one small town. But there is more.

We also know that 102 men, women and children fled from Plymouth, England in 1620 in search of a place free of persecution from religious beliefs. And no, the immigrants did not name this first settlement Plymouth. That naming is attributed to Captain John Smith back in the early 1700's during his mapping and measuring days. So it turned out these 102 went from Plymouth to Plymouth.

The original Mayflower that sailed to Plymouth in 1620 no longer exists. The replica Mayflower II is, as was the original Mayflower, a square-rigged vessel about 25 feet wide and 106 feet long. She had six sails for her four masts, including a mainmast-the large center one, a foremast-the most forward, a mizzen the small aft mast, and a sprit sail hoisted off the bowsprit. Downwind was her best point of sail.

Mayflower II was built in Devon, England and yes, it was sailed across the Atlantic in 1957. Everything was replicated to offer a sense of what the original 17th century vessel was like, including the solid oak timbers, tarred hemp rigging, the wood and horn lanterns and hand colored maps.

Plymouth Harbor, a near perfect shelter from the Atlantic. The settlers spent up to 9 months on board after arrival.

Before I show you the rock let me tell you why it's so puny. To begin with and having good intentions, the residents of Plymouth in 1774 decided to preserve the symbolic rock and in the process the rock split in two after a team of oxen attempted to raise it. Only the upper portion of Plymouth Rock left the waterfront to be displayed in the Town Square. The bottom part stayed put.

Then there was the deluge of souvenir seekers wanting to bring home a "piece of the rock". To protect it the rock was moved to safety inside an iron fence at the Pilgrim Hall of Museum in 1834. In route it literally fell off the wagon and suffered a distinctive crack. Remembering there was still that bottom piece of the rock, the Pilgrim Society acquired the top cracked part of the rock in 1859 and in 1867 a canopy structure was built on the waterfront to house both. They carved 1620 on the rock but it was too big for the built structure. Hard to believe but they found a solution, they hacked chunks of the rock off and sold it off as souvenirs. Problem solved.

Still not finished with this poor little rock it was moved for the last time during the celebration of Plymouth's tercentenary in 1921 to a new canopy designed by architects McKim, Mead and White. As fate would have it the poor thing broke apart once again during this move to its elegant new digs.

Plymouth Rock, though a bit battered by time and nimcompoops still remains a powerful tribute to the courage of the 102 Mayflower passengers who founded the land we know as New England. And now i present to you the "puny" ROCK.

Walking around town we came upon a granite figure of a Pilgrim woman. She stands on the waterfront landscape near Plymouth Rock. Behind the statue are listed the names of the women of the Mayflower. It is in their memory that the Daughters of the American Revolution dedicated the statue. It is named The Pilgrim Mother. The inscription reads: "They brought up their families in sturdy virtue and a living faith in God without which nations perish.

The Plymouth Memorial Building is another of those colonial type "meetinghouse".

The World War II Memorial for Plymouth, MA.

This statue sits in the center of a small neighborhood park. In 1711 this park area was designated as a training ground for local soldiers. In 1889 the monument was place to dedicate the area as a memorial park to the soldiers who lost their lives during the War of 1812 and the Civil War.

After a partial walk about in Plymouth we headed out for some lunch. We'd been referred to Eastwind Lobster and with little effort we located the restaurant.

These lobster rolls were even written up in a recipe book. It proved to be delicious.

Stuffed we waddled out to the car and headed home. Across the way was the Railroad Bridge, one of three bridges to cross the Cape Cod Canal....canal? I can see another outing to check into this.