Guide to Historic Plymouth: Localities and Objects of Interest

Burial Hill

A. S. Burbank

“The Pilgrim Fathers are at rest;

When Summer’s throned on high,

And the world’s warm breast is in verdure dressed,

Go, stand on the hill where they lie.”

Illustrated capital

Beyond and above Town Square stretches the verdant slope consecrated from the earliest years of the colony as a place of sepulture. Here repose the ashes of those who survived the first winter. “In one field a great hill, on which we point to make a platform and plant our ordnance, which will command all round about. From thence we may see into the bay and far into the sea.” Marble tablets mark the location of the Old Fort and Watch Tower, while numerous stones and monuments, which can easily be deciphered, point out resting places of Pilgrims and descendants.

GOV. BRADFORD’S MONUMENT, BURIAL HILL.

The marble obelisk in memory of Gov. William Bradford, the second governor, with its Hebrew text, now difficult to decipher, but translated by good authority to read: “Let the right hand of the Lord awake,” together with a Latin inscription, freely rendered: “Do not basely relinquish what the Fathers with difficulty attained,” erected in 1825, is near to us, and around it are numerous stones, marking the graves of his descendants. On the south side of the Governor’s obelisk is inscribed:

H I William Bradford of Austerfield Yorkshire England. Was the son of William and Alice Bradford, He was Governor of Plymouth Colony from 1621 to 1633 1635 1637 1639 to 1643 1645 to 1657

GRAVE OF THOMAS CLARK, 1697.

On the north side:

Under this stone rest the ashes of William Bradford a zealous Puritan & sincere Christian Gov. of Ply. Col. from 1621 to 1657, (the year he died) aged 69, except 5 yrs, which he declined.

A little back, on a path to the rear entrance to the hill is the oldest stone in the cemetery. It must be remembered that for many years the colonists had far other cares, and many other uses for their little savings, than to provide stones to mark their graves. These had to be imported from England at much cost, and consequently it was some years before any were able to afford the expense. The oldest stone is that to the memory of Edward Gray, 1681. Mr. Gray was a merchant, and one of the wealthiest men in the colony. Near the head of this path is a stone to William Crowe, 1683-84. Near by is one to Thomas Clark, 1697, erroneously reputed to have been the mate of the “Mayflower,” but who came in the “Ann,” in 1623. Clark’s Island received its name from John Clark, now known to have been the mate of the “Mayflower.” Beside the grave of Thomas Clark is that of his son, Nathaniel, who was one of the councillors of Sir Edward Andros, Governor of New England. Other old stones are those of Mrs. Hannah Clark, 1697; and John Cotton, 1699. These are all the original stones bearing dates in the seventeenth century. There are some with dates of that century which have been erected since, by descendants, including the monument to Governor Bradford, before alluded to: the fine granite shaft to Robert Cushman; and the stone over the remains of John Howland. The inscription on the latter stone reads as follows:—

Here ended the Pilgrimage of JOHN HOWLAND who died February 23, 167 2-3, aged above 80 years. He married Elizabeth daughter of JOHN TILLEY who came with him in the Mayflower Dec. 1620. From them are descended a numerous posterity.
“Hee was a godly man and an ancient professor in the wayes of Christ. Hee was one of the first comers into this land and was the last man that was left of those that came over in the Shipp called the Mayflower that lived in Plymouth.”—(Plymouth Records.)

Near the Bradford monument are the graves of his family. The face of the stone at the grave of his son, Major William Bradford, shelled off in 1876-77, but the inscription has since been retraced. The cut following is reproduced from a view taken of the original, and is an exact facsimile—

Here lyes ye body of ye honourable Major William Bradford, who expired Feb’ ye 20th, 1703-4, aged 79 years.

He lived long, but still was doing good,
And in his country’s service lost much blood,
And a life well spent, he’s now at rest,
His very name and memory is blest.

GRAVE OF MAJOR WILLIAM BRADFORD.

At the grave of another son the headstone reads as follows:

Here lyes interred ye body of Mr. Joseph Bradford, son of the late Honorable William Bradford, Esq., Governor of Plymouth, Colony, who departed this life July the 10th, 1715 in the eighty-fifth year of his age.

The following are some of the inscriptions of the older stones:

Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Hannah Sturtevant, aged about sixty-four years. Dec. in March, 1708-9.
Here lyes buried the body of Mr. Thomas Faunce, ruling elder of the First Church of Christ in Plymouth. Deceased Feb’y, 27, 1745, in the ninety-ninth year of his age.

The fathers—where are they?
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.

GRAVE OF DR. FRANCIS LEBARON.
“THE NAMELESS NOBLEMAN.”

(Elder Faunce was the last who held the office of ruling elder in the church. He was contemporary with many of the first comers, and from him comes much of the information we possess about the localities now venerated.)

The epitaphs in old graveyards possess much interest to the lovers of the quaint and curious, and this first cemetery of New England is not without its attraction of that kind. The following are some of the most interesting:—

This stone is erected to the memory of that unbiased judge, faithful officer, sincere friend, and honest man, Col. Isaac Lothrop who resigned his life on the 26th day of April, 1750, in the forty-third year of his age.

Had Virtue’s charms the power to save
Its faithful votaries from the grave,
This stone had ne’er possessed the fame
Of being marked with Lothrop’s name.

A row of stones on the top of the hill, near the marble tablet marking the locality of the Watch Tower, is raised to the memory of the ministers of the First Parish. Back of these is the Judson lot, where the sculptor’s chisel has perpetuated the remembrance of Rev. Adoniram Judson, the celebrated missionary to Burmah, whose body was committed to the keeping of Old Ocean. On the westerly side of the hill is a monument erected by Stephen Gale of Portland, Me:—

To the memory of seventy-two seamen, who perished in Plymouth Harbor, on the 26th and 27th days of December, 1778, on board the private armed brig, General Arnold, of twenty guns, James Magee, of Boston, Commander; sixty of whom were buried in this spot.

About midway on the easterly slope a little to the north of the main path up the hill, on the stone to a child aged one month:—

He glanced into our world to see

A sample of our miserie.

On a stone a little farther north, to the memory of four children, aged respectively thirty-six, twenty-one, seventeen and two years:—

Stop traveller and shed a tear

Upon the fate of children dear.

On the path towards the schoolhouse on a stone to a woman with an infant child by her side:—

Come view the seen, ’twill fill you with surprise,

Behold the loveliest form in nature dies;

At noon she flourished, blooming, fair and gay;

At evening an extended corpse she lay.

Near the entrance to this path is the grave of a Revolutionary soldier, Capt. Jacob Taylor, died 1788:—

Through life he braved her foe, if great or small,

And marched out foremust at his country’s call.

On this path is the grave of Joseph Bartlett, who died in 1703:—

Thousands of years after blest Abel’s fall,

’Twas said of him, being dead he speaketh yet;

From silent grave methinks I hear a call:—

Pray, fellow mortals, don’t your death forget.

You that your eyes cast on this grave,

Know you a dying time must have.

Near the same place is a curious stone, to the memory of John Cotton:—

Here lyes interred three children, viz., three sons of Rev. Mr. John
Cotton, who died in the work of the gospel ministry at
Charlestown, South Carolina, Sept.
ye 18th, 1869, where he had great success, and seven sons of
Josiah Cotton, Esq., who died in their infancy.

On the southerly slope of the hill, near a pine grove, is a stone to a child:—

The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

On the stone to the memory of Thomas Jackson, died in 1794:—

The spider’s most attenuated thread

Is cord, is cable, to man’s tender tie.

MARTHA COTTON, 1796.

Many years I lived

Many painful scenes I passed,

Till God at last

Called me home.

In a long lot enclosed with an iron fence:—

F. W. Jackson. obit M. C. H. 23, 1797, 1 yr. 7 dys,

Heav’n knows what man
He might have made. But we
He died a most rare boy.

FANNIE CROMBIE.

As young as beautiful; and soft as young,

And gay as soft; and innocent as gay.

A little farther on in this path is the stone to Tabitha Plasket, 1807, the epitaphs, on which, written supposedly by herself, breaths such a spirit of defiance that it attracts much attention:—

Adieu, vain world, I’ve seen enough of thee;

And I am careless what thou say’st of me;

Thy smiles I wish not,

Nor thy frowns I fear,

I am now at rest, my head lies quiet here,

Mrs. Plasket, in her widowhood, taught a private school for small children, at the same time, as was the custom of her day, doing her spinning. Her mode of punishment was to pass skeins of yarn under the arms of the little culprits, and hang them upon pegs. A suspended row was a ludicrous sight.

Mr. Joseph Plasket (husband of Tabitha) died in 1794, at the age of forty-eight years. The widow wrote his epitaph as follows:—

All you that doth behold my stone,

Consider how soon I was gone.

Death does not always warning give,

Therefore be careful how you live.

Repent in time, no time delay,

I in my prime was called away.

Nearly opposite this is one on a very young child:—

The babe that’s caught from womb and breast,

Claim right to sing above the rest,

Because they found the happy shore

They never saw or sought below.

As this path comes out on the brow of the hill, near a white fence, is a stone to Elizabeth Savery, 1831:—

Remember me as you pass by,

As you are now, so once was I;

As I am now, so you will be,

Therefore prepare to follow me.

On the path by the fence in the rear of the hill:—

The father and the children dead,

We hope to Heaven their souls have fled.

The widow now alone is left,

Of all her family bereft.

May she now put her trust in God,

To heal the wound made by His rod.

On a stone raised to the memory of a child:—

He listened for a while to hear

Our mortal griefs; then turned his ear

To angel harps and songs, and cried

To join their notes celestial, sigh’d and died.

GRAVE OF NATHANIEL GOODWIN.

A little from the path up Burial Hill to the left, just below the tall Cushman monument, a marble tablet designates the spot where the fort of the little colony was situated, quite a portion of its outline still being distinct, particularly at the easterly corner. We can see at once with what sagacity the site was chosen, undoubtedly by Standish. It commanded Leyden Street, and the approaches from the brook over which the Indians came.

THE OLD FORT AND FIRST MEETING HOUSE, 1621.

Standing here, we have a view of the southern part of the town. The blue heights of Manomet Hills shut in the horizon. Beyond them lies the little hamlet of South Plymouth, a rural village with summer hotels, the Ardmore Inn and Idlewild hotels of considerable celebrity, especially among sportsmen, to which the very spacious and beautiful Mayflower Inn has been added in 1917. On this side is the village of Chiltonville, with its churches and factories. Far down to the shore, near the head of the Beach, is the Hotel Pilgrim. Just south of the hotel are the beautiful level lawns and attractive cozy club-house of the Plymouth Country Club, the golf links being situated on the opposite side of Warren avenue, running over high, clear, breezy fields and commanding a splendid view of ocean and of land. Near lies the southerly portion of the main part of the town, divided by the brook. Across the stream, or pond, just beyond Main Street extension with its bridge built in 1907-8, is the public common, laid out very early as a “Training Green,” the name it bears today. It is an attractive square surrounded with large elm trees, and in its centre stands the monument erected in 1869 to the memory of the Soldiers and Sailors of Plymouth, who gave their lives for the country in the Civil War. Before the Pilgrims came the Green was an Indian cornfield.

MANOMET BLUFFS.

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