We have, from the easterly brow of Burial Hill, a beautiful picture of the harbor and its surroundings. Below us the ground slopes to the water, cut into terrace below terrace, with the buildings upon them. At its foot are the wharves and harbor, and below it the Beach near which the “Mayflower” swung at her anchors. Manomet is the range of misty blue hills stretching into the bay on the right. Kingston and Duxbury, with Captain’s Hill are on the left, and far out Clark’s Island, Saquish, and the Gurnet, with the thin, sandy strip of beach joining the latter headlands. On the Gurnet is Fort Andrew, and at Saquish is Fort Standish, both earthworks, built by the Government during the Civil war of 1861-65, but now dismantled and unused. These sites are the property of the United States. The Gurnet, it is said, takes its name from a somewhat similar promontory in the English channel, near Plymouth, England. On it are located a United States life-saving station, twin lighthouses and a Dabol trumpet fog signal. A whistling buoy at the entrance of the harbor, opposite the Gurnet, gives warning in thick weather, of the dangerous Brown’s Island shoal. Saquish is an Indian word signifying an abundance of clams. Clark’s Island was named from the mate of the “Mayflower,” who commanded the shallop on the expedition when the island was discovered.

The following statistics were furnished by Capt. A. M. Harrison from the United States Survey of 1853-57: From the shore end of Long Wharf, in a straight line, to Gurnet Light, the distance is four and seven-sixteenths statute miles, or, three and seven-eighths nautical miles. The length of Plymouth Beach, from the foot of Manomet Hills to the beacon on extreme point, is three and five-sixteenths statute miles, or two and seven-eights nautical miles. The length of the Beach from its junction with the mainland to the beacon, is two and five-eighths statute miles, or two and one-fourth nautical miles.