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A Plymouth Walking Tour

Plymouth's Waterfront: The Rock & Mayflower II

Walk where the Pilgrims trod. Plymouth's waterfront is very accessible, and you can wander it in a few hours, or spend a whole day depending on how many of the attractions you investigate. Start at the Jenny Gristmill at Town Brook Park on Summer Street across from the Gov. Carver Hotel and Hearth & Kettle Restaurant. There are abundant wild fowl for the children to feed in this pond, and you are only a ten minute stroll to the waterfront. Take the time to stop at the Sparrow, Howland and Harlow historic houses as you amble.

Plymouth Rock on the Waterfront

Brewster Gardens and The Rock
Turn left just past the Gov. Carver and admire the old courthouse, the Pilgrim Church and the ancient Burial Hill next to the First Church looming above you. Its vista offers the same view the founding fathers (and mothers) saw during the first horrible winter of 1620-21 when half the settlement perished. Head down a hill from here, turning right a few paces on Main Street to the stairway entrance on the left to Brewster Gardens and its lovely Pilgrim Maiden statue. You will exit on Water Street.

Cross the street and turn left here roaming through a waterfront park with the Bradford statue and on to Plymouth Rock. As you walk, look above on your left at the majestic statue of the native American sachem Massasoit (pictured center) looming over the harbor in front of the white columned facade of the Plymouth National Wax Museum.

Self-Portrait as town drunk
It is here that present day Wapanoags stage a protest each July Fourth. The wax museum behind the chief is full of fascinating, full-sized ensembles depicting the trauma and triumph of our nation's first moorings. The was sculptor, Earl Dorfman, who died this spring after creating seven other similar museums, depicted himself as the town drunk in one of the Plymouth dioramas.

The Mayflower II, an exact replica of the original Mayflower, docked in Plymouth Harbor

The Mayflower & Harbor
Mayflower II is docked at the northern end of the waterfront park just beyond the Rock. Continue north past the harbor along a seawall to the town pier with Capt. John's Boats with fishing and whale watching tours (see photo below). There are many great, fresh seafood restaurants along this stretch which ends at Cranberry World and its free museum explaining the cultivation and history of this area's major agricultural crop. Return a black inland on Court Street past Memorial and Pilgrim Halls and Antiquarian House and dozens of local shops.

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