Plymouth Rock
(America’s Cornerstone) located at Plymouth, MA is the symbolic stepping stone
from the old world to the new. In 1741, Thomas Faunce, elder of the Plymouth
Church, identified the Rock as the place where the Pilgrims first landed. Elder
Faunce’s father, who was a passenger on the ship Ann in 1623, presumably
heard it firsthand. In the late 1700s, the desire to have a lasting symbol of
the forefathers quickly brought the Rock to the forefront of the popular
consciousness.
Now situated in the portico on the waterfront, Plymouth Rock is approximately
one-third its original size. Over the years the Rock has been in various
locations where souvenir hunters chipped away at it. Finally, officials
relocated the rock on the waterfront and provided protection for viewing. A
piece of the Rock, equal in size to the piece on Plymouth’s waterfront, can also
be seen in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
Would the Pilgrims have felt safer
arriving at Plymouth if there had been a lighthouse to guide them? I believe
it's safe to say they and their leader, William Bradford, would have been
thankful for a lighthouse. Instead, they landed safely at Plymouth Rock without
a lighthouse and established the town of Plymouth in the 1620s.
The first lighthouse at Plymouth wasn't built until 1768. It began with two lanterns located at opposite ends on
the roof of the keeper’s wooden dwelling. This lighthouse was replaced in 1803
by twin lighthouses built thirty feet apart and twenty-two-foot-tall. Known to
locals as "Gurnet Lighthouse," they stood at the southern tip of the
sandy peninsula known, since the Pilgrim days, as the Gurnet. (The word Gurnet
derives from a fish of the same name and is plentiful along the Devonshire
Coast of England.) Officials tore down the northeast lighthouse in 1924.
A couple of years ago, I was
provided the picture below of the Gurnet Lighthouse after it had been remodeled.
I lost track of his name, but my thanks to that Plymouth lighthouse enthusiast
who followed my blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment