PLYMOUTH VS. PEMAQUID ROCK: WHO GOT HERE FIRST?

TOP LINE

The conventional narrative holds that Plymouth Rock marks where the Pilgrim Fathers stepped ashore from the Mayflower in 1620, establishing the first permanent European settlement in New England. 

Yet credible evidence shows that English fishermen, explorers, and would-be settlers reached midcoast Maine years earlier.

This week, in celebration of July 4th, I investigate the stories of Pemaquid Rock and the St. George’s Cross in Thomaston, Maine.

DEEP DIVE

Plymouth Rock in Massachusetts is a granite slab long associated with the Pilgrims’ arrival.

According to tradition, it is where the Pilgrims disembarked from the Mayflower on or about December 21, 1620 to found the colony of New Plymouth — the first permanent European settlement in New England. 

The rock, reduced from its original size by souvenir hunters and multiple relocations, rests on the shore of Plymouth Harbor. It remains a powerful symbol of American resilience.

THE MAINE CONNECTION

Roughly 200 miles north lies Colonial Pemaquid in Bristol, Maine, on the shores of Johns Bay at the mouth of the Pemaquid River. The site is home to the replica of Fort William Henry.

One branch of my family comes from Maine…

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