Plymouth Colony was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore, including the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the monument of Plymouth Rock.
Interview of Samoset with the Pilgrims, an 1852 book engraving
"Signing of the Mayflower Compact" by Edward Percy Moran, c. 1900
The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth, a 1914 portrait by Jennie Augusta Brownscombe that is now housed in Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, Massachusetts
Plymouth Rock is the historical site of disembarkation of the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620.
Plymouth Rock, inscribed with 1620, the year of the Pilgrims' landing in the Mayflower
The 1867 monumental canopy that housed Plymouth Rock until 1920
The present (1920) superstructure designed by McKim, Mead, and White for the Tercentenary of Plymouth Rock with the replica Mayflower II (left, behind trees) and Cole's Hill (right) with the Statue of Massasoit