Plymouth (United States)

Home > ... > Places > United States and Canada > U.S. Political Geography > ...

Plymouth

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Plymouth 1 Uninc. town (1990 pop. 45,608), seat of Plymouth co., SE Mass., on Plymouth Bay; founded 1620. Diverse light manufacturing is important to the economy. The town, with summer resort facilities and major historic attractions, has a large tourist industry. Its harbor, now used by fishing boats and leisure craft, was the scene of the famous landing by the Pilgrims in 1620, and Plymouth was the first permanent European settlement in New England (see Pilgrims ; Plymouth Colony ). Most famous of its many monuments is Plymouth Rock, returned to its original site in 1880; according to legend, the Pilgrims stepped on this boulder when disembarking from the Mayflower. The Mayflower II, a replica of the original ship, is moored there. The sites of the first houses are marked by tablets on Leyden St., the first street laid out by the Pilgrims. A number of 17th-century houses on nearby streets are maintained as museums. Cole's Hill and Burial Hill contain graves of many of the first settlers, and Pilgrim Hall has numerous valuable relics. Near the site of the original village is the 80-ft (24-m) granite National Monument to the Forefathers (1889). Nearby Plimoth Plantation is a re-creation of the early settlement. The town also has a wax museum and a marine museum and aquarium. Myles Standish State Forest is to the south.

Bibliography: See E. A. Stratton, Plymouth Colony (1987).

2 Village (1990 pop. 50,889), Hennepin co., SE Minn., NW of Minneapolis; inc. 1955. There is diversified manufacturing in Plymouth, which is a rapidly growing residential suburb of the twin cities of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-PlymthUS" title="Facts and information about Plymouth (United States)">Plymouth (United States)</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Plymouth." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Plymouth." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (November 16, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-PlymthUS.html

"Plymouth." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-PlymthUS.html

Learn more about citation styles

Plymouth

The Oxford Companion to United States History | 2001 | | © The Oxford Companion to United States History 2001, originally published by Oxford University Press 2001. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Plymouth, town in Massachusetts, site of a 1620 settlement of English religious dissenters.Unlike the Puritans who founded Boston in 1630, these were separatists, believing in total separation from the corrupt Church of England. They became known as Pilgrims, as many had left England in 1608 for the more tolerant Netherlands. In 1619, however, concerned about the corrupting influence of Dutch prosperity, they secured from the Virginia Company a land patent in America. The Mayflower sailed from Southampton, England, in September 1620 with some one hundred colonists aboard, about sixty‐five of them Pilgrims. Their intended landfall was somewhere north of Jamestown, but by November storms had carried them far north, beyond the area where their patent was valid, to Massachusetts Bay. Concluding that the isolated location would discourage interference in their religious affairs, they settled on a protected harbor they called Plymouth. The Mayflower stayed through the winter; while still on board, the adult males signed the Mayflower Compact, the colony's basic governing framework.

More than half the population perished the first winter, but by the following autumn the survivors celebrated a day of thanksgiving with the local Indians, an event remembered in the present‐day Thanksgiving holiday. For the first generation, Plymouth provided what the founders sought: a place to practice their religion freely. Plymouth lost its independence in 1688 with the formation of the short‐lived Dominion of New England and was absorbed by the Massachusett Bay Colony in 1691. The often moving and quietly eloquent journal of the colony's first governor, William Bradford (1590–1657), published as Historie of Plimouth Plantation, ranks as a classic of early American literature.
See also Colonial Era; Literature: Colonial Era; New England; Puritanism.

Bibliography

John Demos , A Little Commonwealth: Family Life in Plymouth Colony, 1970.
John D. Seelye , Memory's Nation: The Place of Plymouth Rock, 1998.

Christopher Berkeley

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O119-Plymouth" title="Facts and information about Plymouth (United States)">Plymouth (United States)</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

Paul S. Boyer. "Plymouth." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

Paul S. Boyer. "Plymouth." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (November 16, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Plymouth.html

Paul S. Boyer. "Plymouth." The Oxford Companion to United States History. Oxford University Press. 2001. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O119-Plymouth.html

Learn more about citation styles

Plymouth

Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names | 2005 | | © Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names 2005, originally published by Oxford University Press 2005. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Plymouth, Montserrat, Tobago, UK, USA 1. UK (England): formerly Sudtone, Sutton, and Plymmue ‘(Place at the) Mouth of the (River) Plym’ from mūtha ‘mouth’ and the river name which is itself a back‐formation from Plympton ‘Farmstead of the Plum Tree’ from the Old English plȳme and tūn. The first two names meant ‘Southern Farm’. The Plymouth Brethren, a Christian group founded c.1828, take their name from the city where their first centre was established.2. USA (Massachusetts): founded in 1620 as the first permanent European settlement in North America, the Colony of New Plymouth, and named after the port from which the settlers had sailed, Plymouth in England. At least seventeen states have cities with this name, many after the Massachusetts town.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O209-Plymouth" title="Facts and information about Plymouth (United States)">Plymouth (United States)</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Plymouth." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 16 Nov. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Plymouth." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (November 16, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-Plymouth.html

JOHN EVERETT-HEATH. "Plymouth." Concise Dictionary of World Place-Names. Oxford University Press. 2005. Retrieved November 16, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O209-Plymouth.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

United states : Studio opts out of construction loan.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/12/2009; 379 words ; Byline: shiv03 Plymouth Rock Studios will no longer borrow...Reilly says that this does not mean that Plymouth Rock Studios is dead in the water...WATD's Bobbi Clark reports that Plymouth Selectmen Dick Quintal received a phone...
United States : Industrial Park perfect project for stimulus funds.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 10/29/2009; 666 words ; ...assisting local municipalities within Plymouth County in obtaining the bonds. Seven active counties including Plymouth, Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes, Nantucket...choose whether to participate in the state program or administer the bonds independently...
United States: North project to bid soon.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/11/2009; 632 words ; Byline: Mamta03 Bids for a new Plymouth North High School and a new senior center are scheduled to go...building project has been moving along at a rapid pace since the state approved it as a model school, Superintendent Gary Maestas said...
United States: US Foodservice-Atlanta Begins Fueling Fleet With Biodiesel.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/12/2009; 663 words ; ...role in several local, regional and state efforts to promote and protect the environment...The division, which serves the entire state of Georgia and operations in parts of the five bordering states of Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North...joins divisions in Streator, Ill., and Plymouth, Minn. ...
United States : Start to Green Harbor dredging project nearing.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/10/2009; 327 words ; ...Congressman Bill Delahunt was present and spoke. Some 30 town, state and Army Corps. of Engineers officials were in attendance at the Ocean Deck restaurant located in the Green Harbor section of Plymouth. Copyright : Euclid Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Provided by Syndigate...
United States: New animal shelter gives room to roam, to love.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/9/2009; 622 words ; ...improvements at The Humane Society of Huron Valley's (HSHV) new state-of-the-art animal shelter, visitors will find plenty...They're going to be more appealing. HSHV, which services Plymouth, Canton and Washtenaw county, opened the new nearly 30...
United States: ATK Awarded $4 Million Integration and Demonstration Contract to Develop an Alternative Warhead for Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS).
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/7/2009; 700+ words ; ...analysis, and simulation work will be performed at ATK's Plymouth, Minnesota facility. Warhead production will occur at our...and defense company with more than 18,000 employees in 22 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and revenues of approximately...
United States: The University System of New Hampshire and Unimarket Announced Today the Partnership to Achieve Cost Savings for the System Through Collaborative eProcurement.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 11/4/2009; 700+ words ; ...000 student public University system consisting of the University of New Hampshire, Granite State College, Keene State College, and Plymouth State University -- and Unimarket, the global leader of collaborative eProcurement solutions, announced...
United States: AVL Launches New Enhanced Version of Bobcat Engine Applications Testing Software, Creates Battery Testing Companion, Lynx.
News Wire article from: TendersInfo; 10/29/2009; 700+ words ; ...software and testing and instrumentation systems. AVL's North American Headquarters is located in the Detroit suburb of Plymouth, Michigan. Copyright : Euclid Infotech Pvt. Ltd. Provided by Syndigate.info an Albawaba.com company
Plymouth,MIAA remain at odds Head of state association, superintendent trade barbs
Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe; 8/1/1993; ; 700+ words ; ...schools throughout the state, voted nearly unanimously...designed to force Plymouth to pay MIAA court...its case. "Is Plymouth a member in good...we lived in the United States of America. I thought...faultless." For now, Plymouth is preparing its...

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

For students and teachers!

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Popular on Newser:

OMG, Enuf With Ur Duckface

(11/15/2009 7:50:02 PM)

Craziest Rap Concert Demands

(11/15/2009 5:30:03 PM)

'The Wasilla Whack-Job' Reads My Blog!

(11/15/2009 10:14:01 PM)

Nation's First Marijuana Cafe Opens in Portland

(11/14/2009 6:19:02 PM)

Boss to Michigan: Hello, Ohio!

(11/15/2009 12:58:02 PM)