Free previewStop 5 of Plymouth Walking Tour: Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims
The Hill That Forgot Its Dead
You've just climbed up from Plymouth Rock, and the grassy rise you're on now is Cole's Hill. Look for the bronze figure of a Wampanoag leader on the hill, and then find the granite box at the southern end. That stone box is a sarcophagus, and there are people inside it.
In the winter of 1620, the Mayflower passengers came ashore into a cold they weren't ready for. Of about 100 who arrived, roughly half were dead by spring. This hillside was where they buried them. John Carver, the colony's first governor, may lie somewhere under this grass. So may Rose Standish, the wife of Myles Standish, and Mary Allerton, and William Mullins. The total may have been between 45 and 50 burials, above the bay.
Then the hill lost its identity as a cemetery.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 5 of Plymouth Walking Tour: Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrims (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
