Landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock, 1620
This lithograph by Currier and Ives shows a Native American man watching the pilgrims from the woods as they begin to land at Plymouth. They have placed a kettle over a campfire, one man carries a hatchet and firewood, and more pilgrims are landing in smaller boats that are bringing them in from the Mayflower. Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. It is an important symbol in American history. Founded by a group of Separatists and Anglicans, who together later came to be known as the Pilgrims, Plymouth Colony was, along with Jamestown, Virginia, one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America and the first sizable permanent English settlement in the New England region. the citizens of Plymouth were fleeing religious persecution and searching for a place to worship as they saw fit. The social and legal systems of the colony became closely tied to their religious beliefs, as well as English custom
