The Pilgrims settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in December 1620. Today, as the largest town in Massachusetts, Plymouth boasts 37 miles of Cape Cod Bay shoreline and 365 freshwater lakes and ponds.
And right in the middle of downtown, close to the waterfront on Burial Hill, is where many of those early settlers ended up.
Memorial Day, observed the last Monday in May in the United States, was originally enacted to honor those who gave their lives during the American Civil War in the 1860's. Captain Leach, whose memorial is shown above, died in 1839 before the Civil War, but someone saw fit to honor his memory anyway.
And Governor William Bradford, who arrived in Plymouth on the ship "Mayflower" in 1620 was elected Governor of the colony thirty times! He is buried on this hill and his stone contains the wording above. I'm not sure where he went for the five years during which he apparently declined to be dead.
maybe he declined to be governor for 5 years ??
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