Plymouth Rock and the National Cemetary

Honoring the Veteran's, Remembering the Pilgrims

Tucker’s Rating – 3 wags. While dogs are certainly welcome to stroll the street, they aren’t allowed in the museums in the area, or the shops, so a visit to this park (for a dog) is nothing more than a stroll down a city street. Both Tucker and Daisey joined us for this trip, and did get out to run around the rest area at the Cape Cod Canal… The humans on the trip give the park 4 wags. We’re definitely coming back in-season to explore the museums, and some of the antique shops, and the whole downtown area. Seems like a fun place to spend a weekend.

Admission Fee – free for the state park, $10 for adults and $7 for children at Mayflower II, but they do offer package prices for entrance to Plimoth Plantation AND Mayflower II .Would be a very nice option if you’re a history buff or have children who are learning about the founding of our country.

Accessibility – Accessible to all. There are handicap parking spots a plenty. Mayflower II appears to be handicapped accessible, although the ramps looked steep, and I’m not too sure how accessible the inside of a ship that age could EVER be. Plymouth Rock itself is just behind some stone columns within the memorial and can be seen from the sidewalk. Plenty of benches around and while the steps up to the statue of Massasoit are VERY steep, you can get there by walking up the sloping street on either side.

SO on with the adventure!!!

We were greeted again by a very sunny weekend and set Saturday as a day to drive south to the Cape. With Veteran’s Day just around the corner, and Thanksgiving not too far behind, it seemed the National Cemetery in Bourne and Plymouth Rock and the pilgrims were the perfect focus for this weekend. We packed up Lillian, Tucker and Daisey for the drive south, remembered water, binoculars, cameras and the GPS and loaded up the CD player with favorites for the two plus hour drive. Amazingly enough there are leaves aplenty still on the trees in November. They’ve turned a rusty brown, but against the blue sky it was a beautiful site. Driving through Boston we were happy to note that traffic cooperated and it wasn’t long before we found ourselves heading over the Sagamore Bridge…. Oops, wrong bridge! And they’re doing work on the bridge itself so it’s down to one lane each way…. We scooted off before joining the throngs and drove along the Cape Cod Canal to the Bourne Bridge. For some reason this is usually the less trafficked bridge of the two, and Saturday it was the same, even WITH construction. We arrived at the cemetery in no time. It was decorated for Veteran’s Day, with Memorial Circle lined with flags waving in the breeze. The flags along this drive are donated by families who receive flags from the government when a loved one passes away. Nice way to memorialize someone instead of keeping the flag in its plastic container tucked away somewhere. The flags are lined up like a color guard greeting visitors to the cemetery and bring to mind all the men and women who have fought and continue to do so to ensure that we can live in a world where freedom is a possibility. Veteran’s Day is a holiday that many people kind of just move past without giving it much thought, but at a place like the National Cemetery you quickly realize the respect and honor that is due to so many.

We got out of the car and walked down to my father’s gravesite and in the distance we heard the sound of bagpipes float on the breeze. Memorial services occur year round at the cemetery, and we saw a motorcycle escort leaving with limousines while we were taking pictures at the entrance. The cemetery has grown incredibly since my father was laid to rest here back in 1994. Both the current war in Iraq and the aging of the “Greatest Generation” with all the WWII vets has had an obvious impact. But the facility is beautiful, peaceful and a wonderful memorial to those who have passed on and were a part of past wars, both on the battlefront, and on the homefront.

After paying our respects, we headed out to Plymouth, with a stop at the rest area along the Cape Cod Canal. Tucker and Daisey probably had more fun at THIS stop than the rest of the day. There are monuments recognizing the engineers who assisted with the development of the canal at the stop, and also picnic tables and a beautiful view all the way to the Sagamore Bridge. There’s also a memorial plaque for Monica Dickens Stratton, the woman who founded the Samaritans, USA. It was Monica who got them to place barriers up on the bridges crossing the canal. In her words, “The Samaritans hope that saving people here will give them time to reconsider. To give themselves another chance at living, and at finding some help.” For as long as I can remember there have been signs on the Sagamore Bridge letting people know that the Samaritans are only a phone call away. It seemed appropriate that a memorial to her would be included at this mini-park.

We did get confused by the entrances to the bridge on our way off Cape and ended up driving across the Sagamore (in the construction traffic) then circling around to head back again, so we actually drove to the Cape TWICE on Saturday! But soon we were back on track and reminding ourselves to update the maps in our GPS! Note to all! When you go exploring and rely on a GPS, make sure its got the most current maps and give yourself half a chance of getting to your destination without the words “recalculating route” ringing in your ears at every turn! While our GPS voice is pleasant, on days like this we expect to hear her say, “I’m sorry … what didn’t you understand about KEEP RIGHT!!!!” Or even “Sorry, you’re on your own!”

We arrived in Plymouth after a half hour or so and easily found Plymouth Memorial State Park. There are two parking areas adjacent to the Park and memorial itself, however they provide very limited parking and require you to be able to parallel park… not something we seemed to do very well in the mini-van, so we continued on a short way to the waterfront and there was plenty of diagonal parking with meters, and only a short two block or so walk back to the memorial. The property is very clean and with the tide actually in, the rock sits in about 8 inches of water. Most people comment, “that’s it???” when they see the memorial, as though they expect this gigantic piece of granite to have been sitting on the beach. Whether or not pilgrims actually stepped on this rock can certainly be debated, but this is the story that has been told for generations and we’re okay with that. It’s a very simple site, free to the public, and not commercialized. I’d just like to see more information about that first group of pilgrims without having to pay to get into Mayflower II or Plimoth Plantation.

Way back in the 60’s when I was in grade school I remember there being a lot of talk about the pilgrims and the development of the colonies, but I’m thinking that’s not a huge piece of education today. My reason for this is while we walked around the pier, looking through the fence at Mayflower II, there was one young mother, walking her two year old around the pier and the question was asked, ‘Mommy, where did the people COME from that were on this ship.” And Mom dutifully answered, “I don’t know….” WHAT?!?!?! There are actually signs posted outside the exhibit listing all the people’s names AND the port the Mayflower II left from. The least she could have done is read that sign. The ship on display actually DID sail from England to New England but obviously much after the original pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. The two year old wasn't asking about the original pilgrims, just the people who sailed on this boat. Maybe she couldn't give exact answers about the pilgrims themselves, but it would have been SOME answer. Poor kid. I wonder how many other questions he asks that get answered like that. In any case, you’ve got to love a mother who answers with “I don’t know” rather than trying to find an answer for a question she should already know the answer to, or use it as a learning experience for both mother and child! But don’t get me started….

Across the street from the memorial is a steep set of steps, leading up to the statue of Massasoit. At the bottom of the steps is a sign for the Pilgrim Museum or Plymouth Museum or some such thing and at the top was a beautiful colonial style building, so Beth and I decided to walk up the steps…. At the top there are numerous viewers (25 cents for like 1 minute of time) and on a clear day you can see to Provincetown, but that big colonial building isn’t a museum! Its condominiums… I have a sneaking suspicion it USED to be the museum…. Because we walked up the street behind and saw a few other smaller museums, none of which were open, and NONE of which deserved a sign that big! Aaaaah progress... very sad. We also found the Mayflower Society House Museum. The property houses the library of the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. The museum is open during the summer, except during heatwaves, which lead me to believe it is NOT air conditioned! But definitely another spot we’d like to check out in-season.

We’d only put enough money in our meter to last 30 minutes, and Lillian and the dogs were in the car so we had to head back at this point to discuss a late lunch. While buying a sandwich and eating in the car sounded like an easy way to go, we decided to drive a bit further along the water front and stop in at the Lobster Hut for some fried seafood. Located on the Town Pier, and selling some really YUMMY fried seafood, The Lobster Hut is a restaurant we’d recommend. Nice, clean tasting seafood, not overcooked, not greasy, great portions, reasonable prices, and they’re open 7 days a week, year round! We chose to sit indoors since it was very breezy, however there is plenty of outdoor seating as well. We watched through the window as a very large swan paddled in and around the boats moored in the harbor, and lobster boats came and went. This was a really nice and relaxing ending to our Cape Park trip. We already miss the salt air, and the sunshine!

We’ve got a few other Cape Cod parks selected to visit, but I think we made the right choice for this time of year in stopping at Plymouth. Not sure where our next trip will take us, but we’ll be on the road again soon! Promise!