Around Plymouth Massachusetts

October 2003


Plymouth and Provincetown on Cape Cod Bay

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Massachusetts is the cranberry capital of the U.S. and we were here in time for the annual harvest. First They flood the cranberry field then run a device I call a cranberry picker which causes the berries to float. Then they capture the berries in a small area and suck them up with a dredge that spits them into a waiting truck where they get hauled off to the cranberry factory. After watching for a while we head to downtown Plymouth to the tourist trap to check out Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II. Last of all we took off toward Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. Little did we realize it was 80 miles out to the point. But it was worth the drive, Provincetown is where the pilgrims first landed before continuing on to Plymouth. I guess that makes Plymouth Rock the second place the pilgrims set foot of American soil.

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This is the machine the farmer made that separates the cranberries from the plants after the field has been flooded.

After the cranberries have been separated they use wooden planks to corral them into large bunches.

Next the workers suck up the cranberries using a dredge and blow then into a waiting truck.

Here the cranberries are coming out of the dredge and into the back of the truck.

Here is a good view of the cranberries coming out of the dredge.

This is a long shot of the cranberry picking operation.

Plymouth rock is a piece of dedham granite; although common along the Eastern seaboard, this is the only example in Plymouth Harbor. A prominent white scar on the surface shows the strain of dramatic land compression several million years ago. In 1620 the boulder was approximately three times bigger than what you see today. Almost half of what remains of the rock lies buried beneath the sand. Over the years, the rock was moved many times and pieces were broken off in transit; souvenir hunters chipped away still more fragments before the rock was enclosed by the Pilgrim Society.


This is the final resting place of Plymouth Rock.

Deposited in the harbor by glacial action and smoothed by centuries of tidal wash. Plymouth Rock is about 10 feet below the side walk.

Plymouth Rock is where the Pilgrims stepped when they arrived in Plymouth in December 1620.

This is Pilgrim Bay where the Plymouth Rock, and the Mayflower.

This is a recreation of the Mayflower named the Mayflower II where visitors can pay ten bucks to go aboard.

This is Plymouth Plantation where people dress up and act like pilgrims and visitors pay twenty bucks to watch them.

For 80 miles we crossed bridges.

Went through Cape Cod National Seashore.

Past sand dunes.

Pilgrim Memorial commemorates the Pilgrims' landing at Provincetown Harbor on November 21, 1620 after 67 days at sea. While anchored here, they wrote and signed the Mayflower Compact, the first democratic document written in America, declaring themselves a Democratic commonwealth in which all members were "..straightly tied to all care of each other's good and of the whole by every one." The Mayflower Pilgrims gratefully came ashore at provincetown after their long voyage. They explored this area before deciding to sail to Plymouth, where they established the first permanent settlement in the Northeast.


Finally came to the tip of Cape Cod, Provincetown where the pilgrims first landed.

Pilgrim Memorial Monument is 252 feet 7.5 inches high.

To reach the top of Pilgrim Memorial Monument we go up 116 stairs and 60 ramps.

Nancy on the ramp below on her way to the top.

This is looking down at about the half way up ramp.

Looking out the top we see the ferry that comes from Boston.

Provincetown Harbor with Plymouth way at the top.

Looking east with Provincetown and the Atlantic Ocean.

Looking southeast with Provincetown, the harbor, and the Atlantic Ocean way at the top.

On the way back we stopped at Head of The Meadow Beach, where a surfer looks for waves.

Fishermen trying to catch their supper in the Atlantic Ocean while a sea gull fly overhead.

Unlike San Diego, sunset at this beach sets over the shore not the ocean.

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