Plymouth MA (Massachusetts)

Plymouth MA is a town in Massachusetts USA (Plymouth County, in the state's South Shore region) with population around 60,000. The town is approx 40 mi (64 km) south of Boston. known as "America's Hometown" (historically known as Plimouth/Plimoth), the town is popular for its rich history and folklore.

A seasonal fast-ferry service links to Provincetown MA, being provided by Captain John Boats, with a roundtrip cruise operated daily between June-September. The boat docks at State Wharf (downtown). In Plymouth Harbor are also offered scenic boat tours, along with whale watching tours and deepsea fishing trips.

As cruise port, Plymouth MA is included in the summer schedule of the USA's largest river cruise company ACL-American Cruise Lines. Next table shows the ACL's 7-night "The Cape Codder Cruise" itinerary (ship American Constitution) with prices from USD 4800 per person, with double occupancy.

Pilgrim Hall Museum is the USA's oldest continually operating museum. Plymouth is on the Pilgrims Highway (part of US Route 3/linking Cape Cod and Boston). The town is also the eastern terminus of US Route 44 (the western terminus is Kerhonkson NY). Plymouth Municipal Airport is approx 5 mi (7 km) southwest of downtown.

The settlement (as Plymouth Colony) was founded in 1620 by the Mayflower Pilgrims, making it New England's oldest. The town is best known for the First Thanksgiving feast. In 1691, the Plymouth Colony merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The area was named after Plymouth England by John Smith (1580-1631, English explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England) in 1614.

Pilgrims (English families) arrived here in 1620 on the Mayflower ship which spent 10 weeks at sea, carrying 102 passengers (Puritans/English Protestants) plus 30 crew. The ship Mayflower arrived in November 1620 (disembarked the ship on December 21). Due to the harsh winter, only half of the unprepared colonists survived. For the help received from the Indians (Wampanoag Tribe taught them food gathering/survival skills), in 1621 the colonists celebrated their first harvest together with the Indians - which event was later declared as the first Thanksgiving feast.

In the 19th century, the town's economy was based on rope making (Plymouth Cordage Co was the world's largest rope-making company), fishing, shipping. The current economy is based mainly on tourism and industries like healthcare, real estate, technical-scientific research, education, telecoms.