Historic Monument Built to Honor the Pilgrim’s Voyage Provincetown Structure Built 1907-1910 Many Americans, including those right here in New England, may think of Plymouth Rock as the original landing point when the Pilgrims came from Europe to the “New World.” However, historians agree that the Mayflower with its very tired 102 passengers and 30-member crew, actually dropped anchor and created the first footprints in America’s sand at Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod, in November of 1620. Departing from Plymouth, England on August 15, 1620, the 67-day journey covering 3,000 miles was a grueling trip. Captain Christopher Jones anchored the 90-foot Mayflower in Provincetown for five weeks before setting sail again, this time a short sail across Cape Cod Bay, for what would soon become the Town of Plymouth, Massachusetts and home to its famous rock.
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ome 270+ years later, in 1892, a group of Cape Cod residents came together to form the Cape Cod Pilgrim’s Memorial Association (CCPMA). Their idea was to build a granite monument to honor and memorialize the Pilgrim’s first landing in Provincetown. The site chosen was located very close to the harbor and known as High Pole Hill. The 85-foot hill was very steep, comprised mostly of sand, and with a crest about 100 feet above sea level. By 1907 the CCPMA and their Architect, Willard Sears, had completed the design of the monument, which would be patterned after a famous Italian bell tower. The group had raised in excess of $90,000, including $40,000 from the federal government, to cover estimated construction costs. The Aberthaw Construction Company of Boston was chosen to construct the foundation. Work on the foundation began on June 20, 1907. There was no formal ceremony to mark the beginning of the work. The foundation was a 60 foot x 60 foot x 8 foot deep mass reinforced concrete pour with perimeter walls extending 5 feet above the ground. The cost of the foundation was not recorded, but work was completed in six weeks. On August 20, 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt and his entire family, escorted by a small armada of naval ships, sailed from Roosevelt’s summer home on Long Island to Provincetown Harbor, on their private yacht, to assist in laying the cornerstone for the (soon-to-be-built) monument. Politicians and dignitaries from all over Massachusetts attended the elaborate ceremony and later that evening the Town continued on page 37
JUNE, 2021
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