Plymouth: Where Kitsch Meets History

 I really love downtown Plymouth.  It's a pretty walk along the waterfront with lots and lots of shops, restaurants, ice cream and history in a short stretch of street.  

There are pirate tours you can take but I don't know if it's on this little boat or what.  This actually wasn't an area known for pirates that I know of.

What would a historic waterfront town be without tshirt and souvenir shops?  

John Alden was one of the original pilgrims.  I'm sure he'd be pleased to see a gift shop with his name on it.  ;-)

Looking up Cole's Hill.

Quick walk around Brewster Gardens.  Didn't have the time to walk up to the grist mill and back. The parking meters are back up and running for the season, and I only had enough change for an hour.

This reminds me so much of Victoria, BC.

Then a walk up to the top of the hill.

Plymouth Pebble  Rock is under that canopy.

Massasoit, who helped the early settlers.  Every Thanksgiving, members of the local Wampanoag tribes gather on Cole's Hill to observe a day of mourning, as the pilgrim's arrival and late fall feast was the beginning of the end for all of the tribes.

William Bradford.

And the obligatory picture of the world's most anticlimactic national monument:  Plymouth Rock.

Downtown Plymouth

Cole's Hill

Massasoit statue at the top of the hill

Aaaand here we are at {making airquote gesture with fingers} "Plymouth Rock".  Sorry for the airquotes but seriously, this is the most anticlimactic historical monument ever.  I always like to glance around at the tourists just to see what their reactions are when they first lay eyes on the famous and fabled Plymouth Rock.  So far I have yet to hear anyone actually say, 'That's IT?  You have GOT to be KIDDING me!'  

Mayflower II and a whale watch ship behind it.

Souvenir shops.  (I like the shops up on Main Street better but I didn't go up there).

Canopy over the rock

Seriously....the place reminds me a lot of Victoria

This odd looking wood carving is located at the service plaza on Exit 5, off Rte. 3.  It's called Enisketomp and was placed there in 1983.  I have always thought it was pretty damn ugly & hoped that it would be removed, but here it sits, 31 years later.