In the second session of a Lifelong Learning Collaborative course titled “Forget Plymouth Rock — It all happened here!”, participant Walter Stitt volunteered to present the history of the voyage and arrival of the English Separatists in Plymouth in 1620. Click here for a video of the first 26 minutes of his 40-minute talk recorded at Mt. Hope Farm in Bristol, RI, on July 5, 2024.

(Above, left and center) Following in introduction by course leader, David Weed (right), Walter began with a brief history of the Separatist movement in England in the late 1500s and early 1600s that led to a group first deciding to go to Leiden, Holland, in 1608, and then to America in September of 1620.

Just before they landed on Cape Cod, realizing that where they landed was not in their original patent, they decided to create a compact that would bind those in Plymouth to an agreement in order to maintain order and establish a civil society while they waited for a new patent from the King.

(Above) John Carver was appointed Governor of the colony and agreed to a meeting with the Pokanoket Massasoit Ousamequin who led all of the tribes in the area. That six-point treaty remained in effect for forty years until the death of Ousamequin in 1661 and ensured the survival of the Separatists and the Pokanoket Tribe.