Plymouth

Plymouth, on the coast of Massachusetts Bay, is where the Pilgrims of the Mayflower established the first permanent English settlement in New England in 1620. It is one of the oldest towns in the United States and the source of much of the founding mythology of the country, from Plymouth Rock to the "first Thanksgiving" shared with the Wampanoag.

The town sits on a shallow harbor about 40 miles southeast of Boston, on the sandy, glacier-shaped coastal plain that curls toward Cape Cod. Living-history sites such as Plimoth Patuxet and a full-scale replica of the Mayflower draw visitors to a place often called "America's Hometown."