Plymouth, MA

Good old Plymouth, MA.  Real cute town with an old time feel and great antique shops.  Unfortunately we didn't buy anything... but almost  ( i never usually do... can't say the same for Britni though)... 

We did see Pilgrims.  Of course they were modern people dressed as pilgrims.... but pilgrims none the less.

And they have a rock.  Plymouth rock...  The supposed first rock that the pilgrims stepped on coming to America.  I assume that tends to be their main attraction there in Plymouth... but its a little strange.  Let me explain. So its a rock... locked in a cage that sits right on the water and gets hit by the sea every high tide.    This rock has an inscribed date on 1620 perfectly carved in it to mark the pilgrims first landfall.  Pretty neat... but here is the strange part to me.  I was curious as to why they let "the rock" just sit there and get blasted by water every high tide... I couldn't help but think erosion(!?) where soon "the rock" will be no rock.  I mean ff it was me I would have that thing locked away in some museum where light, air, nothing will erode it for the rest of time.  And that inscription... its just a little too perfect to be done by some peeps in the 1600s or the 1700s/1800s for that matter.  

So i googled it :)

So this rock wasn't really identified as "the rock" until 1741 some 120 years after the pilgrims set foot.  Meaning, chances are its not really "the rock" ... but its more "a rock" that symbolizes the first stepping of the pilgrims on solid land.  Which is still cool.. but they sure don't advertise it as such.  It used to be 20,000 pounds about 3 times the current size... but only the 1/3 of it remains (and shrinking i tell you.... shrinking).  Its had a bunch of homes but the home where it sits now was built in 1920.  Although I couldn't find an exact date of the inscription i would be willing to bet its right around there.  So its still pretty neat.... but more of a symbol rather than the actual rock.