There were hundreds of funerals on Plymouth’s Burial Hill in the two centuries after the Pilgrims arrived in 1620. From a simple burial in the 1600s with nothing said at the graveside, to a formal procession behind the town’s first horse-drawn hearse in 1820, early American funerals chronicle the dramatic cultural and social changes in mourning from the earliest days of settlement to the first decades of the new Republic. On this one-hour walking tour Stephen C. O’Neill, Executive Director of the Hanover Historical Society, looks at how funerals were conducted over the course of two hundred years among the graves and stones, the stories and landscape of Burial Hill. Join the group at the very top of the Hill.
Launched independently in 2011 by the Plymouth Antiquarian Society, the Burial Hill series is now a collaborative program with the Pilgrim Society & Pilgrim Hall Museum. Join us every first Saturday of the month (March through November) in 2023 for an engaging series of free history tours of Plymouth’s ancient burying ground, led by local historians and guides. For the full schedule, click here.
No reservations required for individuals and families. Involves potentially strenuous walking on steep hillside. Severe weather may cancel tour; check our Facebook page for updates.
Admission: FREE
