The Definitive Plymouth Timeline: Key Milestones from Ancient Harbor to Colony

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A persistent popular myth claims the arriving English separatists named their Massachusetts settlement after their final port of departure in Devon. The cartographic record shows the name was already printed on English maritime charts six years before the Mayflower anchored in Provincetown Harbor.

In 1614, Captain John Smith surveyed the coastline extending from modern Maine down to Cape Cod. Seeking royal sponsorship for private colonization, Smith prepared an elaborate map titled New England. He presented this chart to Prince Charles (the future King Charles I), asking the young royal to replace Indigenous place names with English designations.

The Wampanoag coastal village known as Patuxet was renamed "New Plymouth" directly on Smith’s plates. Smith printed this chart alongside his 1616 promotional tract, A Description of New England.

When the passenger group led by William Bradford and William Brewster studied possible sites while stuck aboard their vessel off Provincetown in November 1620, they carried navigational charts heavily influenced by Smith's earlier reconnaissance. While emotional affinity for Devon undoubtedly influenced their decision to keep the title, the location carried royal cartographic recognition before they stepped onto the mainland.