The 10-mile Pilgrim Trail was a hike along the sidewalks and parks of Plymouth. 5 scouts attended the hike as part of the Hiking Merit Badge: Darius, James, Owen, Cooper, and Ben. The hike stopped at several monuments and landmarks of the Pilgrims and their ancestors. The landmarks we saw explained the lives of the Pilgrims.
We saw the Plymouth Town Green which is a memorial of the soldiers and sailors who died in The War of 1861. We learned that The War of 1861 was not called the Civil War back then but named after the year of the war.
We saw the Monument to Our Forefathers, a huge statue which depicts the values of the Pilgrim’s forefathers: Faith, Morality, Education, Law, and Liberty. We were all impressed by the size of the statue, all made of granite which stands 81 feet tall.
We saw the Burial Hill Cemetery where the Pilgrims placed their dead.
We saw the Plymouth Grist Mill which uses water to grind corn into cornmeal.
We also saw Plymouth Rock. It was small because people chipped away parts of the rock for souvenirs.
Across the rock was the hill which had a statue of Massasoit. The hill also had a monument commemorating the history of the site. The Pilgrims had used this location to bury their dead under the cover of darkness because they were afraid the Native Americans would see their dwindling numbers as weakness.
We also saw the Plymouth Breakwater, a long rock structure into the Plymouth Harbor.
Overall we thought the hike was great as we saw parts of the lives of the Pilgrims. After the hike participants were given a patch by Scoutmaster Schaum to remember the day.