Ogden Standard-Examiner | 1920-04-13 | Page 11 | Plymouth Rock to be Restored

WestIIeo Shore to Be Reoutlined As It Was in Days When Pilgrims Pil-grims Landed (By International News Service.) PLYMOUTH, Mass., April 13. Restoration Res-toration of tho shore about historic Plymouth Rock so that the present generation may. -see the land as did , the little band of Pilgrims who laid the foundation -of the 'American Republic Re-public in 1G20 Is tho dominant idea In plans for the tercentenary oelebra-i oelebra-i tion of the landing. Wharves, fish houses, sheds and I other ' structures, wnlch have long been an eyesore, will be romved, all j aloncrihc shore line from Town Brook; on the south to Brewster street on the north. By careful surveys made beneath the' wharves at low tide th-e original line of the shore" has been determined with considerable accur- ' ae yand will be re-established by filling. Over all the now shore line1' and along the waterl'r,ont.'.is tvcII as ; on the seaward -sides of Cole's Hill j will be planted pines. - hemlocks, ce-' dars and such trees as probably first greeted the eyes of Alylcs .Staiidlsh. Governor Carver and their party. . Paths will lead through the tree's and along the shores toward the Rock j and turns and parking places for au-j tomobiles will be. provided. The base of the rock still rests ; upon the sea level at high water mark : and so it will remain, but the smaller , part split off in 177 4 and several times transported about the town before be-fore being placed under its, present canopy, will be taken back j.o the base from which it was separated and the parts' reunited. Over and about tho rock, to protect pro-tect it from storms and vandals, will be erected a simple granite canopy designed by a leading American ardii-j tect and paid for by the Society of i Colonial Dames. One simple inscrip-1 tibn and probably the names of the) Pilgrims will bo the sole embellish-1 ment on U Further back, on Cole's Hill; will 1 stand the statue of "Massaaolt, de- ' signed by Cyrus A. Dallln and paid for by contributions secured by the Independent Order of Red Men. The j graves of the Pilgrims who died the ' first winter, now lying' under, a much traveled street, will bo preserved removing two or three houses .and changing the line of the highway. The ' spot win no maruea oy a suitable memorial, to be raised by the Society of l Mayflower Descendants. A number of small houses which border the lower edge of Burial Hill, j where are the graves of the first com -1 ! ers, will be removed and the cemetery ceme-tery grounds extended. Some of the older residents, a number direct descendants de-scendants of the Pilgrims, arc greatly disturbed over the prospect of beiivg forced to abandon their historic residences. resi-dences. The land along Town Brook, where the Pilgrims built their first-houses, first-houses, win probably be cleared and ! several small houses, copies of those the Pilgrims built, erected:- Tlfe town has appropriated $320,000 for a memorial me-morial town hall, which will be avaiable for public gatherings. The Pilgrims landed at Plymouth on December 21,' so the formal celebration cele-bration will begin December 21,- 1G20. but on account of the impossibility of holding an outdoor festival on l.hc New England coast during thp winter, win-ter, the more extensive features will not be given until the summer of 1921. Then there will be a magnificent magnifi-cent historical pageant arranged by Professor George P. Baker, who will have the assistance of leading writers writ-ers and composers, The United States government is expected to order a naval demonstration at Plymouth some time during the summer of 1021 and aeroplane exhibitions probably will constitute a part of the entertainment. enter-tainment. Plans are under way for raising a fund of $500,000 for building build-ing a stadium in which will be staged many unusual features, besides athletic ath-letic games. Participation of England and Holland Hol-land in the exercises by official representatives rep-resentatives is expected, and Chair-I Chair-I man Louis K. Liggett is now on his ! way to Europe to perfect plans for I such co-operation.