Mayflower sarcophagus, Coles Hill, Plymouth, MA, circa 1940

About this postcard

A long granite sarcophagus on Coles Hill in Plymouth, its four sides set with raised bronze letters listing the Mayflower passengers who died during the colony's first year. A chamber beneath the stone holds such remains as have been recovered from the hill. Trees and grass surround the monument. Coles Hill served as the Pilgrims' first burial ground, and the graves there were leveled and sown with corn in the spring of 1621 so that the Wampanoag would not count the dead. The sarcophagus was erected in 1920 by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, and remains found on the hillside were interred in the vault below.