Plymouth Yacht Club. Photo by Marilyn Pond Brigham.
July 2023
By Marilyn Pond Brigham
Cruising Massachusetts Bay, from the Cape Cod Canal to Boston’s North Shore, offers a host of harbors for refuge or fun. When we cruise, we generally grab a mooring in Scituate or Provincetown to break up the trip, depending on our ultimate destination. Both are beautiful harbors and quick and easy to enter in the afternoon and push off from in the early morning.
The Pilgrims on the Mayflower had the right idea when they anchored in Provincetown; the harbor is well-protected, and it takes no time to reach from Cape Cod Bay. However, the Pilgrims couldn’t find any fresh water, and experienced some other prickly issues, on the hook of Cape Cod. So the Mayflower set sail again. This time for Plymouth.
Plymouth offered them a secure port, fresh water, and a big rock to step off onto shore. But it takes a long time to get from Massachusetts Bay to that rock. From Plymouth Light, where Massachusetts Bay meets Plymouth Bay, it generally takes us 45 minutes under power to arrive at the harbor. Plymouth is a destination we only visit occasionally because of that. You need to set aside some time to travel to Plymouth. But you will not be disappointed if you do; both the journey and the destination are most worthwhile.
The entrance begins at Plymouth Light, or Gurnet Light, located on a 27-acre peninsula forming the northern boundary of Plymouth Bay. The light is about four miles, as the gull flies, northeast of Plymouth Rock, but a couple of miles longer when you follow the serpentine channel.
It’s interesting to note the erosion all along the beach on Saquish Head, by Fort Andrew, a relic of the Revolution, the War of 1812 and Civil War. Ahead is Duxbury Pier Light (known locally as Bug Light), which separates Duxbury Bay from Plymouth Harbor inlet while marking dangerous shoals. The light seems to be the preferred perch for the local gull and cormorant populations. Cast your eye to the northwest and you’ll see the towering statue of Myles Standish – who sailed with the Pilgrims as a military advisor – on the verdant hillside that is now Standish Park in Duxbury.
Bell buoy G “9” is your first mark toward Plymouth Harbor; just follow the channel markers in. There’s plenty of water at low tide, but it’s best to stay in the channel. Plymouth Beach is to port. It’s a beautiful spit of sand, with grassy dunes extending from the mainland to protect the town and its harbor from the bay. This beach seems to be a popular spot with boaters, fishermen and sun worshippers. There were more of them than there were gulls and cormorants. By R “20”, you’ll have a clear view of busy Plymouth Harbor.
Also protecting the town and the harbor is a long, stone breakwater to starboard. Once nestled behind it in the large mooring field, one is sheltered from the strong winds off Massachusetts Bay.
We’ve stayed at Safe Harbor Plymouth, when it was called Brewer Yacht Yard. It looks like the marina has been updated since then, with new facilities and docks. It was so popular in late last August that they had no room for us. No worries: Plymouth Yacht Club (PYC) had a spare mooring we could use for our overnight stay.
Once we were about halfway between N “20” and N “22”, we hailed the club on Channel 08, and they dispatched their launch to lead us to our mooring.
We had a great spot in the mooring field, not far off Plymouth Rock and not too far from the Mayflower II replica. We spent a pleasant afternoon on the boat watching the maritime traffic pass us by. Pleasure craft, whale-watching tour boats, fleets of sailboats returning from races, a Mississippi paddleboat excursion cruiser – all kept us amused and engaged.
After settling in we again hailed the club’s launch, this time so we could go ashore with our dog, Ellis: exercise for him and cocktails and dinner for us. I don’t think we’ve ever met such friendly and welcoming sailors than those at the PYC. We’d been guests once before, when we were the only ones at the bar and the bartender kept us informed and amused. This time the club was mobbed, not only with Saturday sailors and their families, but also with a large wedding party. Paul, my spouse and co-captain, and Ellis hung out at one of the club’s outdoor picnic tables while I scouted out some drinks. Approaching the club’s porch, people mingling about immediately peppered me with questions about what breed of dog we had and how handsome he was. They did not mention the spouse. Once past dog stories, they wanted to know about my yacht club, which boat was ours, and then they encouraged me to crash the wedding for drinks. It was a cash bar. I returned to the picnic table with drinks for spouse and dog, only to find them both engaged with friendly PYC sailors (Paul) and with sniffing dogs and admiring kids (Ellis).
Drinks consumed, we walked through the club’s manicured yard and headed down Union Street for dinner. We had earmarked the Surfside Smokehouse – right near the Safe Harbor Marina – for dinner, as it was a beautiful evening and the restaurant has several dog-friendly tables on their patio. Alas, those tables were taken, and we decided we didn’t want to wait. Off we walked down Water Street, Plymouth’s main drag, in further search.
There are several lovely parks along the harbor. Plymouth Rock is, of course, enshrined on the beach, under a granite portico, and engraved “1620.” No one can step onto it any longer, which is probably a good idea as it appears to have been broken and patched. Farther along Water Street is the Plymouth Mayflower Museum, whose main attraction is the replica of the original Mayflower. You may recall that Mayflower II is a replica of the boat that braved the late-fall trip from Plymouth, England. It was launched in England in 1955 to commemorate the alliance between the United Kingdom and the U.S. during World War II.
Mayflower II recently underwent extensive renovations and repairs at Mystic Seaport, and was to have had a grand celebration of the 400th anniversary of English settlement in Plymouth. Regrettably, this coincided with the pandemic, so she sailed silently from Connecticut to Plymouth without the fanfare of a Tall Ships flotilla.
We found a yummy seafood dinner at a sidewalk cafe, which welcomed pets. Plymouth offers a full range of restaurants, at many price points, to suit most travelers. A couple of open-air bars are set up right along the street. Visitors to downtown Plymouth will also find plenty of gift shops, bakeries, breweries, museums, drugstores, antique shops and candy stores.
By the time we’d finished dinner, many of the shops and museums were closed. So we went for a walk, exploring. We strolled behind Water Street, on Winslow Street, past the Mayflower Society House, which is across the street and up the hill from Plymouth Rock. We continued on to North Street, to the Spooner House Museum. This was of interest to me as my mother’s family (née Spooner) came to Plymouth in 1637. Her side of the Spooner family moved away, but another branch remained in Plymouth until the late 1950s.
The 18th-century Spooner House was continuously owned by a member of the Spooner family for 200 years, when it was donated to the Plymouth Antiquarian Society as a museum. One of its owners, Bourne Spooner, in 1824 founded the Plymouth Cordage Company, located on the harbor two miles north of Plymouth Rock. At one time it was the largest, most trusted rope manufacturer in the country.
We continued our walk back toward the yacht club and walked around Cole’s Hill, which rises above the harbor across the street from the Rock. This park is attractively landscaped with trails, and contains the Pilgrims’ first cemetery as well as several monuments. At the top of the hill, we came to the rear of the statue of Massasoit, who helped the Pilgrims survive against less-friendly tribes and starvation through their first winter. Massasoit was actually not his name, but a title for the leader of the Wampanoags, or Great Sachem, but that is what the colonists mistakenly dubbed him. His statue gazes out over Plymouth Rock to the harbor beyond.
Back at the yacht club, we found that the wedding party was over and everyone was heading home. As the sun got low, the launch driver respected the tradition of evening colors, and we awaited the completion of this moving ceremony. The ship’s bell rang; the club canon boomed; facing the flag, right hands were placed over hearts as flags were lowered. We caught the last launch out to our boat, completing a lovely sojourn in Plymouth.
Marilyn Brigham, along with her co-captain/spouse Paul, sails Selkie, a Catalina 445, out of Quissett Harbor, Falmouth, Mass. She is a lifelong sailor and current member of the Quissett and Cottage Park yacht clubs.
