Behind the Scenes
at Plimoth Plantation

Current articles in this section:

1. Firing Up the Kiln

2. Ordinarie Technology

3. Notes on a Shallop

4. Archaeology at Plimoth Plantation: Key to the Past

5. Maritime Programs at Plimoth Plantation

6. Recreating the Material Culture of Mayflower II

7. Documenting Mayflower II

8. Hands Across the Bay: A 1957 Crewmember Sails Again

9. A New Furnace for Mayflower II

10. The Story and Crew of 1957's Mayflower II

11. Why P-l-i-m-o-t-h?

Why “P-l-i-m-o-t-h”

The unusual spelling of the name “Plymouth” by Plimoth Plantation is often questioned by visitors to the museum. The answer is that it is an old-fashioned spelling used by Governor William Bradford in his history of the colony, Of Plymouth Plantation, which was adopted to differentiate the museum from the modern town of Plymouth. There were no rules for the spelling of English words in the early 17th century, and each writer did as he or she pleased, phonetically spelling the word as seemed fit - sometimes differently on a single page.

Plymouth is spelled a number of ways in the early colony documents, such as (in order of frequency), “Plymouth”, “Ply ”, (an abbreviation where the mark over the “m” indicates a truncated word), “Plimouth”, “Plymoth,” “Plimoth”, “Pli ”, “Plim.”, and “Pli outh” (here the mark indicates an omitted “m” - it could also mean a missing “n”). Governor Bradford used two spellings: “Plimoth” (32 times) and “Pli oth” (4 times). When Plimoth Plantation was founded it was decided to use Bradford’s most common usage.

back to top

hours: The shop is open daily 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through noon on Christmas Eve!
address: 137 Warren Avenue, Plymouth, MA 02360 USA
telephone: 1 + 508 746 1622