Torrent No. 4
Inside Plymouth’s historic courthouse, we found another remarkable piece of the town’s everyday history: Torrent No. 4, a hand-drawn suction fire engine built in Boston by Stephen Thayer in 1828. Long before motorized fire trucks and modern hydrants, equipment like this represented some of the best technology available to a community trying to protect its homes and businesses from fire.
Plymouth purchased the engine by vote of Town Meeting for $400, a substantial investment at the time. The purchase included 700 feet of hose. Torrent No. 4 required between 18 and 20 volunteer firefighters to pull and operate it. Once at a fire, water was drawn into the engine and firefighters worked the long handles of the pump up and down, creating the pressure necessary to send water through the hose. Looking at those long wooden arms today, it is easy to appreciate just how physically demanding firefighting would have been.
I find objects like this particularly valuable when exploring a town such as Plymouth. So much attention naturally goes to 1620, but Plymouth continued to grow and change for centuries afterward. By 1828 this was a well-established town whose citizens were voting at Town Meeting to purchase firefighting equipment and organizing volunteer companies to protect their community.
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National Day of Mourning
Just a short distance from the statue of Massasoit on Cole’s Hill is this small marker recognizing the National Day of Mourning. It presents another part of Plymouth’s history and reminds us that the events of 1620 and 1621 have been remembered very differently by different people. The National Day of Mourning began in 1970, […]
Pilgrim Sarcophagus
On Cole’s Hill, overlooking the harbor, stands this large granite monument containing the remains of some of the Mayflower passengers who died during Plymouth Colony’s devastating first winter. It is known as the Pilgrim Sarcophagus, and it marks the site of the colony’s first burial ground. The winter of 1620–1621 was catastrophic. Of the 102 […]
Brewster Chair
Among the objects in the Pilgrim Hall Museum, this simple wooden chair caught my attention. Known as the Brewster Chair and dating from approximately 1630–1670, it is believed to have belonged to William Brewster, one of the Mayflower passengers and the spiritual leader of Plymouth Colony. Brewster was already about 54 years old when he […]
