Remembering John and Priscilla Alden

After finding the land where John and Priscilla Alden established their home in Duxbury, there was another place where their story could be followed: the Old Burying Ground, where they are believed to have been buried.

John Alden died in 1687, more than sixty years after arriving aboard the Mayflower. Priscilla’s exact date of death is uncertain, although she is believed to have died before John. Both had spent much of their lives in Duxbury, raising their family and becoming part of the community that developed here during the decades following the settlement of Plymouth.

Like many people buried during the 17th century, the exact locations of their graves were eventually lost. Early graves were sometimes marked by simple fieldstones or wooden markers that disappeared over time. No original gravestones identifying John or Priscilla survive. The stones seen here were placed later as memorials rather than as original 17th-century grave markers. They commemorate John and Priscilla and recognize the tradition that they were buried somewhere within this historic ground

There is something fitting about finding their memorials here in Duxbury. John and Priscilla are most often remembered as Mayflower passengers and through the romantic story later popularized in The Courtship of Miles Standish. But most of their lives were lived after that famous voyage. They established a home, raised ten children who survived infancy, and became the ancestors of an enormous number of descendants.

Their exact graves may have disappeared, but their connection to Duxbury has not. Between the archaeological remains of their original home, the Alden family house that still stands, and these memorial stones, we can still trace the lives of John and Priscilla across the community they helped establish.