Inspired by the Pilgrim Mothers

Less than a month ago, a DAR delegation traveled to Leiden in South Holland to lay a wreath in memory of the Pilgrims in the very community from which they had departed for a wonderous and dangerous New World four centuries before. We toured the 900-year-old Peterskirk where they are memorialized and the Pilgrim Museum. It was the first time that our National Society had ever visited the Netherlands -- and it was a trip full of amazing experiences. On Saturday, Nov. 6, we brought that journey full circle by rededicating our National Society’s Plymouth, Mass., statue that honors the women aboard the Mayflower in recognition of its centennial.

The NSDAR erected this monument to recognize the fortitude and faithfulness of the mothers, daughters, wives and sisters who took a bold voyage, endangering themselves and their family members, in search of religious freedom and tolerance. There were 18 adult women and 24 family units on the voyage – a relatively unique facet of a pilgrimage to settle a new colony at the time. How progressive of our Society, a full century ago, to erect this monument to ensure that the story of the female passengers would not be left out of the public consciousness or storytelling of the epic events that occurred here.

History of the Pilgrim Mother Monument

In commemoration of the 300^th anniversary of the Mayflower, our National Society approved construction of what would become a memorial fountain in Plymouth to specifically honor the courageous women on the voyage. In 1922, $25,000 was allocated for its construction (about $345,000 in today’s currency). The first two sites considered for the memorial were rejected before an ideal waterfront location on the corner of Water and North streets was chosen.

Our National Society then selected McKim, Mead & White, the famed American architectural firm that came to define the ideals of the American Renaissance, to complete the project. German-born sculptor Carl Paul Jennewein, a naturalized citizen, was chosen to design the sculpture itself. He was a prodigious artist whose work includes the majestic pair of eagles that guards the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.

The Pilgrim Mother is cut from Knoxville Marble, a type of sandstone. She is mature (which avoids duplication of the Pilgrim maiden so often depicted) and appears strong, yet gentle and calm, with a spiritual quality. She is clothed in the Pilgrim attire displayed at the time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The fountain and statue were cleaned, and its joints were assessed and repaired with painstaking accuracy, using lead to fill seams – thereby allowing the granite to expand and contract in the changing climate. This is the same process and type of tools that would have been used on the curbing a century ago during its construction.

With years of stains and dirt removed, it became obvious that our Pilgrim Mother was actually in remarkable shape not only for her age, but also for her water- and wind-swept location. Though there are a few small divots in its sandstone, the fountain is structurally stable, with no movement to it. There is no indication of settling, sinking or tilting, indicating that the substructure beneath the monument is stable.

Although she now glistens white in the sun in beautiful reminder of the strong and faithful women who landed here in 1620,  there is more work to do. For while the names of the Pilgrim women who were known in 1920 are inscribed on the rear of the fountain, more women have been identified through later research. Their names will be added to an information panel that will be erected to complete the project in coming months. The signage will also include the history of the fountain and information about our National Society. I hope that you will schedule a visit to see this remarkable statue and this important place in our nation’s history.