Welcome to lot #1 and the Story of the pilgrims

Whether you are considering a visit to Plymouth for the Pilgrim 400th, or one of the millions of people who are curious about America’s origin story, on behalf of the Leyden Preservation Group, we welcome you to a very special moment in time. - the anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower and the inauguration of one of the greatest experiments in faith and freedom the world has ever known.

Our headquarters is America’s very own Lot #1 - the location where much of the Pilgrim story in Plymouth began. Today, our property is designated on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. The Pilgrim story might be said to have begun in Scrooby, England, where in 1606 the congregation of Separatists signed their first covenant. It was a story which brought them from England to Holland, and resulted in an epic Mayflower voyage. But once in Plymouth Harbor, they would disembark, and seek to survive the brutal winter huddled together in and around the location of Lot #1.

OUR MISSION

At the Leyden Preservation Group our vision is to shape the future by developing a greater understanding of the foundations of religious liberty in America and a providential view of history.

To these ends, our mission includes preserving landmarks that foster awareness of America’s national heritage and promoting events that will raise national attention of our nation’s incredible history. At the Leyden Preservation Group our vision is to shape the future by developing a greater understanding of the foundations of religious liberty in America and a providential view of history.

Through Lot #1, and other locations, we seek to preserve historical sites that foster a greater understanding of the unique American identity which began in the experience of the Pilgrims.

OUR HISTORY

Lot #1 features a tablet erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to mark the site of the first house built by the Pilgrims. In that house on February 27th, 1621, the right of popular suffrage was excersized and Myles Standish was chosen Captain by a majority vote. It is the likely location of the common house where the Pilgrims suffered through the very first winter of 1620-1621. It is believed that on this site in April 21, 1621, the memorable treaty between the Pilgrims and the great sachem Massasoit of the Wampanoag was made.

The Museum to Civil and Religious Liberty

The Pilgrims gave us a legacy of liberty under law as families are bound by covenant one to another in a civil body politic. Their documents and examples not only inspired works like the Declaration of Independence, gave the future United States a thriving example of the power of religious and civil liberty when we are “one nation, m under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”