The Common House

This represents the first structure built in New Plymouth. It sheltered some Mayflower passengers until families were able to build their own houses. Re-roofed in 1621, it has now been adapted to serve as a forge.

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The Mayflower arrived in Plymouth harbor on Saturday, December 16, 1620. The next several days were spent in exploring the region and selecting a site to build their settlement. After a delay caused by a storm the following Thursday and Friday,: ". . . so many of us as could, went on shore, felled and carried timber, to provide themselves stuff for building" on Saturday, December 23, 1620. (Mourt's Relation, p. 42) Following the Sabbath, they spent Christmas, 1620, at work on the common house "so no man rested all that day."

"The common house, in which for the first we made our rendezvous, . . . it being about twenty feet square" was the first house built by the colonists. A thatched, wattle and daub structure, the common house became an infirmary for the many ill people who were brought ashore from the ship. No sooner was the house completed than the thatch roof caught fire on January 14. Fortunately, no one was hurt and the roof was soon replaced. Another roof fire on February 9 resulted in minor damage.

Besides acting as the colony's hospital, the first church services were held in the common house, and it was the "headquarters" of the new community where arms were kept. When Samoset first entered the village, he went directly to the common house to meet with the Plymouth leaders. On November 5, 1623, the common house was again endangered by a fire started by "roistering" seamen who were visiting the colony, and it is unclear whether it was saved or was one of the three or four houses that were lost that night. By then, its function as meeting place and church had been superceded by the new Fort/Meetinghouse (1622) and the Governor's house.

Plimoth Plantation's Common House depicts a structure modified to be the community forge, with a wooden roof and walls to assure that fire would no longer be such a threat. It is here that the village blacksmith, a vital craftsman in an isolated settlement, follows his trade in making the ironware used in the colony.