Plymouth Rock was vandalized on Friday in the second attempt this year to cover it. According to a statement by “See Plymouth,” “around a gallon of white paint was poured onto the rock” but was quickly removed.
Plymouth Rock is a historical monument engraved with “1620,” the year the pilgrims arrived in what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts, and stepped off the Mayflower. While it has undergone some changes and had pieces “chipped off” to be “found around the Nation,” the rock receives “over a million visitors a year.”
“The Town of Plymouth takes great pride in the symbolism of Plymouth Rock,” said Lea Filson, executive director of See Plymouth, the official tourism agency of the town and county of Plymouth. “Through the glacial period, through the thousands of years the Wampanoags had their settlement in Plymouth, then called Patuxet, through the Mayflower Pilgrim landing and through today, it remains a witness to history.”
Police are reportedly working with the owner of a nearby ship, “Mayflower II” as well as “businesses and residents in the area to try to identify the vandal through surveillance camera footage.”
Earlier in 2020, a 17-year-old vandalized Plymouth Rock and the Pilgrim Maiden statue and the National Monument to the Forefathers “leading up to the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower landing” by spray painting the numbers and letters “508” and “MOF” in red across them.
The high school student responsible “was charged with 11 counts of vandalism” but is confirmed to not be connected to the most recent vandalism.
The graffiti in February was removed free of charge by “East Coast Power-washing owner and lifelong Plymouth resident Jake Mowles.”
“The town spent a lot of money beautifying the area for the anniversary. So we decided to volunteer our time to clean it up. I own the company so it won’t cost much out of pocket, and we love our town,” Mowles told the Boston Globe.
