Pilgrim Hall Museum’s permanent galleries provide an in-depth look at the English colonists of early Plymouth, the Wampanoag people, and the evolution of Plymouth Colony.

The Lower Hall of original 17th-century collections includes authentic possessions of the Mayflower Pilgrims, Indigenous materials of everyday life, and rare Plymouth Colony artifacts and documents.

On display in the historic 1824 Main Hall are American and English paintings depicting the “Pilgrim Story,” showing how the Pilgrims have been represented in artistic imagination over time, and works reflecting the history and continued presence of the Wampanoag people.

Changing exhibitions at Pilgrim Hall Museum highlight art, object and material culture with connections to Plymouth history and community.

Now on Display in our Special Exhibition Gallery

REAL/MYTHIC:  PEOPLE OF EARLY PLYMOUTH
March 2024 to December 2025

Sponsored by Tiny & Sons Auto Glass

In the winter of 1620, the ship Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor. It carried 102 passengers from England and Holland, only half of whom survived that first winter. Although the colonists described the region as an empty wilderness, it was extensively populated. The Wampanoag people were living on the lands that they had called home for thousands of years. They had recently survived a devastating plague that afflicted Indigenous settlements from Maine to Cape Cod.

The narrative of early Plymouth has inspired many of America’s founding mythologies. What do we know of the real people who lived this history? Through powerful personal biographies, Real/Mythic examines what is known and unknown about Plymouth’s complex and often surprising story.