Designed in the Romanesque Revival style, the Meetinghouse’s 88’ high Norman-inspired tower and stone facade reflect the type of church the Pilgrims would have been familiar with in England.

Through the synthesis of architecture, symbolism, and decorative arts, the fifth First Parish 1899 meetinghouse celebrates Pilgrim values and beliefs and the freedoms that their faith enshrined. In 2014 the meetinghouse was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.

Known for over a century as the National Memorial Pilgrim Church, the meetinghouse’s historical roots reach back to the small wooden structure in which the settlers worshiped during their first winter in Plymouth until they constructed a fort on top of Burial Hill in 1622. The first actual church, constructed in 1648 (some sources cite 1637), was replaced by larger structures in 1683, 1744, and again in 1831.

Following the loss of the 1831 First Parish church to fire in 1892, the fifth meetinghouse was completed in 1897 and dedicated on Forefathers’ Day, December 21, 1899.

Many of the Meetinghouse’s unique stained glass windows were designed by Edward Peck Sperry of Tiffany Studios and were gifts from Mayflower descendants and societies.

The sanctuary’s center chancel window, Signing the Compact, was created by Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company and depicts the signing of what would become one of the most significant documents in American history.

In layers of vivid opalescent glass, the Sanctuary’s three front windows memorialize the Separatists’ minister John Robinson blessing the members of the Leyden congregation who were departing from Holland on board the Speedwell.

Other windows celebrate the freedoms established by the Pilgrims—freedoms that continue to draw people to America from around the world: civil and religious liberty; democracy and the rights of the individual; freedom of speech; freedom of the press, and the right to trial by a jury of one’s peers.

Left and right chancel windows—Civil Liberty and
Religious Liberty

The symbolic meaning behind First Parish’s beautiful Arts & Crafts interior, hand-carving, and stenciling was, no doubt, understood by many at its dedication in 1899, but much of this meaning became obscured throughout the twentieth century. Thanks to Arts & Crafts scholar David Berman, however, much of the symbolism was revealed in his 2014 lecture “A Brief History of the Arts & Crafts Movement and its Relevance to First Parish Church.”

A much more detailed analysis of the Meetinghouse’s symbolic aspects is contained in the First Parish Restoration Committee’s 2015 illustrated guide to First Parish Meetinghouse, which can be accessed by clicking on this link:

Thanks to a grant from Plymouth’s Community Preservation Commission, restoration of First Parish’s beautiful windows by Serpentino Glass Studios of Needham, Massachusetts, began in November 2013 and was completed in 2014.

However, by the 1970s it had become apparent that the very existence of the meetinghouse was threatened due to compromised mortar that allowed moisture to permeate the façade, dampening the interior walls. The First Parish Restoration Committee and the Friends of First Parish, a non-profit 501(c)(3), reached out nation-wide in an effort to obtain grants to restore the building but were unable to secure sufficient funds.

In 2018 the ownership of was transferred to the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, who have renamed it the Mayflower Meetinghouse and are in the process of fully restoring both building’s exterior and interior.

Special thanks to the following speakers who generously promoted The Campaign for the Restoration of First Parish Meetinghouse through free public lectures given in First Parish’s sanctuary:
Peggy M. Baker– “The Watsons of Burial Hill” (Sunday, November 4, 2012)
James W. Baker– “There Goes the Neighborhood” (Thursday, February 7, 2013)
Timothy Turner– “Plymouth, A Native American Perspective” (Sunday, April 28, 2013)
Sandra Goodall– “From Puritans to the Present, an Exploration of Christianity in America” (Thursday, September 26, 2013)
Patrick T. J. Browne– “Transcendentalism in Plymouth” (Sunday, March 16, 2014)
Roberto Rosa– “Challenges in the Art of Stained Glass Restoration” (Sunday, June 15, 2014)
David E. Berman– “The English Arts & Crafts Movement and its Relevance to First Parish Church” (Wednesday, September 10, 2014)