Neptune's Needle

English colony established in what became southeast Massachusetts in 1620 by English Separatists ('Pilgrims"). Colony slow to take up maritime activities but be 1630s engaged in fishing and coastal trade. Absorbed by the larger Massachusetts in 1692.

Settlement place of the English Separatists/Pilgrims when they came to America in 1620. Located just above the western end of Cape Cod in Massachusetts, 34 miles SE of Boston

The site selected by Pilgrims after others on north side of Cape rejected; thought to have a suitable harbor, water access to the interior, good farmland and at the time bereft of Indians; none but the last of these expectations was fully realized. Settlers in the 1630s and thereafter dispersed northward along the coast toward Boston (Duxbury, Scituate) and out onto Cape Cod, as well as over onto the ocean side of the Cape (Nauset)and westward toward Narragansett Bay (Taunton, Rehoboth). Area became a successful economy combining agriculture, fishing and an aggressive effort in creating a seagoing trading network. Absorbed by Massachusetts in 1691.

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Compiler

Peter Richards