<P> A chair was procured, and the venerable (Faunce) conveyed to the shore, where a number of the inhabitants were assembled to witness the patriarch's benediction . Having pointed out the rock directly under the bank of Cole's Hill, which his father had assured him was that which had received the footsteps of our fathers on their first arrival, and which should be perpetuated to posterity, he bedewed it with his tears and bid to it an everlasting adieu . </P> <P> Faunce's father had arrived in the colony aboard the ship Anne in 1623, just two years after the Mayflower landing, and Elder Faunce was born in 1647 when many of the Mayflower Pilgrims were still living, so his assertion made a strong impression on the people of Plymouth . The wharf was built but the rock left intact, the top portion protruding from the dirt so as to be visible to curious visitors . </P> <P> More recent generations have called Faunce's assertion into question, alleging that he invented the story or did not have the correct facts, given that he was not an eyewitness to the event . Journalist Bill Bryson, for example, wrote, "The one thing the Pilgrims certainly did not do was step ashore on Plymouth Rock," arguing that the boulder would have made an impractical landing spot . Others have taken issue with the significance of the rock based on the fact that the Pilgrims first disembarked from the Mayflower at Provincetown to explore Cape Cod, more than a month prior to arriving in Plymouth harbor . In 1851, a group of Cape Cod residents formed the Cape Cod Association for the purpose of promoting Provincetown as the site of the original Pilgrim landing . Such efforts eventually led to the construction of the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, which was completed in 1910 . </P> <P> Col. Theophilus Cotton (son of Josiah Cotton, a Plymouth magistrate) and the townspeople of Plymouth decided to move the rock in 1774 . It was split into two parts, with the bottom portion left behind at the wharf and the top portion relocated to the town's meeting house . </P>

Where did the pilgrims land first plymouth rock or provincetown