<P> Plymouth Rock is geologically classified as a Dedham Granite boulder and a glacial erratic . The two most significant primary sources on the founding of Plymouth Colony are Edward Winslow's Mourt's Relation and Bradford's history Of Plymouth Plantation, and neither refers to Plymouth Rock . The rock first attracted public attention in 1741 when the residents of Plymouth began plans to build a wharf which would bury it . Before construction began, a 94 - year - old elder of the church named Thomas Faunce, then living three miles from the spot, declared that the boulder was the landing place of the Mayflower Pilgrims . He asked to be brought to the rock to say a farewell . According to Plymouth historian James Thacher: </P> <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>

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