Restoration of Historic Plymouth Meeting House Nears Completion

Visitors to Town Square may feel like they have gone back in time when scaffolding comes down from around the National Pilgrim Memorial Meetinghouse later this week.

PLYMOUTH - Visitors to Town Square may feel like they have gone back in time when scaffolding comes down from around the National Pilgrim Memorial Meetinghouse later this week.

The project to restore the exterior of the former First Parish Church is on schedule for completion by the middle of the month and the finished product will restore the historic stone building to its original 19th century luster.

Over the last six months, workers have cleaned more than a century of soot and grime from the granite and sandstone façade of the former church, giving the meetinghouse a brighter, sharper appearance. More importantly, re-pointing of the stonework and the replacement of its slate roof will protect the building from the elements for at least another century as it begins a new life as an orientation center for tourists interested in learning the Pilgrim story.

“We probably caught it just in time,” Ron Filson, project manager for the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (Mayflower Society), said of the restoration work. “If the roof hadn’t been replaced and completely tightened up within a year, the preservation people said we would have started to see really big chunks of interior plaster come down. So it was time. It needed to be done right away.”

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