# Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1680s

> A small English farming-and-fishing county, recently scarred by war, governed through town, church, court, and colony law.

- Place: Plymouth County, Massachusetts (41.987, -70.742)
- Years: 1680 to 1689
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-county-massachusetts/1680s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Plymouth%20County%2C%20Massachusetts&at=41.9870,-70.7420&year=1685

## Looking around

You are not in one single town but in a new county, so the road turns between Plymouth, Duxbury, Marshfield, Scituate, Bridgewater, and Middleborough[5]. At Plymouth, the old colony capital still holds the records and courts; inland and along the shore, families have spread toward plowing, tillage, cattle, and corn[3]. The built world gathers around meetinghouses required in every town[2], because worship, town business, and law are tied together. Beyond the English fences and lots lie traditional Native lands[3] made more insecure by English expansion. The 1670s war is recent enough that weapons, travel, and Sunday conduct remain matters for law. By 1686 the county is also under a larger imperial hand, the Dominion of New England[2], before local government is restored in 1689. News comes by road, by court order, by town meeting, and by ships entering the coast.

## Work: Corn, cattle, and land

The strongest local pattern is expansion for plowing, tillage, corn, and cattle[3]. As families moved farther from Plymouth, work followed land and herds rather than a single market street.

## Faith: Church ordered the week

Every town was expected to maintain a church where the town could meet to worship God[2]. Sunday was policed: in 1682 the law restricted servile work, sports, and unnecessary Sunday travel without a ticket[2].

## Law & power: Court, town, and Dominion

Power ran through town meetings, the Plymouth General Court, and, after 1686, the Dominion of New England[2]. In 1689 Plymouth officials publicly resumed the former government as it had stood in June 1686[2].

## What people feared: War still shaped law

King Philip’s War was close memory, and in 1681 a quarter of each military company had to bring arms to Sunday meetings[2]. Weapon trade with Native people was treated as deadly serious: selling or giving guns to Indians[2] could be punished by death.

## Home & table: Scattered English households

Home life was tied to dispersed lots, because large families, plowing, tillage, corn, and cattle[3] made nearby land essential. The county-wide evidence does not give a dependable picture of ordinary Plymouth County houses in the 1680s.

## Money: Prices are hard to see

The opened sources show a farming and cattle economy but not a dependable county price list; no online source opened here gives a reliable 1680s price list. Debt and exchange probably ran through livestock, produce, labor, and court records, but the local figures are not in hand.

## Who lived here: English growth, Native dispossession

Plymouth Colony held about 6,400 people in 1680 and about 7,424 in 1690[4] in later estimates that mostly exclude Native people. English settlement grew on traditional Native lands[3], worsening Wampanoag insecurity after the war.

## Roads & news: Roads, courts, and coast

News moved through town meetings, court orders, road travel, and coastal connections. The county was not isolated: Plymouth Colony maintained trade posts from Cape Ann[3] to the Kennebec, Aptuxcet, and the Connecticut River.

## Year by year

- **1678** (here): Churches were again ordered to be built, finished, repaired, and enlarged in every Plymouth town as needed.[2]
- **1681** (here): One-quarter of every Plymouth military company was ordered to bring arms to Sunday meetings.[2]
- **1682** (here): Servile work, sports, and unnecessary Sunday travel without a ticket were forbidden on holy public days and the Sabbath.[2]
- **1685** (here): Plymouth County was created when Plymouth Colony was divided into Plymouth, Bristol, and Barnstable counties.[5]
- **1686** (the country): The Dominion of New England absorbed Plymouth, ending normal Plymouth General Court records until 1689.[2]
- **1688** (the world): The Glorious Revolution overthrew James II in England, the imperial crisis behind New England’s 1689 revolt against Andros.[2]
- **1689** (the country): Sir Edmund Andros’s government fell in New England, and Plymouth resumed its old colonial government.[2]

## What the sources say

- Plymouth County was created on June 2, 1685, when Plymouth Colony was divided into Plymouth, Bristol, and Barnstable counties. (inferred)[5]
- The 1685 county consisted chiefly of Plymouth, Duxbury, Marshfield, Scituate, Bridgewater, and Middleborough, with nearby plantation lands such as Accord Pond Shares and Ford’s Farm. (inferred)[5]
- This description is county-wide because the map point is known only as Plymouth County, not as a particular town or household. (not known)
- Plymouth Colony’s estimated population was about 6,400 in 1680 and about 7,424 in 1690, excluding most Native people in the historical population table. (from the sources)[4]
- Plymouth remained the seat and center of Plymouth Colony government until the colony was merged into the Province of Massachusetts Bay under the 1691 charter. (from the sources)[1]
- Plymouth Colony people sought land for large families, plowing, tillage, corn, and cattle, and the growth of cattle helped push families out from the original town. (from the sources)[3]
- English expansion in Plymouth Colony took place on traditional Native lands and increased tension with Wampanoag inhabitants whose sovereignty and landways were disregarded or circumvented. (from the sources)[3]
- By a 1675 Plymouth law, every town in the government was to have a church where the town could meet to worship God. (from the sources)[2]
- A 1678 law required churches to be erected, finished, repaired, and enlarged as needed in every town in Plymouth. (from the sources)[2]
- In 1681 Plymouth law required one-quarter of every military company to bring arms to Sunday meetings. (from the sources)[2]
- In 1682 Plymouth law forbade servile work, sports, and unnecessary Sunday travel without a ticket on court-appointed fast and thanksgiving days and on the Sabbath. (from the sources)[2]
- Plymouth was included in the Dominion of New England from the second half of 1686 until 1689, and ordinary Plymouth General Court records cease for that interval. (from the sources)[2]
- In June 1689 Plymouth’s General Court celebrated the end of Sir Edmund Andros’s illegal arbitrary power and resumed the former government as it had stood in June 1686. (from the sources)[2]
- The colony’s laws were revised and printed in 1685, and in June 1686 the General Court declared the printed laws to be in force in the towns. (from the sources)[2]
- After King Philip’s War, Plymouth authorities treated trade in weapons with Native people as a capital danger; a 1676 law made selling or giving guns to Indians punishable by death. (from the sources)[2]
- Local adult male participation in town meeting helped support community bonds in Plymouth Colony, alongside compulsory weekly worship. (from the sources)[3]
- Plymouth Colony had outlying trade posts at Cape Ann, on the Kennebec, at Aptuxcet on upper Cape Cod, and on the Connecticut River, showing the wider trade world that touched the county. (from the sources)[3]
- No online source opened here gives a reliable 1680s price list for Plymouth County wages, corn, cattle, clothing, or tools. (not known)
- No online source opened here gives a surviving street-by-street description of ordinary Plymouth County houses in the 1680s. (not known)

## Sources

1. Records of New Plymouth Colony, 1620 to 1691. Massachusetts Archives, Secretary of the Commonwealth. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/archives/collections/plymouth-records.htm
2. Plymouth Colony. Pilgrim Hall Museum. https://www.pilgrimhall.org/plymouth-colony/
3. List of colonial and pre-Federal U.S. historical population. Wikipedia, citing U.S. Census Bureau historical statistics. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colonial_and_pre-Federal_U.S._historical_population
4. Gazetteer of the State of Massachusetts, Plymouth County section. LDS Genealogy transcription, 1887. https://ldsgenealogy.com/MA/books/Gazetteer-of-the-state-of-Massachusetts-pt-1-part-8.htm
5. Combs &c. Families of Plymouth County, Massachusetts: County Formation and Towns. Combs &c. Research Group. https://combs-families.org/combs/records/ma/plymouth/index.htm

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Plymouth in the 1650s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1650s/md) (7 km)
- [Plympton, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1710s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plympton-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1710s/md) (7 km)
- [Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1670s](https://yorehistory.com/place/duxbury-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1670s/md) (8 km)

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Researched by Yore's AI historian (gpt-5.5) on 2026-10-12 from the sources listed. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked "inferred" are conclusions, not records. Cite as: Yore, "Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1680s", https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-county-massachusetts/1680s