Plymouth in the 1650s
A small English colony town governed through church, court, cattle, corn, and a wary peace with Wampanoag neighbors.
Looking around
You stand in the old center of New Plymouth4, the colony town founded in 1620. Up the rise is the meeting house2, paid for by town rate and already used for town meetings. This is also the seat of the colony courts5, where the General Court and assistants are to meet. Roads must be kept passable for man and beast5, so paths lead out toward fields, cattle ground, and neighboring plantations. The town’s animals are gathered under a hired keeper, paid in fifty bushels of Indian corn1. Beyond the English houses and lots lies land that had been Wampanoag country6, still under the shadow of an alliance with Ousamequin’s people. The settlement is small by later measures: the whole Plymouth Colony counts about 1,566 people in 1650, spread beyond this town into other plantations.
Work
Cattle, corn, common labor
Town work includes the shared management of livestock: Richard Willis is paid fifty bushels of Indian corn1 to keep the town cattle from April to mid-November. Owners pay by number of cattle and time kept1, so even common work is carefully accounted.
Faith
Worship under law
Public religion is compulsory: in 1651 the General Court sets a ten-shilling fine3 for missing approved worship or joining unauthorized meetings. The town’s meeting house is not new; by 1649 a town meeting was being held there2.
Law & power
Freemen and courts
Plymouth is the colony’s legal center, because the General Courts and Courts of Assistants5 are to meet here. Laws are made by freemen5, while residents owe allegiance to the king and fidelity to the colony government.
In the air
Heresy becomes public danger
The arguments of the decade are religious and political at once. In 1657 Plymouth forbids inhabitants to bring in Quakers, Ranters, or other named heretics3, and in 1658 excludes Quakers from freemanship or voting3.
What people feared
Disease, alliance, suspicion
The English live beside Wampanoag people whose country had already been hit by epidemic disease and Narragansett pressure6. Plymouth’s Sabbath law of 1656 even reaches Native gun use, forbidding Indians from firing guns on the Sabbath3.
Home & table
A small colony world
The town is part of a very small colony: the whole Plymouth Colony has about 1,566 people in 1650. A precise online description of Plymouth houses in this decade was not found: no house-by-house description surfaced in this search.
Money
Corn as payment
Money is not only coin: the town pays a cattle keeper in fifty bushels of Indian corn1. For ordinary prices, this search found no local price list beyond that corn payment.
Roads & news
Roads, courts, yearly laws
News and authority move along roads that officers must keep in repair for people and beasts5. Law itself is meant to be heard: in 1658 each town must own a law book and have it read openly every year3.
Year by year
- 1649A Plymouth town meeting was being held in the meeting house by May 17, 1649. here2
- 1651The General Court imposed a ten-shilling penalty for missing approved worship or joining unauthorized religious meetings. here3
- 1651The English Parliament passed the first Navigation Act, tightening imperial control over colonial trade. the country
- 1653Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector after years of civil war and republican rule in England. the world
- 1656Plymouth prohibited Indians from firing guns on the Sabbath. here3
- 1657Plymouth barred inhabitants from bringing Quakers, Ranters, or other named heretics into the colony. here3
- 1658Plymouth required every town to keep a book of laws and read it openly each year. here3
- 1659Quaker persecution in New England became a subject people in Plymouth could hardly avoid, as Plymouth ordered seizure of Quaker writings and Massachusetts executed Quakers in Boston. nearby3
Pictures from the time
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What the sources say
- The place was then usually called New Plymouth or Plymouth, the first permanent English colony in New England, settled in 1620. from the sources4
- The whole Plymouth Colony, not just the town, is estimated at 1,566 people in 1650 and 1,980 in 1660. inferred
- A Plymouth town record hired Richard Willis to keep the town cattle from April to mid-November for fifty bushels of Indian corn. from the sources1
- The cattle-keeping charge was apportioned among owners according to the number of cattle and the time they were kept. from the sources1
- A Plymouth town meeting in 1647 ordered a £25 rate for the meeting house, and by May 17, 1649 a town meeting was being held there. from the sources2
- Between 1654 and 1667, James Williams and William Brinsmead preached at Plymouth at different times without being settled pastors. from the sources2
- In 1651 the General Court fined people ten shillings for failing to attend approved worship or for assembling in unauthorized religious meetings. from the sources3
- The colony law code required the General Courts and Courts of Assistants to be held at Plymouth, with the governor dwelling there for the year except for allowed inferior courts elsewhere. from the sources5
- The same law code made constables and yearly surveyors responsible for keeping highways in repair for people and beasts. from the sources5
- Plymouth colony laws were to be made only by freemen, and every resident was to take an oath of allegiance to the king and fidelity to the government. from the sources5
- Trials, including capital trials and private disputes, were to be by juries as near as possible to English precedent. from the sources5
- Much of the area that became Plymouth Colony had been Wampanoag land, and the Wampanoag were led in this period by Massasoit Ousamequin. from the sources6
- The Wampanoag alliance with Plymouth grew from Wampanoag weakness after epidemic disease and fear of Narragansett pressure. from the sources6
- In 1656 Plymouth passed a law forbidding Indians from firing guns on the Sabbath. from the sources3
- In 1657 Plymouth forbade inhabitants from bringing Quakers, Ranters, or other named heretics into the colony. from the sources3
- In 1658 Plymouth barred Quakers and other opponents of what the government called true worship from becoming freemen or voting. from the sources3
- In 1658 every town in the colony was required to have a book of laws read openly every year. from the sources3
- No surviving online source found in this search gives a house-by-house description of Plymouth dwellings in the 1650s. not known
- No local price list for ordinary food, clothing, or tools in Plymouth town in the 1650s was found in this search, beyond corn used as payment for cattle keeping. not known
Sources
- Town Annual Report of Plymouth, MA, 1636–1705, vol. 1, part 2. LDS Genealogy
- Plymouth Church Records, 1620–1859, Part 1. Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1917
- Law and Religion in Plymouth Colony. British Journal of American Legal Studies, 2019
- Transcripts of the Records of New Plymouth Colony, 1620–1691. Massachusetts Archives
- Pilgrim Code of Law. Teaching American History, 1636
- Wampanoag. National Park Service, Roger Williams National Memorial
Plymouth in other decades
Nearby, about the same time
Did someone of yours live here?
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Researched by Yore’s AI historian (gpt-5.5) in October 2026 from the sources above. It is about the place and the time, not about any person. Statements marked “inferred” are conclusions drawn from the sources, not records. Also available as plain Markdown. To cite: Yore, “Plymouth in the 1650s”, yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1650s