# Plymouth in the 1650s

> A small English colony town governed through church, court, cattle, corn, and a wary peace with Wampanoag neighbors.

- Place: Plymouth (41.958, -70.667)
- Years: 1650 to 1659
- Page: https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1650s
- Step into it (interactive): https://yorehistory.com/?step=Plymouth%2C%20Plymouth%20County%2C%20Massachusetts%2C%20United%20States&at=41.9584,-70.6673&year=1655

## Looking around

You stand in the old center of New Plymouth[4], the colony town founded in 1620. Up the rise is the meeting house[2], paid for by town rate and already used for town meetings. This is also the seat of the colony courts[5], where the General Court and assistants are to meet. Roads must be kept passable for man and beast[5], 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 corn[1]. Beyond the English houses and lots lies land that had been Wampanoag country[6], 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 corn[1] to keep the town cattle from April to mid-November. Owners pay by number of cattle and time kept[1], so even common work is carefully accounted.

## Faith: Worship under law

Public religion is compulsory: in 1651 the General Court sets a ten-shilling fine[3] for missing approved worship or joining unauthorized meetings. The town’s meeting house is not new; by 1649 a town meeting was being held there[2].

## Law & power: Freemen and courts

Plymouth is the colony’s legal center, because the General Courts and Courts of Assistants[5] are to meet here. Laws are made by freemen[5], 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 heretics[3], and in 1658 excludes Quakers from freemanship or voting[3].

## What people feared: Disease, alliance, suspicion

The English live beside Wampanoag people whose country had already been hit by epidemic disease and Narragansett pressure[6]. Plymouth’s Sabbath law of 1656 even reaches Native gun use, forbidding Indians from firing guns on the Sabbath[3].

## 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 corn[1]. 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 beasts[5]. Law itself is meant to be heard: in 1658 each town must own a law book and have it read openly every year[3].

## Year by year

- **1649** (here): A Plymouth town meeting was being held in the meeting house by May 17, 1649.[2]
- **1651** (here): The General Court imposed a ten-shilling penalty for missing approved worship or joining unauthorized religious meetings.[3]
- **1651** (the country): The English Parliament passed the first Navigation Act, tightening imperial control over colonial trade.
- **1653** (the world): Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector after years of civil war and republican rule in England.
- **1656** (here): Plymouth prohibited Indians from firing guns on the Sabbath.[3]
- **1657** (here): Plymouth barred inhabitants from bringing Quakers, Ranters, or other named heretics into the colony.[3]
- **1658** (here): Plymouth required every town to keep a book of laws and read it openly each year.[3]
- **1659** (nearby): Quaker 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.[3]

## 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 sources)[4]
- 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 sources)[1]
- The cattle-keeping charge was apportioned among owners according to the number of cattle and the time they were kept. (from the sources)[1]
- 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 sources)[2]
- Between 1654 and 1667, James Williams and William Brinsmead preached at Plymouth at different times without being settled pastors. (from the sources)[2]
- In 1651 the General Court fined people ten shillings for failing to attend approved worship or for assembling in unauthorized religious meetings. (from the sources)[3]
- 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 sources)[5]
- The same law code made constables and yearly surveyors responsible for keeping highways in repair for people and beasts. (from the sources)[5]
- 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 sources)[5]
- Trials, including capital trials and private disputes, were to be by juries as near as possible to English precedent. (from the sources)[5]
- 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 sources)[6]
- The Wampanoag alliance with Plymouth grew from Wampanoag weakness after epidemic disease and fear of Narragansett pressure. (from the sources)[6]
- In 1656 Plymouth passed a law forbidding Indians from firing guns on the Sabbath. (from the sources)[3]
- In 1657 Plymouth forbade inhabitants from bringing Quakers, Ranters, or other named heretics into the colony. (from the sources)[3]
- In 1658 Plymouth barred Quakers and other opponents of what the government called true worship from becoming freemen or voting. (from the sources)[3]
- In 1658 every town in the colony was required to have a book of laws read openly every year. (from the sources)[3]
- 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

1. Town Annual Report of Plymouth, MA, 1636–1705, vol. 1, part 2. LDS Genealogy. https://ldsgenealogy.com/MA/books/Town-annual-report-of-Plymouth-MA-1636-1705-vol-1-part-2.htm
2. Plymouth Church Records, 1620–1859, Part 1. Colonial Society of Massachusetts, 1917. https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/221
3. Law and Religion in Plymouth Colony. British Journal of American Legal Studies, 2019. https://reference-global.com/article/10.2478/bjals-2019-0016?tab=article
4. Transcripts of the Records of New Plymouth Colony, 1620–1691. Massachusetts Archives. https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/archives/collections/plymouth-records.htm
5. Pilgrim Code of Law. Teaching American History, 1636. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/pilgrim-code-of-law/
6. Wampanoag. National Park Service, Roger Williams National Memorial. https://www.nps.gov/rowi/learn/historyculture/wampanoag.htm

## The same place in other decades

- [Plymouth in the 1750s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1750s/md)
- [Plymouth in the 1840s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1840s/md)

## Nearby, about the same time

- [Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1680s](https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-county-massachusetts/1680s/md) (7 km)
- [Duxbury, Plymouth County, Massachusetts in the 1640s](https://yorehistory.com/place/duxbury-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1640s/md) (9 km)

---
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 in the 1650s", https://yorehistory.com/place/plymouth-plymouth-county-massachusetts/1650s