Don Shave's Ancestral Family Tree
Buried in the cemetery at Burial Hill, which is close to the Coles Hill Burial-ground
The Burial Hill location is on Leyden Street at the top of the hill overlooking Plymouth Rock, and is close to the Coles Hill Burial Ground Our Pilgrim ancestors' first winter in the Plymouth colony proved deadly, with forty-five of the 102 Mayflower passengers dying of sickness in the winter of 1620-21. The colonists were afraid of burying the dead openly, as it could have alerted the Indians as to how weak the colony was and possibly provoke an attack. In order to prevent this, they buried their dead in secrecy at Cole's Hill in Plymouth After rain storms had washed many of the remains out of the hill, it was decided in 1921 that the remains should be excavated and placed into a stone Sarcophagus monument that sits at the top of the hill overlooking the harbor The inscription reads: "Here under cover of darkness the fast dwindling company laid their dead, leveling the earth above them lest the Indians should learn how many were their graves. Reader, history records no nobler venture for faith and freedom than that of this pilgrim band. In weariness and painfulness in watchings often in hunger and cold, they laid the foundations of a state wherein every man through countless ages should have liberty to worship God in his own way. May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading the lofty ideals of our Republic throughout the world." The people entombed in the Sarcophagus are described in the "place details media" and here: https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/2272036/coles-hill-burial-ground
