The Pilgrim Monument, built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landfall of the Pilgrims in 1620, stands in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The tower was designed by William T. Sears and is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States.

The Pilgrims first landed in Provincetown and explored this Cape Cod area as a possible home for their settlement. In 1907 the first cornerstone was laid by President Roosevelt. Visitors from all around the country and the world have climbed the interior steps to the top for a breathtaking view of Provincetown Harbor and the village below. There is a museum in the base of the monument that also pays tribute to Provincetown's vibrant maritime history. The residents of Provincetown love the monument so much that many contribute to it's annual lighting in November.



In front of the Pilgrim Monument is another commemorative monument that portrays the signing in Provincetown Harbor of the Mayflower Compact.

After spending weeks at sea, the pilgrims would not set foot on land until writing and signing the Compact. The Mayflower Compact is the first instance of a democratic society in the New World. The Pilgrims, then known as Separatists, signed the Mayflower Compact on November 11, 1620.

The Mayflower Compact is a written agreement composed by a consensus of the new Settlers arriving at New Plymouth in November of 1620. The Mayflower Compact was drawn up with fair and equal laws, for the general good of the settlement and with the will of the majority. The Mayflower’s passengers knew that the New World’s earlier settlers failed due to a lack of government. They hashed out the content and eventually composed the Compact for the sake of their own survival.

All 41 of the adult male members on the Mayflower signed the Compact. Being the first written laws for the new land, the Compact determined authority within the settlement. This established that the colony (mostly persecuted Separatists), was to be free of English law. It was devised to set up a government from within themselves and was written by those to be governed.