According to The Boston Globe, by 1619 diseases of European origin had claimed an estimated two-thirds of southern New England’s indigenous population — a devastation that reshaped the coastline from Samuel de Champlain’s 1605 visit to the Mayflower’s arrival 15 years later. When Champlain sailed to Patuxet in 1605, he found a thriving community and wrote of “a great many cabins and gardens.” When the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, Patuxet had been emptied by epidemic disease.
That contrast sits at the heart of a reckoning now underway over the white roadside markers scattered across Massachusetts, each one describing an event between 1630 and 1930 and bearing the state seal.
Samuel Eliot Morison Wrote the Plaques Nearly a Century Ago
The markers were cast in iron and placed across the state in the early 20th century, preserving a version of history told by Harvard historian Samuel Eliot Morison, who became famous for his 15-volume account of the U.S. Navy’s role in World War II. Nearly a century later, the story those plaques tell is being questioned.
Historian Jean M. O’Brien, who is a member of the White Earth Nation, refers to the practice embedded in the markers as the “firsting” of New England: local narratives treat indigenous locations as starting points for European history while casting Native people as belonging to a past that has vanished. In the Rockport marker’s account, Patuxet’s people appear only when Champlain arrives — dancing and sketching a map for him — before vanishing from the tale, as Europeans gain the authority to explore, name, and remember.
The Rockport Marker Records July 16, 1605
One of the tricentennial markers in Rockport reads: “Due east from here on July 16, 1605, the Sieur de Monts sent Samuel de Champlain ashore to parley with some Indians. They danced for him and traced an outline map of Massachusetts Bay. These French explorers named this promontory ‘The Cape of Islands.'”
European ships had been appearing off southern New England for decades before that encounter. But in 1605, disease had not yet wreaked havoc on the people of Patuxet. What the marker does not say is what happened in the 15 years that followed.
The State Seal Still Carries the 1629 Image and Motto
Every marker carries the Massachusetts state seal, whose central figure traces back to the colony’s 1629 original: a caricatured indigenous man gripping a downward-pointing arrow, with a scroll displaying the motto “COME OVER AND HELP US.” The state retained that image on its seal even while it systematically dismantled what remained of local tribal governance in Mashpee, Martha’s Vineyard, and elsewhere, and kept seizing Native Americans’ lands.
A New Seal Process Stalled; the Plaques Face a 2030 Deadline
Massachusetts is currently reevaluating its official emblems: a state advisory commission requested proposals for a new seal, flag, and motto and selected finalists, yet the effort stalled this summer when commissioners demanded more extensive engagement with indigenous communities. The roadside plaques face their own test in 2030, when the Commonwealth will observe the 400th anniversary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Questions Readers Ask About the Markers
Who wrote the Massachusetts roadside markers?
The markers preserve a version of history told by Samuel Eliot Morison, the early-20th-century Harvard historian famous for his 15-volume account of the U.S. Navy’s role in World War II.
What happened to Patuxet between 1605 and 1620?
Diseases of European origin had claimed an estimated two-thirds of southern New England’s indigenous population by 1619, so Patuxet lay devastated when the Mayflower arrived in 1620.
When will Massachusetts mark the 400th anniversary of the Bay Colony?
The Commonwealth will observe the 400th anniversary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 2030, the date by which advocates say the Morison-era plaques should no longer occupy state roadsides.