Plymouth Bay is a small, well-protected bay of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

on the western shore of larger

Cape Cod Bay A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment which drapes the wearer's back, arms, and chest, and connects at the neck. History Capes were common in medieval Europe, especially when combined with a hood in the chaperon. T ...

along the coastline of the

Commonwealth of Massachusetts Massachusetts ( Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' E ...

. Plymouth Bay retains historical significance for the landing at

Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the ''Mayflower'' Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in December 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known writt ...

in 1620 by the Pilgrims aboard the ''

Mayflower ''Mayflower'' was an English ship that transported a group of English families, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World in 1620. After a grueling 10 weeks at sea, ''Mayflower'', with 102 passengers and a crew of about 30, ...

'' who proceeded to establish the first permanent

Northern European The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54°N, or may be based on other geographical factors ...

settlement in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth) was, from 1620 to 1691, the first permanent English colony in New England and the second permanent English colony in North America, after the Jamestown Colony. It was first settled by the passengers on the ...

Geography

Plymouth Bay is an offshoot of the larger

and is sometimes considered part of

Massachusetts Bay Massachusetts Bay is a bay on the Gulf of Maine that forms part of the central coastline of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Description The bay extends from Cape Ann on the north to Plymouth Harbor on the south, a distance of about . Its ...

, which is defined by

Cape Ann Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts, United States on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns o ...

to the north and

Cape Cod Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...

to the south. Plymouth Bay is also in the southern waters of the Gulf of Maine in the northern

. The waters of Plymouth Bay are claimed by three Massachusetts towns,

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

in the southern part of the bay,

Duxbury Duxbury (alternative older spelling: "Duxborough") is a historic seaside town in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, United States. A suburb located on the South Shore approximately to the southeast of Boston, the population was 16,090 at the 20 ...

in the northern part and Kingston in the westernmost extent of the bay. Plymouth Bay is dominated by geographical features such as Plymouth Beach, a three-mile

barrier beach Barrier islands are coastal landforms and a type of dune system that are exceptionally flat or lumpy areas of sand that form by wave and tidal action parallel to the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a ...

that protects

Plymouth Harbor Plymouth Harbor is a harbor located in Plymouth, a town in the South Shore region of the U.S. state of Massachusetts. It is part of the larger Plymouth Bay. Historically, Plymouth Harbor was the site of anchorage of the ''Mayflower'' where the ...

from the rougher seas of

. To the north, Saquish Neck serves as another barrier beach protecting the bay and is almost seven miles in length. Plymouth Beach and Saquish Neck together form a mile wide opening, connecting the bay to the open sea, with boating channels deep enough to sustain moderate boating traffic. Within Plymouth Bay itself there are considered two smaller bays, Kingston Bay and Duxbury Bay, both in the northern waters of Plymouth Bay, and Warren Cove, in the southern waters of Plymouth Bay, located between Plymouth Beach and Rocky Point. Several peninsulas define the shoreline of Plymouth Bay such as Rocky Nook, a densely populated coastal area of Kingston, and Powder Point of Duxbury. Plymouth Bay contains one island with year-round inhabitants, Clarks Island, in the northern portion of the bay and is administered by Plymouth. Plymouth Bay also acts as the mouth for several important rivers in the region such as the

Jones River The Jones River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 river running through Kingston, Massachusetts. The river drains about , has its source in Silver La ...

in Kingston and the Eel River in Plymouth. Although used for boating, Plymouth Bay itself is relatively shallow. Depths in the bay will range from 35 feet, in the deepest channels west of Fort Standish, to 6 to 42 inches throughout much of the bay's rolling

mud flats Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal fl ...

. Most of Plymouth Bay's mud flats can be found in Kingston Bay and Duxbury Bay, which are prone to becoming totally exposed in times of

low tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

. The largest of these such flats is Ichabod's Flat in Kingston Bay. The mud flats of Kingston Bay are used for shellfishing and

clamming Clam digging is a North American term for a common way to harvest clams (edible infaunal bivalve mollusks) from below the surface of the tidal sand flats or mud flats where they live. It is done both recreationally (for enjoyment or as a so ...

and have flourished due to Plymouth Bay's ability to isolate itself from

red tide A harmful algal bloom (HAB) (or excessive algae growth) is an algal bloom that causes negative impacts to other organisms by production of natural algae-produced toxins, mechanical damage to other organisms, or by other means. HABs are sometimes ...

, which occasionally impacts the Massachusetts coastline.

External links

Map of Plymouth Bay and related bodies of water
{{Coord, 41, 58, 00, N, 70, 36, 00, W, type:waterbody_region:US-MA_source:gnis, display=title Bays of Massachusetts Plymouth, Massachusetts Bays of Plymouth County, Massachusetts

Geography

See also

External links