While we dug around Plymouth for my father’s relatives, we had to slip down the coast to Sandwich, to find my mother’s. Sandwich was one of the early settlements and it has the picture postcard beauty of small town New England. There is the requisite white-spired church, the green common, the white colonial homes surrounded by incredibly green lawns and ancient shade trees.
We were looking for the grave of Ezra Perry who had been buried here in 1689, so our goal was the Old Town Cemetery, behind the Town Hall. It sits on a grassy knoll along the edge of the Shawme Pond, which feeds water to the old mill that had been grinding flour when Ezra was here. It is still a working mill and for a small fee you can visit inside.
With a little help from the locals, we found the right area to search in, but had little luck. We did find reconstructed grave stones of his in-laws, the Burgesses, and a beautiful old lichen covered stone that simply said 'Elizabeth Perry' which may have been his mother or his daughter, both Elizabeths, or someone much later.
Although we didn't find what we were looking for, we did have a marvelous afternoon wandering around town. You can pick up a Walking Guide to the town just about anywhere. There is also a little trolley to help you get around. We didn't spend the night here, but there are a slew of bed and breakfast establishments that looked charming along with several restaurants.