 The Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor on December 16 and spent three days looking for a settlement site . They rejected several sites , including one on Clark 's Island and another at the mouth of the Jones River , in favor of the site of a recently abandoned Native American settlement named Patuxet . The location was chosen largely for its defensive position . The settlement would be centered on two hills : Cole 's Hill , where the village would be built , and Fort Hill , where a defensive cannon would be stationed . Also important in choosing the site was that the prior Native villagers had cleared much of the land making agriculture relatively easy . Fresh water for the colony was provided by Town Brook and Billington Sea . There are no contemporaneous accounts to verify the legend , but Plymouth Rock is often hailed as the point where the colonists first set foot on their new homeland . 
