On Dec. 16, 1620, a ship that carried 102 English passengers completed a perilous voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from Plymouth, England, and anchored offshore of today’s Plymouth, Mass. The Pilgrims’ story is intertwined with the story of the Wampanoag Native Americans, who made an alliance with the Pilgrims and forged a treaty with them that maintained relative peace for more than 50 years. The Pilgrims might not have survived their first year without the help and advice of the Wampanoag, with whom they celebrated their first harvest in the fall of 1621.
The stamp also features a stylized hawthorn flower printed in intaglio. In England, the hawthorn, a member of the rose family, is sometimes called a mayflower, as it blooms in May.