This sarcophagus contains the remains of the Mayflower Pilgrims who died during the first year after their arrival in Plymouth. Not particularly famous as individuals, but largely recognized as a group in American cultural history as the Mayflower Pilgrims who did not survive until the first Thanksgiving, the memory of those entombed within the sarcophagus serves as a reminder of the harsh conditions which marked the Pilgrim's early efforts to establish permanent colonies in New England.