Experience the Mayflower’s arrival in November 1620 and learn about the Pilgrims’ first winter, in this video adapted from AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: The Pilgrims. With passengers and crew weakened by the voyage and weeks exploring Cape Cod, the Mayflower anchored in Plymouth harbor in late December 1620. The weather worsened, and exposure and infections took their toll. By the spring of 1621, about half of the Mayflower’s passengers and crew had died.