--- title: May Day History: Most Controversial Maypole in US History description: It caused a major uproar in 17th-century Massachusetts canonical: https://time.com/4305252/controversial-maypole-history/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-29T16:00:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T16:58:42.253Z article:section: History og:title: May Day History: Most Controversial Maypole in US History og:description: It caused a major uproar in 17th-century Massachusetts og:url: https://time.com/4305252/controversial-maypole-history/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1317ad01b27ba28f/69889063ab6d771a436a9657/maypole.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Puritans and Maypole og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: May Day History: Most Controversial Maypole in US History twitter:description: It caused a major uproar in 17th-century Massachusetts twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1317ad01b27ba28f/69889063ab6d771a436a9657/maypole.jpeg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Most Controversial Maypole in American History  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 29, 2016 4:00 PM CUT  A 19th-century engraving of Cpt. Miles Standish and his men observing the 'immoral' behavior of the Maypole festivities of 1628 A 19th-century engraving of Cpt. Miles Standish and his men observing the 'immoral' behavior of the Maypole festivities of 1628Ullstein bild / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 29, 2016 4:00 PM CUT In the modern United States, May Day traditions of dancing around a maypole are seen as the [height of innocence](http://time.com/vault/issue/1926-05-24/page/21/ "undefined"). If the first of May has any controversial implications, it’s for the date’s [association](http://time.com/3836834/may-day-labor-history/ "undefined") with labor movements, socialism and communism. But things were very different in the 17th century, when May Day was seen as downright sinister. According [to the](http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/maypole-infuriated-puritans/ "undefined") New England Historical Society, it all started when a man named Thomas Morton arrived in the New England colony from England in 1624\. Unlike the puritans who had come to escape religious persecution, Morton was part of a trading expedition that set up shop in what’s now Quincy, Mass. **MORE:** [The Bloody Story of How May Day Became a Holiday for Workers](http://time.com/3836834/may-day-labor-history/ "undefined") Here’s what happened next, as TIME told it in [a 1970 essay](http://time.com/vault/issue/1970-10-12/page/48/ "undefined"): --- > “” --- Though he may have been busted, Morton made his side of the story known, in a text called [_New English Canaan_](http://www.bartleby.com/400/prose/38.html "undefined") that contrasted the “harmless mirth made by young men” and the strict ordinances of the Puritans who “\[trouble\] their brains more than reason would require about things that are indifferent.” [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter "undefined") The episode inspired the Nathaniel Hawthorne short story _The Maypole of Merrymount;_ a 1930s opera [written](http://time.com/vault/issue/1931-02-23/page/38/ "undefined") by Richard Leroy Stokes and Howard Hanson, called _Merry Mount;_ and a 1960s Robert Lowell theater piece called _Endecott and the Red Cross_. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4305252/controversial-maypole-history/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4305252/controversial-maypole-history/"},"headline":"The Most Controversial Maypole in American History","datePublished":"2016-04-29T16:00:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T16:58:42.253Z","description":"It caused a major uproar in 17th-century Massachusetts","url":"https://time.com/4305252/controversial-maypole-history/","keywords":["Holidays"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1317ad01b27ba28f/69889063ab6d771a436a9657/maypole.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1317ad01b27ba28f/69889063ab6d771a436a9657/maypole.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Puritans and Maypole","caption":"Merrymount Maypole","creditText":"Ullstein bild / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4305252/controversial-maypole-history/","name":"The Most Controversial Maypole in American History"}}]}] ```