Old Planters (Massachusetts)

The term "Old Planters" refers to the English settlers who arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony before 1630, prior to the arrival of Governor John Winthrop and the large wave of Puritan immigrants that established the Massachusetts Bay Colony as a major center of Puritanism in New England. These earlier settlers, often drawn by economic opportunities such as fishing, fur trading, and land acquisition, established settlements like Salem, Nantasket, and Dorchester.

The Old Planters differed from the later Puritan immigrants in several key respects. Their religious motivations were generally less pronounced and their societal organization less structured by strict religious doctrine. Many did not subscribe to the specific Puritan theology that would come to dominate the colony.

With the arrival of Winthrop and his followers, the Old Planters were often overshadowed and sometimes faced pressure to conform to the new Puritan orthodoxy. Some integrated into the new society, while others, feeling alienated by the increasingly rigid Puritan regime, moved elsewhere, either further inland or back to England. The term "Old Planter" thus distinguishes this earlier group of colonists from the later, more numerous and politically influential Puritan settlers. Their legacy is significant as the initial European presence in the region and for laying the groundwork upon which the Massachusetts Bay Colony was built, though their contributions are often less emphasized than those of the later Puritan founders.