ORLANDO, Fla. Attendees at UMA Motorcoach Expo will have an early opportunity to sign up for the fall 2013 volunteer restoration program to be conducted by Tourism Cares at Plimoth Plantation, the living museum that tells the history of Plymouth Colony from the perspective of both the colonial English Pilgrims and the native Wampanoag people.

The first Pilgrims to America landed on Plymouth Rock almost 400 years ago.

Plimoth Plantation is a Smithsonian Institution affiliate that attracts 350,000 tourists and more than 100,000 students every year to its site in Plymouth, Mass.

The museums small maintenance staff takes care of a sizeable facility that includes a visitor center, Wampanoag Homesite, 17th-Century English Village, Mayflower II, a craft center, three barns with rare breeds of farm animals, and a 130-acre campus with a variety of landscapes and buildings.

The plantation staff is preparing a number of work projects for Tourism Cares volunteers, including rebuilding the English Village palisade, landscaping and brush clearing at the Wampanoag Homesite, painting projects to enhance the visitor center, and a small group will be invited aboard Mayflower II to make necessary repairs and complete maintenance to prepare for the winter season.

Mayflower II is a replica of the 17th-century merchant ship Mayflower that brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth in 1620.

"We are very grateful for the support of Tourism Cares," said Plimoth Plantation Executive Director Ellie Donovan. "Plimoth Plantation is not only one of the nations foremost living history museums but also a vibrant civic space where people of all ages discover the past, experience the present and help to build the future.

"Volunteers contribute in so many ways to our ability to provide meaningful personal encounters with history to visitors of all ages. The generosity and willingness of our friends in the tourism industry who will literally roll up their sleeves and dig into critical maintenance projects is inspiring."

Plymouth joins a long list of destinations that have benefited from a Tourism Cares restoration program.

In May 2013, Tourism Cares will celebrate 10 years of volunteering, initiating a new project where it began - in New York City.

Registration for Tourism Cares for New York City and Tourism Cares for Plimoth Plantation will be available at Motorcoach Expo at Travel Exchange.

For more information, go to www.TourismCares.org/volunteer. For information about Plimoth Plantation, go to www.plimoth.org.