The Memorial Arch of Tilton, sometimes referred to as Tilton's Folly,Jones 2006, p. 156. is a historic arch on Elm Street in

Northfield, New Hampshire Northfield is a New England town, town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,872 at the 2020 census. History European settlers first arrived in Northfield in the early 1700s. In ...

, United States, on a hill overlooking the town of Tilton. The was built by Charles E. Tilton in 1882;Jones 2006, p. 155. it was modeled after the

Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus ( it, Arco di Tito; la, Arcus Titi) is a 1st-century AD honorific arch, located on the Via Sacra, Rome, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in 81 AD by the Roman emperor, Emperor Domitian shortly aft ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, its surfaces, however, modeled in the rustication that was currently a fashionable feature of

Romanesque revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

building. The Memorial Arch of Tilton was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

History

Charles E. Tilton was inspired to create a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, crow ...

in 1881, when he visited

. While there he saw the

and decided to create a similar structure in his town to "symbolize the victories of peace rather than those of war."Tilton's Triumphal Arch
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. November 18, 1883. Accessed December 11, 2009. Ironically he chose to build this monument to peace on top of an old Indian fort at the apex of a local hill. For an architect, Tilton chose the Concord firm of Dow & Wheeler. He had previously employed them as the architects of the Tilton Town Hall, which he had built in 1879. Construction was completed on the Memorial Arch in 1882 at a price of 50,000 dollars. By the early 1980s the monument had been added to the National Register of Historic Places, but showed signs of neglect. In 1984 it was repaired and cleaned. Plants growing out of cracks in the top of the arch were removed and the monument itself was sandblasted and

repointed Repointing is the process of renewing the pointing, which is the external part of mortar joints, in masonry construction. Over time, weathering and decay cause voids in the joints between masonry units, usually in bricks, allowing the undesirable e ...

. A park around the monument was also created at this time including the addition of picnic tables and grills.Hopper, Kathi
Mr. Tilton's amazing arch
'' Laconia Citizen''. November 22, 2009. Accessed December 11, 2009.

The arch

The Memorial Arch of Tilton is tall, wide, and is constructed of Concord

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

. It sits atop a hill above the

Winnipesaukee River The Winnipesaukee River is a river that connects Lake Winnipesaukee with the Pemigewasset and Merrimack rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire. The river is in the Lakes Region of central New Hampshire. The river's drainage area is approximately . ...

, and its foundation goes into the earth . At its base is a 50-ton sarcophagus and red granite "

Numidia Numidia ( Berber: ''Inumiden''; 202–40 BC) was the ancient kingdom of the Numidians located in northwest Africa, initially comprising the territory that now makes up modern-day Algeria, but later expanding across what is today known as Tunis ...

n lion."Cross 1905, 198 Tilton intended to be buried in this monument, but was not.Stearns 1908, p. 1969. He was instead buried roughly a mile west, in Park Cemetery in Tilton. Tilton Memorial Arch

When the Memorial Arch was built,

gas lamp Gas lighting is the production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, such as hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, coal gas (town gas) or natural gas. The light is produced either directly ...

s were placed at each corner of the monument to illuminate it. Because there were no electric street lights in Tilton at this time, the arch was the only illuminated object for miles. Tilton also commissioned other monuments around the town of Tilton, including allegorical depictions of

America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, and a statue of a local Indian chief.

Keystone

The keystone of the arch is tall and deep. It is inscribed "Memorial Arch of Tilton" and "1882" on each end. Inside the keystone is a time capsule of sorts; it is a lead box with then-current newspapers from the erection period of the arch, a copy of ''Successful Men of New Hampshire'',Doubtless, John Badger Clarke, ed., ''Sketches of Successful New Hampshire Men'' (J.B. Clarke, Manchester) 1882, is intended. a history of

Sanbornton, New Hampshire Sanbornton is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,026 at the 2020 census. It includes the villages of North Sanbornton and Gaza. History Located in the fork of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers, ...

, and gold and silver coins.

Footnotes

References

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External links