The Captain Nathan Hale Monument, is a

obelisk An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by An ...

Coventry, Connecticut Coventry ( ) is a town in Tolland County, Connecticut. The population was 12,235 at the 2020 census. The birthplace of Captain Nathan Hale, Coventry is home to the Nathan Hale Homestead, which is now a museum open to the public. Coventry was i ...

, built in 1846 in honor of Nathan Hale, the Revolutionary War hero, who was born in Coventry. It was one of the first war memorials to be built in the United States, and is a significant work of both architect Henry Austin and builder

Solomon Willard Solomon Willard (June 26, 1783 – February 27, 1861) was a carver and builder in Massachusetts who is remembered primarily for designing and overseeing the Bunker Hill Monument, the first monumental obelisk erected in the United States. Backgr ...

. Now owned and maintained by the state, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2002.

Description and history

The Captain Nathan Hale Monument is located in South Coventry village, at the entrance to the Nathan Hale Cemetery on Lake Street. It is set off-center in a roughly rectangular grassy area slightly elevated by a granite retaining wall, part of which serves as the border wall of the cemetery and its entrance drive. The monument is in height, with a stepped square base, surmounted by a paneled section, above which is a gabled cornice, with the body of the obelisk above. The monument is constructed out of granite quarried in Quincy, Massachusetts, from the same quarries that supplied the

Bunker Hill Monument The Bunker Hill Monument is a monument erected at the site of the Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston, Massachusetts, which was among the first major battles between the Red Coats and Patriots in the American Revolutionary War. The 221-foot (67 m) gran ...

. Each face of the panel section bears an inscription, one of them consisting of Hale's famous quotation "I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." The monument's architectural style has been described as

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

and

Exotic Revival In the United States, the National Register of Historic Places classifies its listings by various types of architecture. Listed properties often are given one or more of 40 standard architectural style classifications that appear in the National ...

. A committee of the town began to consider the construction of a monument to its native son in 1837. At the time, it encountered opposition to war memorials that were fairly typical in the United States at the time, including some resistance from the Hale family, who thought it unseemly. They persevered, and eventually raised private donations and state funds for the effort. The memorial was designed by Henry Austin, a prominent Connecticut architect, and was built in 1846 by Solomon Willard, owner of the Quincy granite quarries. The quarried stone was shipped to

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

by regional railroads at no cost, and was delivered the rest of the way to Coventry by oxen. A retaining wall made of "massive stones five feet in length" was built in 1894. and The monument was one of the first large-scale monuments in the United States to commemorate an individual or event, preceding the

(completed 1846) and the

Washington Monument The Washington Monument is an obelisk shaped building within the National Mall in Washington, D.C., built to commemorate George Washington, once commander-in-chief of the Continental Army (1775–1784) in the American Revolutionary War and th ...

(completed 1885). Monuments and memorials of this type were not built in significant numbers until after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

References

{{National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut Buildings and structures in Tolland County, Connecticut Greek Revival architecture in Connecticut Buildings and structures completed in 1846 Coventry, Connecticut Monuments and memorials in Connecticut Monuments and memorials on the National Register of Historic Places in Connecticut 1846 sculptures Stone sculptures in Connecticut National Register of Historic Places in Tolland County, Connecticut 1846 establishments in Connecticut

Description and history

See also

References