The Provincetown Monument

Money to build the monument; characteristics of it's design spanned the globe.

The design of the Monument was copied from the tower of Terre del Mangia in Siena, Italy. It is of the Italian Renaissance order of architecture, chosen by a non-resident committee, who chose what they chose for it's extraordiary beauty and dignity. The cost of the Monument was about $95,000, exclusive of the site, which was given by the Town of Provincetown. Of this, $45,000 was contributed by Congress from the National Treasury (stipulation that it might be used as an observation tower in case of war, Edwards, 153); $25,000 by the Commonwealth of MA; $5,000 by the Town of Provincetown; and the remainder by individuals in all parts of the country, in sums varying from one dollar to one thousand dollars. The number of contributors was between 3-4,000. The structure is the exclusive property of the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association. It rises 252 feet, 7.5 inches in total height from the ground to the top of the utmost battlement. The site where it stands is about 150 feet above tide water. Its foundation is 60 square feet at its base and is composed of concrete, reinforced with steel bars placed in layers five inches apart. It is built wholly of Maine granite and is 28 feet square at the top. Every stone of the structure is of the entire thickness of the wall. The arches of the bell-chamber are 30 feet in height. The ascent of the Monument is extremely easy using an inclined plane, after the manner of that of the famous Campanile in Venice, taking the place of usual flight of stairs.

The building contract required it to be completed by Dec. 31, 1909, with a penalty clause of $5 per day after that date. Stones were received for the monument from every town in the Commonwealth of MA, the Daughters of the American Revolution, Mayflower descendent organizations, Delfthaven and Leyden, Holland, and two pieces of yellow marble from Siena, Italy. On August 21,1909, the last stone was laid. Four persons, along with 11 year old Isabel George, fourteen year old Annie Cromar, and construction foreman Fred George, rode that stone to the top of the monument.

The inscription on the Monument by Dr. Eliot is as follows:

"On Nov. 21, 1620, the Mayflower, carrying 102 passengers, men, women and children, cast anchor in this harbor, 67 days from Plymouth, England. The same day, 41 adult males in the company solemnly convenanted and combined together in a civil body politic. This body politic established and maintained on the bleak and barren edge of a vast wilderness, a state without a king or a noble, a church without a bishop or a priest, a democratic commonwealth, the members of which were 'straightly tied to all care of each other's good and of the whole by everyone.' With long suffering devotion and sober resolution, they illustrated for the first time in history the principles of civil and religious liberty and the practice of a genuine democracy. Therefore, the remembrance of them shall be perpetuated in the vast republic that has inherited their ideals."