In 1892, the Pilgrim monument was founded as Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association with the goal of commemorating the first landing of the pilgrims in the New World. The Association was given the land at the top of High Pole Hill for the monument’s location. Construction began in 1907 and was completed in 1910.
In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt presided at the laying of the cornerstone. He arrived in Provincetown on the day of the event aboard the Presidential yacht, the Mayflower. The monument was dedicated in 1910, and this time it was President William Howard Taft who was the guest of honor, and he also sailed on the Presidential Mayflower.
The completed tower, made wholly of granite, was 252 ft. tall and remains the tallest all- granite monument in the world. According to information on the monument’s website, only granite quarried in one specific quarry in Maine could be used, and this is when the story gets interesting.
L.C. Humphrey of Rochester was born on Oct. 4, 1864. He was a farmer with a 200-acre farm on Vaughan Hill Rd. He was also town assessor for 33 years. We have his papers at the historical museum, and they are an invaluable resource, but there is an interesting twist. The papers are his answers to questions asked about his memories of Rochester’s past. They were done from the 1940’s until the early 50’s. The interesting twist is that we have the answers but not the questions.
One of the topics he addresses is the building of the Pilgrim Monument which he refers to as the Provincetown Monument. According to Humphrey, each town was asked to contribute a block of their best granite with the name of their town cut into the rock. He goes on to describe Rochester’s contribution. He says that the block was cut out of a boulder in 1906, on “Vaughan Hill’s” Rd. near Witch Rock. The stonecutters were Latham Jennings and V. A. Hammet of Acushnet.
Mr. Jones (?) lettered the block and along with Raymond McGilvary of Rochester “furnished the work and shipped it to Provincetown.” If you’re curious as to the cost, the town paid $24.46.
Now I don’t see any mention of a quarry in Maine in that account. Possibly different blocks had different uses, but it does seem to bolster my belief that all local history is anecdotal.
By Connie Eshbach