You would think such a colossal monument would be impossible to miss. But think again.
[Update 2014: In the years since I wrote this article there has, happily, been a resurgence in interest in the Forefathers Monument. And there have been steadfast proponents advocating its preservation for decades. But the strange phenomenon I discussed here remains true…so very many residents of the area are completely unaware that this colossal achievement exists. Sadly, it’s a pattern all too common with historic sites, but this may be, literally, the largest example of that phenomenon.]
Plymouth, Massachusetts boasts the largest, free-standing, granite monument in the world–or so the guidebooks often say. Whether that particular claim is true or not, the monument is a stunning work. The sheer size of it will, I guarantee, take your breath the moment it comes into view. Unfortunately, the monument is now virtually hidden and I am always surprised by how few in this region even know that it exists. Yes, the tour buses go up that hill, park, and the tourists pour out to snap pictures. It is ironic. I’d bet that more people from Wisconsin and Iowa and Kentucky see the monument each year than people from Massachusetts. Even in the neighboring towns—and remarkably, even within Plymouth itself—many people have no idea it stands there, tucked away on that wooded hill, screened from view.
The National Monument to the Forefathers, dedicated to the settlers most commonly known as “Pilgrims,” was built through the efforts of the Pilgrim Society. When the organization was founded in 1820, the construction of such a monument was one of their primary goals. The cornerstone was laid in 1859 and the 81 foot tall monument was completed in 1889. It features a central figure, 36 feet tall, representing Faith, with four seated statues surrounding her representing Education, Law, Morality and Freedom. There are a number of smaller figures shown in relief around the base representing various other virtues as well as depictions of the Pilgrims and their journey.
The monument was designed by Hammatt Billings (1818–1874), an artist and architect from Milton, Massachusetts. Billings created a number of striking buildings and monuments, including the old Boston Museum (long since gone), the original monumental canopy over Plymouth Rock—which, I think, was far more handsome than the one there now—and several elegant Victorian mansions across New England. He was also a prolific illustrator, producing artwork for books and magazines. In fact, the familiar cover of the Old Farmer’s Almanac may be his most widely viewed creation—though it’s hardly one that anyone stops to think about.
The Forefathers Monument is generally cited as his greatest accomplishment. And it is stunning. It sits atop a hill almost a mile from the Plymouth waterfront. And here’s the rub…At the time, the location made sense, I’m sure. The landscape of Plymouth (virtually all of New England for that matter) was practically treeless. Sitting atop a decent sized hill and towering to 81 feet, the monument must have been visible for miles around. Another key advantage of its location: the old railroad line into downtown Plymouth (now gone) ran very near the base of that hill. I’m sure the tourists coming down from Boston in the late 19th century had an absolutely grand view of the Forefathers Monument. What a majestic welcome for visitors to Plymouth!
Today, trees have grown up everywhere. Beautiful vistas used to abound along the South Shore. Now trees grow like massive weeds. Before anyone gets offended, I’m not suggesting we clear cut our landscape again. But a little strategic protection of visibility and views in certain places is seriously wanting.
The Forefathers Monument is virtually invisible due to the growth of trees (not to mention the addition of many buildings downtown). There are very, very few points in Plymouth from which you can catch a fleeting glimpse of it. Even if you know exactly where to find it, you won’t actually see the monument until you’re nearly on top of it. And when it finally comes into view, the effect is almost surreal. Everyone I’ve ever brought there reacts the same way, with some variation of: “How can something so huge be so hidden?”
The same thing is happening to the Myles Standish Monument in Duxbury. It was once prominent from any point along Plymouth Bay. But over the past nearly 30 years I’ve watched the pines grow taller and taller until, from some vantage points, only Myles’s hat is visible. This is not what the creators of these monuments envisioned.
The case of the Standish monument would be easier to remedy as the entire hill is owned by the Commonwealth and trees could certainly be cut back to improve visibility. This is not the case with the Forefather’s monument which sits on a relatively small state-owned parcel and is otherwise surrounded by private property. So, it seems likely that the monument will remain an obscure colossus.
[Sources: James W. Baker, A Guide to Historic Plymouth, (2008), p. 114; Alfred Stevens Burbank, Guide to Historic Plymouth, (1900), p. 7-11.]
Historical Digression 
January 31st, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Dale and I went to see this monument a few years back because he hadn’t been in years and I had never been. It’s amazing and sort of a crime that it’s not visible from the harbor.
January 31st, 2012 at 7:09 pm
I always laugh when I think to look for it when in Plymouth. The arm above the trees, the profile of “Faith” peeking out between two buildings or one of the seated figures barely visible at the end of some side street. It’s easy to miss for sure.
Dr.Turner does an interesting program on Abe Lincoln’s personal donation to the monument’s building fund.
February 1st, 2012 at 1:27 pm
I agree! That monument is one of my favorite places! Adam and I and our friend Andy walked by Forefather’s every Fall and Spring day on our way to Cold Spring in the morning. It’s still a great place to walk to and has a decent amouth of grass for laying down and looking up to the top. 🙂
~Andrea
February 1st, 2012 at 3:29 pm
Sigh. Yeah, I didn’t proofread. I meant ‘amount’ of grass.
February 7th, 2012 at 9:22 pm
I recall having the same reaction when I first saw it, why did they hide it way up here on this hill. Given the age of it I figured it was probably visable from most places 100 years ago. Definately a beautiful work of art.
March 22nd, 2012 at 11:46 pm
I have one of the replicas of the monument that was given out to some of the larger donors towards the monument building fund. I am trying to research who was given the replicas and how many were in fact produced. I believe that the name of the donor was cast into the statuettes, and that Abe Lincoln himself received one of them and that it is in the White House still.
Can anyone help with further information?
August 2nd, 2013 at 10:43 pm
Wouldn’t it be great if a sculptor would make another replica that could be reproduced and sold to all interested? Perhaps with the movie having been produced it could become a reality.
March 25th, 2012 at 8:46 am
To Fran,
I was very interested to read your comment to this wonderful blog posting, and was interested enough to do some more googling on the subject.
…
I heard a brief mention of Abraham Lincoln having donated to the Forefathers Monument building fund, so decided to google that as well (using the search terms: Abraham Lincoln Forefathers Monument). That search yielded many results, but the top of the list caught my eye, as it had an *.edu url, so I clicked to read the pdf file:
http://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1086&context=br_rev
What a fascinating article! Here are two sections which might interest you:
“In short, while the Abraham Lincoln papers were an invaluable resource for Lincoln and Civil War scholars, they were not entirely easy to utilize. In spite of this shortcoming, authors writing about the sixteenth president used many parts of this vast correspondence. But the sheer volume of the collection, which runs to about 20,000 items, always seemed to hint that there might be additional insights about Lincoln’s life and career if only there were some way to make the papers more user friendly. That need has now been answered due to significant advances in technology in recent years and specifically the American Memory Project at the Library of Congress. The Lincoln documents have been scanned and placed in a database that allows the user to search not only chronologically, but also by name of correspondent and keywords. Additionally, many of the documents have been transcribed under the supervision of Douglas Wilson and Rodney Davis at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois, the site of one of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates. It is now possible to sit at a computer and view any document in the collection, to print a copy, and in many cases to read a transcription.”
…
“Using American Memory and typing in the word Plymouth, however, not only yielded the sought-after certificate but additional correspondence about the president’s contribution to the Forefathers Monument as well as an attempt to enlist his name in support of other nineteenth century monument projects.”
(end of transcripts)
Being the curious type, I thought I’d give it a try, and voila! Please copy and paste the rather lengthy link below into your web browser, and you will see the exact certificate Abraham Lincoln received for his $10.00 donation!
IT’S ALSO VERY INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT ABRAHAM LINCOLN GAVE HIS $10.00 DONATION ON TAX RETURN DEADLINE DAY (APRIL 15, 1861), WHICH WAS A MERE THREE DAYS AFTER THE ATTACK ON FORT SUMTER!! THE CIVIL WAR HAD JUST BEGUN, AND YET HE WAS STILL MINDFUL OF THE CRUCIAL ROLE FAITH PLAYS IN OUR NATION!!
Not only did the search recommendation from the pdf article directly yield the results, but I did another search within the American Memory Project as well, and found a fascinating document promoting the Forefathers Monument building fund, and what a donors could expect in return for donations at various dollar levels:
The document itself had obviously grown faint over the decades that Robert Todd Lincoln closely guarded his father’s papers, but if you squint/use a magnifying option on your computer screen or a regular magnifying glass, you will be able to see what the donors were given at various levels of dollars donated.
It would appear that as Abraham Lincoln donated $10.00, he would not technically have been given a statuette, because those were only given to donors who donated at a higher dollar level. However, it’s entirely possible that as he was the President of the United States at the time, he would be given a statuette regardless of donation level.
Fran, what I would suggest you do next is:
1) measure the height of the statuette you possess … different heights were given to different dollar donation levels, and then
2) contact the Plymouth, MA library to see if they can help you find a list of donors at that (or any other) level, to see how many there were in total!
Best of luck to you in your continuing search! I have thoroughly enjoyed mine!
Angela
PFS4Christ@yahoo.com
March 25th, 2012 at 9:41 am
To Fran (again),
I did a little more searching through the American Memory Project Lincoln document archives via the internet just now and came across this gorgeous letter from the person who signed the receipt of Lincoln’s $10.00 donation:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=mal&fileName=mal1/090/0909200/malpage.db&recNum=0&tempFile=lomaxbib,mtj,gottlieb,aep,qlt,coolbib,fpnas,aasmscsmbib&filecode=mcc,gottscho,detr,nfor,wpa,aap,cwar,bbpix,cowellbib,calbkbib,consrvbib,bdsbib,dag,fsaall,gmd,pan,vv,presp,varstg,suffrg,nawbib,horyd,wtc,toddbib,mgw,ncr,ngp,musdibib,hlaw,papr,lhbumbib,rbpebib,lbcoll,alad,hh,aaodyssey,magbell,bbc,dcm,raelbib,runyon,dukesm,lomaxbib,mtj,gottlieb,aep,qlt,coolbib,fpnas,aasmscsmbib&next_filecode=scsmbib&prev_filecode=mal&UA=mdb=mcc,gottscho,detr,nfor,wpa,aap,cwar,bbpix,cowellbib,calbkbib,consrvbib,bdsbib,dag,fsaall,gmd,pan,vv,presp,varstg,suffrg,nawbib,horyd,wtc,toddbib,mgw,ncr,ngp,musdibib,hlaw,papr,lhbumbib,rbpebib,lbcoll,alad,hh,aaodyssey,magbell,bbc,dcm,raelbib,runyon,dukesm,lomaxbib,mtj,gottlieb,aep,qlt,coolbib,fpnas,aasm,denn,relpet,amss,aaeo,mff,afc911bib,mjm,mnwp,rbcmillerbib,molden,ww2map,mfdipbib,afcnyebib,klpmap,hawp,omhbib,rbaapcbib,mal,ncpsbib,ncpm,lhbprbib,ftvbib,afcreed,aipn,cwband,flwpabib,wpapos,cmns,psbib,pin,coplandbib,cola,tccc,curt,mharendt,lhbcbbib,eaa,haybib,mesnbib,fine,cwnyhs,svybib,mmorse,afcwwgbib,mymhiwebib,uncall,afcwip,mtaft,manz,llstbib,fawbib,berl,fmuever,cdn,upboverbib,mussm,cic,afcpearl,awh,awhbib,sgp,wright,lhbtnbib,afcesnbib,hurstonbib,mreynoldsbib,spaldingbib,sgproto,scsmbib,afccalbib,mamcol&itemnum=39&ndocs=190
It’s a bit difficult to read/decipher in some places, but the gist of it is he was moved greatly by Lincoln’s gift when the Presiden’ts mind was on saving the Union. If you go to ‘Next Page’ (or page 2) underneath the document’s first page image, you’ll see this within the text on page 2:
“Please accept the enclosed Honorary Certificate of Life Membership to the Pilgrims Monument Association”
Fran, you might uncover more in the letter, or maybe other documents within the American Memory Project (search box at top of that page) might help piece together more of your puzzle.
All the best, and please let us know what you find!
Angela
PFS4Christ@yahoo.com
July 28th, 2014 at 10:39 am
Hi Fran, I too have one of the 23″ replicas. My neighbor found it in the town dump in the late 50’early 60’s. My neighbor left it to me when he died. I wrote a children’s book “Molly’s Promise to Faith” about the monument. Pilgrim Hall museum has receipts of the donors who received replicas. I am working with a friend to go through these receipts. Years ago I saw an interview with Carl Rove at the White House and on a table behind him was one of these replicas. I still have not been able to find out if it was in his office or if it belonged to the White House.
We are presently celebrating the 125th Anniversary of the monument on July 3-August 2, 2014. More information on http://www.plymrock.org.
March 31st, 2012 at 8:24 pm
amazing, my husband and I just saw the movie by Kirt Cameron Monumental, amazing. I am disturbed that this is not taught in our public schools. I say don’t move it keep it were it is, then those who want to preseve our freedom will have to look back and search, learn how to protect/defend our freedom.
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:44 am
its amazing when you live in a place you take things for granite…the things in your town that may seem corny and strange are something that people come to see…im from plymouth but it took me to have a friend come tomy house when i was in the navy to see thing like the plymouth rock and the mayflower and other things in town and then i had kids and had to play tourist in my home town lol….
July 2nd, 2012 at 8:53 am
So very true, Mike. It’s surprisingly easy to overlook history that is around us every day. Thanks for reading.
Patrick