Civil War Memorial
Civil War Memorial
Dedicated July 4, 1868.
Thanks to the Weymouth Historical Soc. for these two
photos, the above one showing the monument as it must have been when it was recently finished, and the one below showing North St. below the monument. Note the cannon on it's wooden base, which as since been moved up to the higher terraces but who's granite foundation is still in the ground to this day. (The cars in the photo are not original to the photo. They have been 'photoshopped' as it were.)
TREDEGAR IRON WORKS
The marks on the canons indicate they were made by this company, probably around 1840. They are 32 Pounder Naval Canons
This image of the Civil War Memorial is from "An Oration Delivered at the Dedication of the Soldiers' Monument in North Weymouth Mass., On Saturday, July 4, 1868, By Hon. George B. Loring" which can be found on Googlebooks.
In the dedication, it is noted that the monument cost $3523.25, was 25 feet high made of "the best Quincy granite, and the tablets of Italian marble (which is said to be as enduring as granite)".
This confirms that the centerpiece of the monument has been replaced. The current one does not have raised shield tablets where the names are engraved, and it is not made of marble, but rather granite.
In 1991, as part of an Eagle Scout project, the canons were repainted and the monument stairs repaired. The grass around the monument, which was in poor shape, was also replanted with a hardy variety of seed from Lofts called "Reliant Hard Fescue".
The monument 'then' and now. Cannon balls have long since gone missing, and the wooden platforms for the cannons are now replaced by concrete ones.
Caretaker Paul Cope in 1991 painting the canons.
In the summer of 2010, board member Robert Johnson sanded and painted the canons, and also cleaned years of accumulated glass and trash out of the barrels of the guns.
2010
Robert T. Paine's stone, before 1991
Also re-engraved was the slate stone for Robert Treat Paine, infant brother of the signer of the Declaration of Independence. This stone had been defaced sometime after 1991 with the name "Robert" having been crudely chiseled out.
Information copied from the no longer existent gravestones of Robert and Thomas Paine, sons of Thomas Paine, pastor of the Church.
Engraving the Paine stone. Rich Holbrook prepares to re-engrave the Paine stone.
Restored, 2010
Piece of the original Robert Treat Paine stone found on the hillside near the old slate stones. You can see the name Paine at the top of the chip.