Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, MA at night as seen from the water.
Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, MA at night as seen from the water. The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landfall of the Pilgrims in 1620 and the signing in Provincetown Harbor of the Mayflower Compact. This 252-foot-tall ( m) campanile is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States, and is part of the Provincetown Historic District. In 1620, the Pilgrims spent five weeks exploring Cape Cod before they sailed to Plymouth, Massachusetts. After spending weeks at sea, the Pilgrims resolved not to set foot on land until the Mayflower Compact was written and signed. The Mayflower Compact is the first instance of a democratic society in the New World.[citation needed] A contest was held to design a structure to commemorate the Pilgrims' landing; the winning design, by Willard T. Sears, was based upon the Torre del Mangia in Siena, Italy, designed by Agostino and Agnolo da Siena in 1309. In 1907 the cornerstone for the monument was laid by President Theodore Roosevelt. The design was controversial because of its lack of any obvious relevance to the Pilgrim Fathers. One Boston architect derided it, saying "If all they want is an architectural curiosity, then why not select the Leaning Tower of Pisa and be done with it?"[1] It was also noted that Boston itself already had a copy of the same tower; Boston's tower, made of brick like the Italian original, was built in 1892 by Edmund March Wheelwright, is 156 feet (48 m) tall, was originally designed as part of the central fire station and used as a fire lookout, and later became part of the Pine Street Inn, a shelter for Boston's homeless.[2][3] However, The Boston Globe noted that "The people of Provincetown are not at all enthusiastic about the design, but are glad enough to get almost any sort of monument," and quoted "an old sea captain" as saying: "I don't sympathize with all the kicking about the monument. It's good enough, and it
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Keywords: blue, cape, commemorate, compact, dusk, england, evening, harbor, harbour, history, landfall, landmark, light, lights, lit, ma, massachusetts, mayflower, monument, night, pilgrim, pilgrims, provincetown, ptown, sky, stone, tower, water
