F.O.J. Smith Tomb | |
| |
Location | Pond and Ash Aves. in Evergreen Cemetery, Stevens St., Portland, Maine |
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Coordinates | 43°40′50″N70°18′40″W / 43.68056°N 70.31111°W |
Area | 0.3 acres (0.12 ha) |
Built | 1860 |
Architectural style | Egyptian Revival architecture |
Part of | Evergreen Cemetery (ID92000791) |
NRHP reference No. | 74000166 [1] |
Added to NRHP | December 31, 1974 |
The F.O.J. Smith Tomb is an historic tomb in Evergreen Cemetery in Portland, Maine. It is the tomb of Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith (1806–76), US Congressman 1833-39. [2] It was probably built by Smith in 1860, at the time of his daughter Lizzie's death, and is one of Maine's most sophisticated expressions of Egyptian Revival architecture. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. [1]
The Smith tomb is located near Pond and Ash Avenues in the western portion of Evergreen Cemetery, a rural cemetery in Portland's western Deering neighborhood. The tomb is a granite structure, most of which is covered by a mound of earth, leaving only the front facade. It is in the form of an Egyptian pylon, mostly fashioned out of roughly finished granite blocks, topped by a projecting rolled cornice. Dressed stone caps the sloping sides of the facade, and forms the pylon-shaped entrance to the tomb. A sun disk motif is set above the cornice that tops the doorway, above which a panel is set with "F.O.J.S." in raised relief. The door to the tomb is marble, and bears the following inscription: [3]
NATURE teaches that All Flesh Must Die. RELIGION inspires Hope that all Spiritual Beings will live forever, in spheres and forms to which they are fitted. Believe in GOD, and fear not to leave wholly to Him the Great Future. His plans for Heaven as for Earth must be All-wise, Benevolent and Immutable. All men can know of future life.
Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith was one of Maine's more colorful political personalities of the mid-19th century. He controversially opposed a state lottery to fund the Cumberland and Oxford Canal, and was politically peripatetic, supporting Whigs, Democrats, and Republicans in both his political and journalistic activities. He was an early advocate of the telegraph, supporting the work of Samuel F.B. Morse, and engaged in a number of high-profile failed business ventures. [3]
His tomb was built on his Portland estate about 1860, around the time when his daughter Lizzie died. In 1876, when his estate was subdivided after his death, the tomb and its contents were moved to Evergreen Cemetery. The design is believed to be Smith's. [3]
Deering Center is a neighborhood in the residential area of Portland, Maine, United States.
Evergreen Cemetery is a garden style cemetery in the Deering neighborhood of Portland, Maine. With 239 acres (97 ha) of land, it is the largest cemetery in the state. Established in 1855 in what was then Westbrook, the cemetery is home to one of the state's most prominent collections of funerary art. The 140-acre (57 ha) historical portion of the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith was a U.S. lawyer, legislator, and telegraph pioneer and financier.
Mayor Baxter Woods Park is a nature reserve and municipal forest in the Deering Center neighborhood of Portland, Maine, USA. The land which became Baxter Woods was owned by Congressman Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith. He died in 1876 and his estate sold the forest to canning magnate, land developer, and future Mayor James Phinney Baxter in 1882. When J.P. Baxter died in 1921, it had not been developed during the preceding building boom and was bequeathed to his son Percival P. Baxter. In April 1946, Percival Baxter donated the land to the City of Portland on the condition that it would "...forever be retained and used by [the] City in trust for the benefit of the people of Portland as a Municipal Forest and Park and for public recreation and educational purposes". On June 19, 1956, U.S. Senator Frederick Payne mentioned the land in a speech honoring Percival Baxter, calling the land a "beautiful nature sanctuary given by you in honor of your father..."
Scottish Rite Temple, also known as The Temple Downtown, is a historic former masonic building in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was built to serve as the meeting place for the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. The building was designed by George Bigelow Rogers, a local Mobile architect who was responsible for designing many of the city's buildings during this period. The cornerstone was laid on November 30, 1921, with the building completed in 1922. It is the only intact example of the Egyptian Revival style in Mobile. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on January 5, 1984. It was sold in 1996 to a private citizen and reopened as a banqueting venue.
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Eastern Cemetery is a historic cemetery at the intersection of Washington Avenue and Congress Street in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood of Portland, Maine. Established in 1668, it is the city's oldest historic site, and has more than 4,000 marked graves. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The North Waterford Congregational Church is a historic church off ME 35 in North Waterford, Maine. It is a two-story wood frame rectangular structure, with a projecting entry and tower section at the front. Built in 1860, is an attractive Italianate building representing a mature work of Thomas Holt, a Maine architect known for his churches and railroad stations. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
The Cary Library is the public library of Houlton, Maine, US. It is located at 107 Main Street, in an architecturally distinguished building designed by John Calvin Stevens. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1987. The library opened on October 12, 1904.
The Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Monument is a public monument in Portland, Maine's West End. Located on the corner of State and Congress Street, it honors poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was born in Portland in 1807. The intersection built around the monument is known as Longfellow Square.
The Martin Ryerson Tomb is an Egyptian Revival style mausoleum designed by Louis Sullivan and completed in 1889. It is in the historic Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, Illinois, United States.
The Lancaster Block is an historic commercial building in downtown Portland, Maine. Located at 50 Monument Square, it is a fine local example of commercial Romanesque Revival architecture. It was built in 1881 and enlarged in 1908; it is named for Lancaster, New Hampshire, the hometown of its builder, J. B. Brown. it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Byron Greenough Block or Lower H. H. Hay Block is an historic commercial building at Free and Cross Streets in downtown Portland, Maine. Built in 1848 and enlarged in 1919 to a design by John Calvin Stevens, it is one of the city's finer surviving Greek Revival commercial buildings. The block was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March 1977.
The Harper Mausoleum and George W. Harper Memorial Entrance are a pair of funerary structures in the village cemetery at Cedarville, Ohio, United States. Commemorating one of Cedarville's wealthiest nineteenth-century citizens, they have together been named a historic site because of their distinctive Egyptian-style design.
The Marine Hospital is a historic medical facility at 331 Veranda Road on Martin's Point in Portland, Maine. Built in the late 1850s to a design by Ammi B. Young, it is the only known surviving Marine Hospital of the period to retain original iron railings. The building is now part of the Portland campus of the Martin's Point Health Care medical practice. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Egyptian Revival architecture in the British Isles is a survey of motifs derived from Ancient Egyptian sources occurring as an architectural style. Egyptian Revival architecture is comparatively rare in the British Isles. Obelisks start appearing in the 17th century, mainly as decorative features on buildings and by the 18th century they started to be used in some numbers as funerary or commemorative monuments. In the later 18th century, mausoleums started to be built based on pyramids, and sphinxes were used as decorative features associated with monuments or mounted on gate piers. The pylon, a doorway feature with spreading jambs which support a lintel, also started to be used and became popular with architects.
Charles Raymond Goodell (1832–1901) was an American civil engineer and architect, prominent in the second half of the 19th century. Two of his works — Evergreen Cemetery and Lincoln Park, both in Portland, Maine — are now on the National Register of Historic Places.