John Paul Jones Memorial Park

Last updated

John Paul Jones Memorial Park
John Paul Jones Memorial Park Soldiers and Sailors Memorial sculpture of Bashka Paeff.jpg
Memorial sculpture of Bashka Paeff
USA Maine location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationBounded by Newmarch St. and Hunter Ave., Kittery Foreside, Maine
Coordinates 43°5′6″N70°45′2″W / 43.08500°N 70.75056°W / 43.08500; -70.75056
Area2 acres (0.81 ha)
Built1924 (1924)
Sculptor Bashka Paeff (memorial)
NRHP reference No. 97001639 [1]
Added to NRHPJanuary 7, 1998

John Paul Jones Memorial Park is a municipal park in the town of Kittery, Maine. The trapezoidal park, flanked by the lanes of United States Route 1 approaching the Memorial Bridge across the Piscataqua River, was established in 1926 and named for American Revolutionary War naval hero John Paul Jones. Its centerpiece is a memorial commemorating the soldiers and sailors of the state of Maine, designed by Bashka Paeff. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. [1]

Contents

Description and history

John Paul Jones Memorial Park is located between Hunter and Newmarch Streets in southern Kittery, just north of the Piscataqua River. The two roadways carry one-way traffic in opposite directions, to and from the Memorial Bridge to Badger's Island and Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The park is roughly 2 acres (0.81 ha), in size, and trapezoidal in shape. It is mostly a flat grassy area, with trees fringing the border and a few specimen trees dotting the park. The southern end of the park is dominated by the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial sculpture of Bashka Paeff, a gold bronze relief sculpture set in a granite frame mounted on a stone plaza. [2]

The park is home to three other memorial, all placed in the park after its establishment. The Sloop Ranger monument, originally placed on Badger's Island in 1905, was moved to the park in 1963; it is a bronze tablet mounted in granite, commemorating USS Ranger, Jones' first command. The Province of Maine Monument is a bronze tablet mounted in a circular granite pedestal, placed in 1931; it memorializes the chartering of the English Province of Maine to Sir Ferdinando Gorges in 1635. The third memorial is to the United States Marine Corps, and was placed in 1984. [2]

The park's construction is intimately bound to the construction of the original Memorial Bridge, which is a war memorial to the military of both Maine and New Hampshire who served in World War I. The bridge was completed in 1923, and Governor Percival Baxter held a design competition for a suitable memorial. Paeff's initial design was acceptable to Baxter, but not his successor, Ralph Owen Brewster, and the memorial was consequently not placed until 1926, after Paeff made alterations to its design. The park was officially named for John Paul Jones by an act of the state legislature in 1927, somewhat obscuring the intent that it be a memorial to World War I soldiers. [2]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kittery Point, Maine</span> Census-designated place in Maine, United States

Kittery Point is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Kittery, York County, Maine, United States. First settled in 1623, Kittery Point traces its history to the first seafarers who colonized the shore of what became Massachusetts Bay Colony and later the State of Maine. Located beside the Atlantic Ocean, it is home to Fort McClary State Historic Site, and Fort Foster Park on Gerrish Island. Cutts Island is home to Seapoint Beach and the Brave Boat Harbor Division of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kittery, Maine</span> Town in the state of Maine, United States

Kittery is a town in York County, Maine, United States, and the oldest incorporated town in Maine. Home to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Seavey's Island, Kittery includes Badger's Island, the seaside district of Kittery Point, and part of the Isles of Shoals. The southernmost town in the state, it is a tourist destination known for its many outlet stores.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piscataqua River</span> River in Maine and New Hampshire, United States

The Piscataqua River is a 12-mile-long (19 km) tidal river forming the boundary of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine from its origin at the confluence of the Salmon Falls River and Cochecho River to the Atlantic Ocean. The drainage basin of the river is approximately 1,495 square miles (3,870 km2), including the subwatersheds of the Great Works River and the five rivers flowing into Great Bay: the Bellamy, Oyster, Lamprey, Squamscott, and Winnicut.

USS <i>Ranger</i> (1777) American ship during the American revolution

USS Ranger was a sloop-of-war in the Continental Navy, serving from 1777–1780 and the first to bear her name. Built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine, she is famed for the solo raiding campaign carried out by her first captain, John Paul Jones, during naval operations of the American Revolutionary War. In six months spent primarily in British waters, she captured five prizes, staged a single failed attack on the English mainland at Whitehaven, and caused Royal Navy ships to be dispatched against her in the Irish Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort McClary</span> United States historic place

Fort McClary is a former defensive fortification of the United States military located along the southern coast at Kittery Point, Maine at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. It was used throughout the 19th century to protect approaches to the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery. The property and its surviving structures are now owned and operated by the State of Maine as Fort McClary State Historic Site, including a blockhouse dating from 1844.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln Tomb</span> United States historic place in Springfield, Illinois

The Lincoln Tomb is the final resting place of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States; his wife Mary Todd Lincoln; and three of their four sons: Edward, William, and Thomas. It is located in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 1 Bypass (Portsmouth, New Hampshire–Kittery, Maine)</span> Highway bypass in the United States

U.S. Route 1 Bypass is a 4.3-mile-long (6.9 km) bypass of U.S. Route 1 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine. Most of its north section, northeast of the Portsmouth Traffic Circle where it meets the Blue Star Turnpike and Spaulding Turnpike, is built to rudimentary freeway standards, with no cross traffic but driveway access. The southern portion is similarly constructed, although there are two four-way intersections with traffic lights just south of the circle and a third at its south end, just before intersecting with US 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seavey's Island</span>

Seavey's Island, site of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, is located in the Piscataqua River in Kittery, Maine, United States, opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It encompasses 278 acres (1.13 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piscataqua River Bridge</span> Bridge in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine

The Piscataqua River Bridge is a through arch bridge that crosses the Piscataqua River, connecting Portsmouth, New Hampshire with Kittery, Maine, United States. Carrying six lanes of Interstate 95, the bridge is the third modern span and first fixed crossing of the Piscataqua between Portsmouth and Kittery. The two other spans, the Memorial Bridge and the Sarah Mildred Long Bridge, are both lift bridges, built to accommodate ship traffic along the Piscataqua. The high arch design of the Piscataqua River Bridge eliminates the need for a movable roadway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Memorial Bridge (Portsmouth, New Hampshire)</span> Vertical-lift bridge across the Piscataqua River

The World War I Memorial Bridge is a vertical-lift bridge that carries U.S. Route 1 across the Piscataqua River between Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Badger's Island in Kittery, Maine, United States. The current bridge was opened in 2013, replacing a bridge of similar design that existed from 1923 to 2012. A large overhead plaque carried over from the original reads "Memorial to the Sailors and Soldiers of New Hampshire who gave their lives in the World War 1917–1919."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bashka Paeff</span> American artist

Bashka Paeff, was an American sculptor active near Boston, Massachusetts.

<i>Liberty Arming the Patriot</i> United States historic place

Liberty Arming the Patriot, sometimes called Freedom Arming the Patriot, is a bronze sculpture at Park Place in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, commemorating the participation of the city's citizens in the American Civil War. It was designed by William Granville Hastings and cast by the Gorham Manufacturing Company in 1897. Unlike many Civil War memorials, Liberty Arming the Patriot is a dynamic composition, depicting a young farmer setting his plow aside, and reaching to take a sword from a classical female figure clad in breastplate and wielding a pike. The statue is 11 feet (3.4 m) in height, and is mounted on a granite base 10 feet (3.0 m) high and 22 feet (6.7 m) wide. The sculpture was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bray House (Kittery Point, Maine)</span> Historic house in Maine, United States

The Bray House is a historic house at 100 Pepperell Road in Kittery Point, Maine, United States. It is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the state. Long thought to be a 17th-century structure, the architectural evidence indicates the home was probably not built before 1720. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Portsmouth Athenæum</span> Historic house in New Hampshire, United States

The Portsmouth Athenæum is an independent membership library, gallery, and museum in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, United States. It preserves and provides access to an extensive collection of manuscripts, rare books, photographs, artworks and artifacts, and digital collections related to local history and genealogy, in addition to a circulating library for its membership. As an intellectual center of the community, it sponsors exhibitions, concerts, lectures, and other educational and cultural programs. The building, dating to 1805, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Badger's Island</span> Small island in Maine

Badger's Island is located in the Piscataqua River at Kittery, Maine, United States, directly opposite Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It carries U.S. Route 1 between the states, connecting to the Kittery mainland by the Badger's Island Bridge, and to New Hampshire by the Memorial Bridge. Now largely a suburb of Portsmouth, the island features houses, condominiums, restaurants and marinas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Badger (shipbuilder)</span>

William Badger was a master shipbuilder operating in Kittery, Maine, United States who built more than 100 vessels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Concord Civic District</span> Historic district in New Hampshire, United States

The Concord Civic District consists of a collection of local and state civic buildings centered on the New Hampshire State House in Concord, New Hampshire. In addition to the State House, the district includes the Legislative Office Building, New Hampshire State Library, Concord City Hall, Concord Community Center, New Hampshire Historical Society, State House Annex, and the Concord Public Library. It also includes statuary and memorial objects placed on the grounds of the State House. The buildings, although architecturally different, are predominantly made out of locally quarried granite, and their grounds are landscaped in similar ways. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samuel Badger Monument</span> United States historic place

The Samuel Badger Monument is one of the most distinctive examples of funerary art in the United States state of Maine. Located in a small private cemetery in Kittery, it depicts the locally important shipbuilding magnate Samuel Badger (1794-1857). The monument was designed by David M. French of Newmarket, New Hampshire, and was completed in 1858. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Battleship <i>Maine</i> Monument United States historic place

The Battleship Maine Monument is a memorial marker in Davenport Park, Bangor, Maine. It commemorates veterans of the Spanish–American War, and the loss of the USS Maine due to an explosion of unknown cause, which sparked the start of the war. Placed in 1922, it includes the shield and scrolls of the Maine, which were recovered from its wreckage in the harbor of Havana, Cuba. The memorial was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. Of several memorials to that war and the loss of the Maine, it is the most elaborate in the state.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 "NRHP nomination for John Paul Jones Memorial Park". National Park Service. Retrieved July 9, 2015.